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It’s been announced that Ellen DeGeneres has been hired as the new fourth judge for the upcoming season of American Idol and I’m both shocked and, I guess, a little pleased.
First of all, it’s a well-known fact that Ellen loves the show and watches it religiously. 
Secondly, I loved her as a guest judge on this past season of So You Think You Can Dance (she had the Top 10 contestants from Season 5 on her daytime talk show this week and it was fantastic – watch it!!!).
Thirdly, she will definitely attract an audience and hopefully she will keep bringing them back every week. Ellen knows a lot about being a performer. She knows about what it takes to be brave and different.
And, finally, she brings some much-needed comic relief although I cannot imagine how they will keep her from rambling since that’s what she’s famous for!
In case you are wondering whether this is a rumor, Idol creator and executive producer, Simon Fuller, had the following to say: "I could not be more excited to have Ellen join the ‘American Idol’ family. Ellen has been a fan of the show for many years, and her love of music and understanding of the American public will bring a unique human touch to our judging panel. I can’t wait for this next season to begin."
So… now that you’ve heard what I think, I’d love to hear your thoughts!
image: Bauer-Griffin
This really puzzled me, out of all that were mentioned before to replace Paula and this is who they get? Don’t get me wrong, I like Ellen just not for this, she doesn’t really have any experience. But I guess it doesn’t matter, I’m not going to watch anyways, but I thought they would have gone with another aritst.
This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. I will no longer be watching AI since it is becoming such a farce.
I still think it’s a joke that Fox wouldn’t pay Paula what she wanted! Ellen is a stupid replacement IMO – they should have just stuck with 3 judges: Randy, Kara and Simon.
Look, Ellen is a funny person, she thinks she is funny,the producers think she is funny. Now that might be good for a variety show, but this is supposed to be a singing show, not look at the judges. All that will happen is the contestants will become less important, viewers will not be as vested and ratings will fall again and no one will understand why that happened, at least no one in volved in management. The ratings have fallen since this show has become more and more about the judges. Last year, they cut back the number of songs, who knows what they will do this year when they have to have a laugh track for Ellen as well as the jabbering of the other self important judges.
[...] anyone jumps to any conclusions about there being any animosity about Ellen taking over Paula’s old judge’s seat on American Idol, Paula clarified that she had nothing but love for the daytime talk show [...]