American Idol Judges: Enrique Iglesias is OUT Randy Jackson BACK IN

By On 09/10/2012 · 194 Comments · In American Idol

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The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Randy Jackson is back IN as FOX stops negotiations with Enrique Iglesias:

The game of musical chairs at American Idol continues, with Fox pulling the plug on negotiations with Enrique Iglesias to fill a judge’s seat, according to a source close to the show.

Iglesias had been eyed as a possible fourth judge, joining the already-announced Mariah Carey, as well as Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban, both of whom are said to be wrapping up deals to join the show’s 12th season. Randy Jackson, a judge since the show’s 2002 debut, was said to be moving to a mentor role on the show.

But now Fox, producers Fremantle Media and 19 Entertainment are said to have abandoned that scenario in favor of returning Jackson to the judge’s panel. It’s not clear what derailed the Iglesias plan, though money is always an issue with talent show judges.

Dang. Randy Jackson is like that Twinkie that survives a nuclear holocaust. There’s no getting rid of him! Reportedly, an announcement will be made before the end of September.

Via The Hollywood Reporter

 
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  • Montavilla

     Paula?? Not sure I don’t remember how well known she was when Idol started?

    Back when Idol started, Paula was the only name that the general public knew.  Musical insiders might have known about Randy.  Nobody in America knew anything about Simon Cowell (although he was the breakout star of Pop Idol in Britain).

    Paula had been pretty big in the late 80s/early 90s.  She was a reason for people to check out the summer replacement singing show.  Simon was the reason people stayed.

  • http://twitter.com/desireechick Kesia Monteith

    Looks like a lot of people on that deadline article are NOT happy about the lineup. Like all 11 of them, LOL

  • s k

    His second album has sold less than 150,000 copies, so how many people could he actually lure to the show?  How much buzz?  How would his inclusion change the make-up of the audience or the voting demo?  

    People who stopped watching the show, and it’s clear plenty of people have stopped, might be lured back to see how a former contestant would be as a judge….just as they tuned in to see how he’d be as a mentor. 

    CD sales aside Adam gets a lot of media attention and it is overwhelmingly positive from what I can tell. 

    As a viewer since season 1 I won’t be tuning in to Season 12.  They might have gotten my attention had they picked judges I found interesting but I lost interest in Mariah back in the 90s, I’ve never been interested in Nicki or Keith and Randy just irks my nerves.  He’s always been the most worthless judge on the panel, even when it was the three original judges. 

  • Montavilla

    He is an ex-contestant, and I think that to be seen  worthy of the judge position of authority, an Idol alum would have to be perceived as having undeniably established themselves as artist post-show.

    I don’t think that’s necessarily the case.  Remember that Idol has had people like Neil Patrick Harris, Kristin Chenowith, and Quentin Tarentino as guest judges.  

    On Season Two of Project Runway, the first Season’s winner, Jay McCarroll, was a guest judge — even though he was at the time not an established designer.  It didn’t matter because he knew what he was talking about and, from having stood in the shoes of all the second two contestants, he was able to call them on their bullshit.  It was great.  

    I sat there wondering why Idol has never thought to do that.  Why didn’t they bring back Kelly to guest-judge on Season Two (a year that used guest judges every week)?  Maybe she was too busy — after all, the second season started only a few months after the first one ended.

    I do remember distinctly that Clay was on hand for the beginning of Season Three semi-finals.  He wasn’t a judge, but just before the show aired (it was taped the night before), some reporter asked him which of the twelve singers would make it through to the next round.  Clay replied that, based on talent, none of them would  – they were all horrible.  Almost ten years later and I still remember that line.  

  • Montavilla

    I don’t think Adam was ever in the running.  He’s the one that wanted it and kept talking about it, so his fans kept it going.

    I don’t think that’s what happened.  The rumor dropped right when he was doing the Queen + Adam Lambert concerts in London.  He was asked about it and called it “a beautiful rumor.”  Now, that was unexpected response, and his fans did get excited by the prospect, but he didn’t really talk much about it until weeks afterward — he was halfway around the world, busy with concerts in Japan and trying to conduct incomprehensible interviews through translators.  

    He didn’t mention anything serious it until he was in Australia at the end of August.  And at that point, he mentioned having talked to the network execs, and how he might approach the job.  The fact that he had “talks” meant that he was, at least at one point, in the running.

  • http://twitter.com/AmirHazwan Amir Hazwan ?

    Meh, whoever in the lineup, they can never please the audience anyway.

  • elliegrll

    just as they tuned in to see how he’d be as a mentor.

