Simon Cowell Ready To Announce Season 9 Will Be His Last, According to His Brother

By On 12/21/2009 · 80 Comments · In American Idol

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Simon Cowell’s brother Tony is reporting, on his weekly podcast Fame Game,   that Season 9 of Idol WILL be Simon’s last.

In fact, brother Tony reports that Simon is drawing up a press statement as we speak, that will confirm Simon’s exit from American Idol in 2010 to concentrate on bringing his UK hit X Factor to America in 2011.

Listen to Tony’s radio podcast below. The Idol stuff begins at about the 3 minute mark.

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Can American Idol survive the loss of Simon Cowell? Will X Factor coming to America mean the end of American Idol?

thank you courtney

 
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  • oceana

    Randy became lazier and lazier with each year, unwilling to spend even a few hours a week working on his material so that he wouldn’t repeat himself each show. Paula couldn’t stay sober.

    I share your disenchantment with the judges, and last season was the worst, but I disagree with this ^^. I think Randy substantially improved his material and was much less repetitive the past season or two. I really don’t think he gets the credit he deserves sometimes. And Paula was much more sober last season, she seemed to get her pill problem under control at least while on the air. She was more articulate also.

    My solution to the judges is to dvr the show, and fast forward through the judges’ comments. Really I prefer to watch the performances and come to my own conclusions about them. The judges comments often do not add to my knowledge, but detract from my enjoyment of the show. Another solution is to mute them.

    perhaps we can get sony to look at David Foster or someone of that stature.

    Oh please, no. Not that. He would kill the show imo. It has to be someone likable and charming, while still being honest and witty.

  • sunchick

    Its like Idol with 3 times the manipulation. LOL. The contestants don’t just stand there and sing, they do these big cheesy stage numbers. And the judges coach people. I’ve just never liked it, it is ridiculously fake to me, and openly manipulative ‘“ even more than Idol. But that’s just me.

    So it’s kinda sorta like AI, but they don’t get to pick their own songs (clearance issues aside) and the focus on the douchey judges shenanigans is amped up even more. Ew?

    X-Factor sounds like a compilation of all the worst parts of Idol. I won’t watch it, and I’ll root for it to fail, but who knows? The Boyle thing means there’s a market for everything, at least once.

    This. The one thing it will have going for it is the buzz. People will want to see if Simon’s off his rocker for quitting AI. And also, morbid curiosity is a powerful thing. See: rubbernecking at accidents, Jerry Springer, tabloid journalism.

    If AI wants to survive and differentiate itself from Simon’s sideshow, they should nab Ben Folds and put the focus on the music over the razzle dazzle. He was the best thing about that Sing Off show. Also, Ellen + Ben Folds >>> Simon + Paula.

  • MaryS-NJ

    I agree that Idol could survive without Simon’s smug, bored self. They would have to get someone witty and concise to replace him, but it could be done. I’m tired of his shenanigans, honestly. I really only watch for the kids. Judges are just window dressing, imo.

    Well said.

    My 2 Cents: The judges made it much too much about themselves last season – especially Simon and his playmate Paula. Who needs 5 minutes of judges’ blather for each 2 minutes of singing?

    I know that many AI fans think Simon is the most credible judge and I acknowledge that as an AR guy he has been successful at finding acts that will give a big pay-off to the record companies (and performers, at least temporarily). He’s a good business man and knows how to build buzz and capitalize on it but as a judge of musical talent on a reality TV show I think it’s been more often about stroking his own ego than a fair assessment of the performers overall and from week to week.

    I think Simon likes to believe he is a musical kingmaker. AI didn’t give him enough control over the product so he conceived X-Factor which let him play with the talent more directly. Let him. I’ll be happy to enjoy the performers on American Idol, maybe with a little more honesty about good and bad performances rather than calculation about which “package artist” is going to make the sour British judge and his overlords look good on a balance sheet.

    So yeah, I think American Idol will survive Simon Cowell. Some new blood might actually be just what it needs to reverse declining ratings.

  • Sassycatz

    Knowing both shows well, Idol tends to have more cheese offstage while XF tends to display more onstage ‘“ same cheese, just differently distributed and presented on the “plate.”

    But, that might be “the problem” with it on this side of the ocean. (See below.)

