By Lori Acken

Here’s what Randy Jackson thinks you should know about American Idol’s ninth season, which bows with a two-hour premiere this Tuesday, Jan. 12 at 8pm on FOX.

• It’s gonna be a good one:

“Interesting, wild, crazy … .” And thanks to the series’ new judge, longtime Jackson pal and fellow Louisiana native Ellen DeGeneres, really really funny.

• If you think Ellen has nothing to bring to the AI judges table, you’re wrong:

“We’re going to have a lot of laughs,” Jackson told reporters during a conference call on Friday. “Welcoming Ellen to the fold is a good look. She’s funny, she’s charismatic, she’s really cool. … She’s a die-hard music fan. And she’s a performer herself, so she knows what’s it’s like to perform and entertain.”

And yeah, she’ll speak for us armchair AI quarterbacks at home — cause after all, it’s us who call the game in the end, am I right?

“She brings the lay person point of view. … She will give the at-home viewer a real voice on the judges panel.”

• But he still misses his girl Paula:

“The Paula thing is near and dear to my heart. We speak all the time. She was one of our best friends and she still is. I miss that. Sometimes we look down the judges table and and go, ‘Where’s Paula?’

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Categories: Reality TV, TV News & Program Updates by buttonknows
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Tags: American Idol, Ellen Degeneres, FOX, Mary J. Blige, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, Victoria Beckham

by Ruth Anne Boulet

*Sigh*

Really, I didn’t think it would come to this. Paula is really, truly out. Replacing her is Ellen DeGeneres.

At the risk of repeating what several other bloggers are saying, I will concur that while I like Ellen, she’s no Paula. Paula was on the panel to be really upbeat and spout the crazy salad. Will I hear Ellen tell contestants they are ‘authentic’ or ‘original?’ Will I believe her if she does?

One thing I know is that Ellen won’t have the ‘is-she-drunk-or-high-or-WHAT?!’ that Paula gave us, consistently, week after week. That’s what made her, in Paula’s own words, original & authentic.

There are reports that Ellen wants to give “the people’s perspective.” Sigh. Ellen, you’re not “the people” anymore. You’ve got your own very successful daytime show. And anyway, I don’t want “the people” out of my judging panel. That’s what I have my friends & the Internet for. That’s where I get “the people”’s reaction. I don’t want a representative of us non-singing folks on the judging panel. Sorry, Ellen.

I truly hope I ‘m wrong and Ellen DeGeneres brings something new to American Idol. I have a feeling, however, that she won’t and this next season we’ll see the slow death of a successful reality TV show. Maybe then American Idol will finally get an Emmy — like so many, after it’s gone.

Photo credit: © 2008 by Jeff Frank

Check out Ellen on SYTYCD and decide for yourself after the jump.

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Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
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Tags: American Idol, Ellen Degeneres, Kara DioGuardi, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, So You Think You Can Dance, SYTYCD

Peter Rice, chairman of entertainment at FOX, confirmed today at TCA that Victoria Beckham and Katy Perry would be guest judges on the next season of American Idol. Rice also addressed the departure of judge Paula Abdul:

“It’s very saddening to us. She was the only member whose contract was up … we very much wanted her to return. We made an offer we feel was very fair; it was a substantial raise. Between now and January we will come up with a replacement for Paula. We’re very sad that she’s not coming back.”

Although there will be a search for a fourth judge, Rice says there is “no thought that any of [the guest judges] will be a long-term judge for us.”

