In a post SYTYCD finale chat last night, Nigel Lythgoe talked a little American Idol with Lyndsey Parker of Yahoo Music.
Nigel, who is returning to American Idol as executive producer after a two-year absence stresses the importance of CHEMISTRY between the judges, and laughs at the notion of Jennifer Lopez as a diva.
“”I’m reading so much baloney in everything, ” says Nigel, ” There was something in the press saying Jennifer Lopez is a diva. That woman is in no way a diva.”
While he doesn’t think it’s necessary to replace someone on the panel with a person just like them, it is important to have chemistry at the table.
Music experience is a good thing for a prospective Idol judge, says Nigel, but it’s even more important to have somebody who is going to be “honest with their decisions.”
Nigel identifies the problem with having really famous people on the panel, “Why would a star, in truth, want to come on that show and say, ‘You were crap tonight?’ because that star is going to be booed. So it’s going to be really difficult.”
He doesn’t know quite what’s going on at the moment because he has yet to get back “into the team, ” but Nigel will be getting busy when he returns to Idol team next week.
Video after the JUMP…