    And how do we know that people tuned in to see this?  If he can’t get more people to buy his album, it’s going to be hard to convince people that he can get people to tune in to watch the show.  It will be doubly hard to get people to believe that he can bring in younger viewers.  

    CD sales aside Adam gets a lot of media attention and it is overwhelmingly positive from what I can tell.

    It’s not on the same level as the amount that Nicki, Mariah and even Enrique get, and not on the same level of the amount of buzz and attention that they could bring to the show.  There are companies that follow these types of things, and I never see Adam’s name on the top celebrities who are getting written about, appearing on the front pages of tabloids, etc.  But you will see Nicki’s.

    The claim that people will be tuning out because Adam isn’t there is funny, and in line with the annual claim that people will stop watching because X lost are was eliminated early.  It’s also funny because while it’s the judges who people will be tuning in to see in the early round, once Hollywood week hits it’s all about the contestants.  The Voice has shown us that people won’t continue to tune in just to watch the judges, if the contestants aren’t engaging then people won’t watch.

  • alterego

    Lambert was probably eliminated early on.  Obviously TPTB felt he was more of a liability than an asset to be on the show.  If they felt he could bring anything worthwhile to the panel, they would have hired him. He made it very obvious he wanted the job really bad, he would have done it for dirt cheap and would have done anything TPTB wanted.  And he probably wanted to keep his name out there to create that interest.  But that train has long left the station.

  • Nadine_Bitch

    ”He made it very obvious he wanted the job really bad, he would have done
    it for dirt cheap and would have done anything TPTB wanted.”

    I don’t know how you came into this conclusion. I mean Adam never even tweeted it(unlike Jonas) and he was just answering questions that’s why he was talking about it. The rumors broke out by first week of july and Adam confirmed he was being considered by late August. Meaning if he just wanted to milk it, he would have said something by early july but he didn’t.

  • jobeob987

    “He made it very obvious he wanted the job really bad, he would have done
    it for dirt cheap and would have done anything TPTB wanted.”

    From what I know of Adam Lambert, this doesn’t sound like him at all!  He has always been true to himself whether it gets him into hot water or not.  If Idol was looking for a judge to think for himself and not parrot the party line, then Lambert would be their man.  Love him or hate him, Adam says what he thinks.

    Having said all this, I’m not sure this would be the best move for Adam.

  • http://www.etsy.com/shop/AdorablyHooked Gwen

    She deserves it, predicting those winners and all…lol.

  • http://www.facebook.com/shelby.walker.5011 Shelby Walker

    ”
    The claim that people will be tuning out because Adam isn’t there is funny, and in line with the annual claim that people will stop watching because X lost are was eliminated early. ”

    I think it is true. Look at how the viewership has fallen each year. I think people tune in at first to check out the new competition and then tune out till next year. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/shelby.walker.5011 Shelby Walker

    ”
    some reporter asked him which of the twelve singers would make it through to the next round.  Clay replied that, based on talent, none of them would  – they were all horrible.  Almost ten years later and I still remember that line. ”

    Then you should also remember that he was only talking about the 8 contestants in Group Two of the Semis and he was right, none of them made the top 10. Clay LOVED Fantasia though. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/shelby.walker.5011 Shelby Walker

    “It’s just that Lambert has made it very well known he wants the job.”

    “”Well Clay also made it known he was interested.”"

    Actually Clay did not.

  • Montavilla

    Then you should also remember that he was only talking about the 8 contestants in Group Two of the Semis and he was right, none of them made the top 10. Clay LOVED Fantasia though.

    Sorry, I forgot how many singers it was.  And I’m sure you are right that they didn’t make the top ten.  Clay was right that they were all terrible that night.  

    So, the two singers advanced from that group went out at 12 and 11?  Heh.  Good call, Clay.  

  • http://www.facebook.com/masewallace Mase Wallace

    cockroach jackson survives again
     cockroach as in one who survives when everyone else is dead

  • judes

    Not commenting anymore on who’s in or who’s out until its official!!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ACMLXLYSSX73RNYQOUZWSO2I4U Enough already!

    They are kidding?   Right.   Who in their right mind would rather watch the tired rhetoric from Randy or an intelligent, gorgeous, sincere Adam.   Hard to take this bunch seriously!!!

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/GJ7GOGSVLTJY6SJDVVZYAEUL4Y Jean White

    Who in their right mind would rather watch the tired rhetoric from Randy or an intelligent, gorgeous, sincere Adam.

    Nothing wrong with my mind, but I am hoping this is true and Randy will be there, not Adam.  As others have pointed out, I don’t know why we’re talking about Adam Lambert when the topic is Enrique out, Randy in. Adam’s name wasn’t even mentioned.

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