Categories: Reality TV, TV News & Program Updates by RabbitEars
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Tags: American Idol, FOX, guest judge, Katy Perry, Paula Abdul, Peter Rice, Victoria Beckham

By Jeff Pfeiffer

Oh, to be as deliciously open and uncensored as Kathy Griffin, star of Bravo’s My Life on the D-List (which airs its season finale this Monday). At an outdoor shindig thrown by NBC/Universal during the Television Critics Association (TCA) tour, Griffin gabbed with a small scrum of reporters and let her thoughts fly on various topics of the day, never missing a wry, often tongue-in-cheek beat even as she managed to throw in ironically glamorous poses for passing photographers during the conversation:

On Paula Abdul Leaving American Idol
Griffin: This is a very tough time for me emotionally. I cannot imagine my life without Paula, in the way that Paula cannot imagine her life without, let’s say, Vicodin. Grief. Denial. It was the seven stages of death for me [on hearing Paula was leaving], and I don’t believe it yet because I don’t want to believe it. And I think they’re going to have the auditions in like Boise or something, and then there’s going to be a ray of light like heaven opened up its doors, and Paula’s going to stumble in and pick up where we left her.

On Wanting To Take Paula’s Place
I would only consider replacing Ryan [Seacrest]. Then that would make me king of the universe, because he apparently runs the whole universe and we’re just living in it. [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by RabbitEars
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Tags: Al Sharpton, American Idol, Barry Manilow, Bill O'Reilly, Book Club Selection, Bravo, Campbell Brown, Carol Channing, Cher, Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Comedy Central, Creative Arts Emmy, D-List, D-List season finale, Dirty Jobs, Emmy, Emmy Awards, fox news, Glenn Beck, Jeff Pfeiffer, Joan Rivers, Joan Rivers roast, Kathy Griffin, Kathy Griffin My Life on the D-List, Michelle Malkin, Paula Abdul, roast, rush limbaugh, Ryan Seacrest, Sarah Palin, Suzanne Somers, TCA

by Ruth Anne Boulet

I’ll be splitting this blog posting into The Awesome, The Fantastic, The Mediocre, The Awful, The Expected, and The Actual Results. And so we begin.

The Awesome

What Adam Lambert was wearing when he sang “Beth.” The platform boots; the studded cages around his shoulders; the bedazzled eye makeup and then … KISS. Awesome. It’s so Spinal Tap, I love it. Even the platform that KISS descends to the stage looks like a little Stonehenge. There’s pyrotechnics! Explosions! Long tongues! The realization that none of the members of KISS sing all that well. Mom Lambert is way into the KISS medley. Paul Stanley does a poor Pete Townsend impression & ‘breaks’ his guitar really cleanly.

The Fantastic

David Cook’s performance was pretty good, but mostly because of the circumstances of why he wrote it. Didn’t like him that much during his season, but he’s kind of growing on me.

Cyndi Lauper & Allison Iraheta’s duet on “Time After Time.” Love both of them. [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
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Tags: Adam Lambert, American Idol, Kara DioGuardi, Kris Allen, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ruth Boulet, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, WindUpDoll

by Ruth Anne Boulet

So this is it. The last time we’ll have a performance American Idol show all year. It begins with all of the pomp & circumstance you’d expect, although Idol still insists on using the ‘girl’ winner in the opening credits. Why, I’m not sure. The only thing we definitely know about this year’s winner is that it will NOT be a girl.

Kris won the coin toss, so he’s going second, but if you’ve been Googling Idol at all, you already knew that. Ryan mentions that we should all build in some extra time on our DVRs for tomorrow night’s show. Thanks for the heads-up Ryan.

Just because this is the last performance episode does not mean that we’re spared any filler. It’s better than usual filler, though, with Adam’s family talking about him being a pain in restaurants. He starts off with a reprise of his Mad World performance.

This time, he gets to come up through the floor to the top of the staircase. He also gets liberal amounts of fog and a Neo Matrix black trench and 80s fingerless gloves. I had heard he was going to do this song ‘with a twist’ and I’m really glad that he didn’t twist it up too much. [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
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Tags: Adam Lambert, American Idol, Kara DioGuardi, Kris Allen, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ruth Boulet, Simon Cowell, WindUpDoll

by Ruth Anne Boulet

So last Friday, I was one of the throngs who made their way down to the Summerfest grounds in Milwaukee to see Danny Gokey. Not because I’m a fan, but because I wanted to see just how crazy it would be. And it was quite crazy. I couldn’t see anything, and really couldn’t hear anything either. But I can say I was there, and I saw the ‘Cougars for Danny’ T-shirts. My only disappointment is that the one, repeat, one beer vendor was on the other side of the crowd from the entrance, so there was no way I could get to it. I learned later that a friend of mine was also there. Apparently I just missed frustration, because the beer tent was not well organized. There were no kegs, just servers pouring from bottles of beer. I’m glad I went & got decent beer in the Third Ward instead.

