Today’s Simon Cowell news roundup!
- EW sat down with FOX Entertainment President Kevin Reilly to get his thoughts on the Simon Cowell bombshell: “The X Factor is an enormous hit in the UK. I think it’s exciting. It’s going to be an interesting job to make them their own identity. There could end up being this fun thing of people going, ‘I love X Factor, ’ ‘No, I’m true to Idol’ ‘No, I’ve jumped ship, ’ and I think it could be a little of, ‘Which is better this season?’ There could be some fun competition and hopefully it just leads to two really vital shows, so here we go.”
- Veteran record producer, Peter Waterman, who worked on UK’s Pop Idol with Simon claims the Idol judge’s goal is nothing less than “complete global domination of television”: “He wants to own everything, he wants to be the biggest — he wants to be a billion dollars a year man and he’s going to be the first guy to do that.”
- Sources tell E Online it’s possible Ryan Seacrest could do double duty on Idol in 2010 (I personally doubt that): “Sources tell E! News that the idea of Seacrest doubling as host and judge remains in play as producers grapple with the question of how to keep the Fox show afloat once Simon Cowell jumps ship after this season. “Anything is possible, ” says an Idol insider. “Stay tuned.””
- Nigel Lythgoe tells TMZ that nothing will ever be as big as idol.
More after the JUMP…
- American Idol Alums share their thoughts on Simon with EW: “Anoop Desai (sixth place, season 8): I think the show can survive without Simon. When the show first started it was a lot more dependent on that ‘Simon Cowell personality, ’ and that’s still a big drawing point for the show. But it’s also come into its own as part of the American psyche. At its core, the show is still about talent being discovered, and America likes going on the journey with those people, regardless of who the judges are.”
- American Idol Alums share their thoughts on Simon with Idol Tracker: “Blake Lewis: Simon leaving is like what happens when a great movie swaps a lead character for a B actor in the sequel. Like if James Cameron made ‘Terminator 2’ with Jean Claude Van Dam instead of Arnold — It wouldn’t be the same movie. So I’m not so sure the American public will like ‘American Idol’ without the lovable Simon Cowell. Who could replace him? He once said I was over the top, but who can top Simon Cowell?!”
- LA Times Ann Powers on Simon’s departure: “Instead of waxing poetic about how Simon introduced a new generation to the stereotype of the fussy Brit, or listing the five most ridiculous metaphors he used to describe bad singing, or basking in the glow of his whitened teeth, let’s talk about something serious. The fact is, Cowell helped change the way Americans think about popular music.”
- Slate magazine on Simon’s departure: “Of course, the character of the show cannot and will not be the same without him. For the past 8 years Simon has not only given out Idol judgment but taught America to judge; he’s the public face of the music industry and the template for millions of budding armchair critics. Forty-two Simon clones judging 42 Idol clones around the world could not accomplish precisely what he has here, with his tell-it-to-you-straight British authority and disingenuous disavowals of rudeness.”
- Defamer’s Richard Lawson on Simon’s departure: “Yes, American Idol is Christmas. Only it’s bigger and brighter and louder and it lasts so long (oh God, so long — part of my revered Idol tradition is starting to really hate it about four weeks before the finale). And it’s been so blessedly familiar year after year… But the singers fade from our minds so quickly, so easily, season after season. They don’t really matter. What does matter is that Randy is hooting and braying like King Bowser there on the left. And sandwiched gooily next to him is lolling-headed Perla Abdoo. Finally, there on the right, proud breasted Simon.
- Newsweek makes some interesting comparisons between Simon Cowell bombshell and NBC’s late night debacle: “Fox is now essentially in the same awkward experimentation phase with Cowell and Idol. Clearly, Fox would prefer that the star of their (or anyone’s) biggest show not quit, especially following Paula Abdul’s exit. But all they have to offer Cowell is more money, which he apparently doesn’t need or want. Like O’Brien, Cowell wanted a promotion. Fox, meanwhile, doesn’t want to lose him, so they’re giving him another show, and the risk of a total disaster is just as palpable as it was with Leno’s show. Fox can’t sustain both of these shows.”