    Now, I don’t know that I agree with you that all the cheese on Idol is behind the scenes. (How would I or any viewer know?) I think much more of the manipulation is behind the scenes, but cheese? I see cheese in the Ford videos, the group numbers, and the audience questions that they did in season 7, but not behind the scenes. Other than the Ford videos, the AI cheese is just less slick, which is ironic considering this is the U.S. and we are known for polished performances rather than amateur night. However, there is a certain fun and charm in the AI group numbers, as long as they let the contestants be their goofy selves during them.

    I mean, the following is fun and charming and goofy and all about the interactions of the contestants:

    Top 10 group performance from Season 7, Right Back to Where We Started From
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt6zHlC6_Os&feature=related

    But back to more polished cheese, considering how I’ve seen it presented on the X-Factor, it just appears to me to be Bizarro Las Vegas. In the U.S., it’ll be a joke that the contestant is the brunt of instead of being in on, like how we’re all in on it in the above video. What kind of legitimacy would these contestants have swanning around with fan dancers and slinky avant garde posers? The closest Idol gets to it is on IGB or in the finale, but the contestants tend to just stand to the side and let the SYTYCD people do all the leaping about and acrobatics.

    And Paula was much more sober last season, she seemed to get her pill problem under control at least while on the air. She was more articulate also.

    She was so scripted, which I’m sure was a direct result of her going off the rails in season 7. She couldn’t even pronounce some of the words she was speaking. Even Simon was laughing at her more than usual, as if to say, “you don’t even understand yourself with all those 10 dollar words!”

    This. The one thing it will have going for it is the buzz. People will want to see if Simon’s off his rocker for quitting AI. And also, morbid curiosity is a powerful thing. See: rubbernecking at accidents, Jerry Springer, tabloid journalism.

    I agree, as I stated in my earlier comments. In order for the X-Factor not to be a “jump the shark” type show from day one, they are going to need a credible winner of a Kelly Clarkson caliber, which helped to put Idol on the map. And considering how I’ve seen talk on blogs and boards about how Idol might be oversaturating the music market, especially with all the signing going on now, I wonder if there is even room for all the Idol contestants, let alone a bunch of X-Factor contestants.

    If AI wants to survive and differentiate itself from Simon’s sideshow, they should nab Ben Folds and put the focus on the music over the razzle dazzle. He was the best thing about that Sing Off show. Also, Ellen + Ben Folds >>> Simon + Paula.

    I watched a little of Ben Folds on the Sing Off and was very impressed. He’d be great on Idol. Very credible, smart, funny, relevant. He’s not mean like Simon, but I was getting the feeling that the singing groups really were interested in his critique the most, just like with Simon.

  • karenc

    I do not agree that only ‘trained’  and ‘non-industry working’  talent be allowed on Idol. American Idol’s rules only prohibit artists that have signed a record contract. If they disallowed artists that have been working their whole life to break into the music industry, we would be missing out on some amazing voices and music today. If you look at the majority of people who make it into AI top 10, they have some type of experience in the music industry, either performing, or producing their own album and/or winning other singing competitions. David Archuleta, as young as he is, won Junior Star Search and performed on several TV shows, including ‘The Early Show.’  Several contestants already had self produced albums ((David Cook (his album won several local awards), Kris Allen, Brooke White, and others)). Kelly and Adam did demo work for a record company and Adam worked in local theatre, not Broadway. Carrie was about to sign an album contract right before auditioning for Idol, but the deal fell through. She also won some singing competitions. All of these are extremely talented musicians and the Music Industry would be a sad place without these exceptional artists. If it were not for AI, we might never have heard their musical voice. There is more untapped talent out there so hopefully, AI sticks around.

    I totally agree with you on this. I think that there is some level of experience needed. THe contestants that have been most successful also have had their own musical identities also, and this comes with experience. Of the seasons I’ve watched, I’ve seen that especially in Season 7, where almost everyone had their musical identity and stuck to it throughout most of their performances.

    On the other hand, the contestants that have had little experience struggle more on the show to find a song that really give them a good performance or to make it sound like more than a karoke performance. The contestants that really do well on Idol can take a song and really make it their own in thier own style.

    Also, the ones that have been sucessful after Idol had a lot of experience. I doubt if someone with little training and little experience would be able to write a cd that did well, and do a tour and have it be successful, like what David Cook did the past year.

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