So I caught a little of the Night at the Museum tie-in at the beginning, and a bit of Alicia Keys, but then my power went out. I caught a little of the kid performing, but I wasn’t properly introduced. If anyone could introduce me, that would be super. My satellite also went out, so my DVR didn’t get America’s Next Top Model. I did catch the last bit, so I know who won. Thanks for the concern. [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
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Tags: Adam Lambert, American Idol, Danny Gokey, Kara DioGuardi, Kris Allen, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ruth Boulet, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, WindUpDoll

by Ruth Anne Boulet

We’re finally winding down this, the 8th season of American Idol. If I listened to the judges, tonight might seem superfluous. Why bother having a top 3 when the finale of Adam vs. Danny has been preordained? That’s the thing with American Idol. Sometimes what’s expected doesn’t occur. Can Kris Allen really break out & stay around another week?

I live right here in Milwaukee. We’ve actually got someone in the finals this year. It was pretty crazy on the lakefront last Friday when Danny Gokey came back to town. Am I a fan? No. Nothing would make me happier than to see him go home tomorrow. However, I was glad for the city of Milwaukee. It was a gorgeous day, and I’m hoping that we get a ton of good press out of this. For that, I’m thankful for Danny.

I’m not thankful for Danny’s voice, however. Because I think Milwaukee has milked all it can out of this, it’s time to send that boy home. Danny’s up first & we get footage of him getting his text from Paula. His judge’s choice song is “Dance Little Sister” from Terence Trent D’Arby. [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
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Tags: Adam Lambert, American Idol, Danny Gokey, Kara DioGuardi, Kris Allen, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ruth Boulet, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, WindUpDoll

by Ruth Anne Boulet

Tonight’s results show is a whole ton of filler for a 5 second show. I know that all results shows are a ton of filler, but with this episode, American Idol is shoving as many performances as possible to keep our interest. That’s probably a wise move. As the season draws to a close, viewers get more & more emotionally invested in the outcome. There’s less tolerance for stupid patter between the judges.

Like a really stupid Ford commercial. Wow. Does American Idol want Ford to go away? It seems like it with the amount of effort, or lack of effort, that has been going into those thing lately.

Group number, featuring Slash! Schools out for swine flu kids! Way to keep it topical American Idol! Slash is playing like he’s barely paying attention to the kids singing. He just wants to riff it many. Danny and Kris look so uncomfortable. Ryan also looks like Slash told him before the show not to violate his personal space or Ryan would get pummeled. I would not be surprised if that conversation occurred. [Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
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Tags: Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, American Idol, Danny Gokey, Kara DioGuardi, Kris Allen, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ruth Boulet, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, WindUpDoll

by Ruth Anne Boulet

Paula Abdul was addicted to painkillers for years. Shocking. It’s like finding out Clay Aiken is gay.

Ryan tells us that there was an accident right before the show started with glass exploding everywhere. That’s putting it mildly. To get the on the scene reporting, check out MJ’s Twitter account.

We get a Slash package, which omits that David Bowie was a father figure. I learned that this weekend. Seriously, check out Wikipedia.

For those of you who may not approve of the Rock and or Roll, let me share a little something with you. Rock can be learned to teach the impressionable youth about many things.

[Read more →]

Categories: Reality TV by windupdoll
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Tags: Adam Lambert, Allison Iraheta, American Idol, Danny Gokey, Kara DioGuardi, Kris Allen, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson, Ruth Boulet, Ryan Seacrest, Simon Cowell, WindUpDoll