To be honest, she has more of value to say than Randy does with his nauseating à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Yo Dog!à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“You can sing the phone bookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ mantras.

I just wonder if she prepares her notes or someone does that for her? There are times when I really like Paula – other times she is so annoying. I hope she finds happiness in her life.

On the one hand, I see someone who appears to genuinely care about the contestants and understand what it’s like to be on the receiving end of someone who can completely make or break your dreams. She can be critical, but she has a knack for tempering her comments with constructive criticism (and a dab of positive feedback thrown in) as opposed to Simon’s all-out annihilation. I don’t doubt a lot of thought goes into what she’s going to say, given her use of analogies and inspired quotes. To be honest, she has more of value to say than Randy does with his nauseating “Yo Dog!” and “You can sing the phone book’ mantras. What the hell do you take away from that? Better yet, she pays attention to and shows respect to the contestants by getting involved in their performances. This in stark contrast to Simon who turns his chair away and talks throughout most of the competition.

On the other hand, I also view Paula as extremely narcissistic, needy, vain, whiney and demanding. You see it in clips on AI when her hair stylist has to touch her up between auditions and performances, you hear it in the rumors of behind the scenes turmoil during contract negotiations and you see it more than ever if you’ve tuned into her reality TV show. Oy! It was the TV show in particular that re-confirmed all of my suspicions about her. If she wants to re-claim any ounce of self dignity she may still have, that needs to be taken off the air pronto!!

Bottom line: Nice girl (by all accounts of past and present contestants) with a crapload of issues. She’d be well advised to go along with the drug rumors because I’d hate for people to think she’s really that bad without some sort of aid!

I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think that she says something nice for the sake of niceness. I think she understands the power of a kind word in motivating people. As a performer who has probably been rejected many times for jobs. As I think we can all relate to on a level.

I do think we can all relate. At a time when unemployment is so high and folks are going on job interview after job interview, I’m sure they appreciate hearing, “Don’t get discouraged, you’ll find something soon” or “I know it’s tough out there but be strong” or “I understand what you are going through but if you stick with it, you’ll find something.” However, I think ultimately most people would prefer to hear, “You know, no one is going to hire you unless you do something about the spelling errors on your resume” or “what you are wearing is totally inappropriate for the job you are applying for” or “Your grammer is terrible and this job requires someone who can speak well.” Being straight and truthful and telling people exactly what they are doing wrong is far more valuable then platitudes and pep talks. You can get pep talks from your family and friends, the judges are experts and are there to tell you exactly what you are doing wrong.

You know it’s not true. Cynthia gave a good rundown of the story. What happened, why did it happen, provide insights from both the viewer’s and Paula’s view of point, let Paula have a chance of explaining herself. She even ended it off with the response from Paula’s doctor.

You can’t avoid the critical questions and the clips that showcases the “loopiness”. It had to be done.

LostInSanity
I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t see the value in saying something nice just for the sake of niceness. Ultimately, the only way to show people respect is to tell them the truth. However, I do agree that Simon could be much more tactful in how he does this and he is no better a role model than Paula.

I don’t think that she says something nice for the sake of niceness. I think she understands the power of a kind word in motivating people. As a performer who has probably been rejected many times for jobs. As I think we can all relate to on a level. I get the sense that she will comment on someone’s appearance, or downplay the negative, but still get the point across that their performance was lacking. While the other judges yammer and contradict themselves mid critique, and Simon is just a tool and for some strange reason, there are people who think that just because it is Simon’s word (whether it was good or bad), that it makes it so.

Despite, the horseplay between Simon and Paula, it is Paula out of ALL the judges who seems as if she gets it. She will move along with the performances, at least showing that she is paying attention. It is when it gets to the judges comments that she seems thrown, and it is because partially Simon is just being his usual jerk self, degrades her critiques, thus diminishing it’s value, and the perception that people have of her. If you keep hearing how “that makes no sense” time and time again, one can’t help but then think, he must be right, I keep hearing that. When in reality, if you listen to what she is saying and think about the performance and the contestant she is speaking about, she is fairly right on.

My belief is that she understands that concept fully now, and the need to get in as much work, as possible while AI lasts, therefore she is burning herself out. … She is consistatly seen helping the AI contestants, mentoring them, and even this week, helped choreograph them. What have the other 3 judges ever done outside of give non-critiques or inaccurate ones?

I don’t question Paula’s motivation for her ambition, my point is that Paula can’t argue on the one hand that her bizarre behavior is due to lack of sleep because she’s in so much pain from RSD and on the other hand argue that she does all these things to further her career and that’s the reason she isn’t sleeping. If you hurt too much to sleep, then you hurt too much to sit, travel on planes, have makeup applied, put on clothes. Lack of sleep can be dealt with with drug therapy. Further, if her sleep disorder is more involved, there are clinics which specialize in treatment. Now it may be that she can’t be prescribed any narcotics because she is or was an addict.

As far as I have heard, Paula isn’t mentoring the contestants. As a matter of fact, the incident with Corey Clark resulted in new rules limiting contact between judges and contestants. The real question is how much the judges help the contestants after the show is over. Randy and Kara have done far more for them than either Paula or Simon. I don’t see the value in saying something nice just for the sake of niceness. Ultimately, the only way to show people respect is to tell them the truth. However, I do agree that Simon could be much more tactful in how he does this and he is no better a role model than Paula.

I think Kara is “Paula Insurance”. They can let Kara go now. I’ve come to terms with having Paula there.

The whole thing seemed immature from Paula’s side. Like a sick child with a doctor’s note. I still say if she cannot do the job with 100% functionality, she should step down.