It’s house cleaning day for Simon Cowell and Fox. After just one season, the host and two judges are out. While it was expected that the wooden host whose name nobody can remember would be out, and that there was no path forward for Nicole as a judge, the amount of carnage comes as a surprise.
Paula Abdul’s selection as a judge confused me. The only possible logic behind it was the hope that Idol fans wanted to see her and Simon back together again, but at the end of the day, the reality is that people are over her (I thought we already learned that from Live to Dance). Strangely, Paula seemed more competent by comparison, as she was joined by an also pointless judge, Nicole Scherzinger. The two of them combined to refuse to do the job they were hired to do: judge. It’s interesting that they got rid of Cheryl Cole for no apparent good reason and thought this was the better way to go.
They’re joined by Steve Jones, the judge who’s not at all Ryan Seacrest. In 5 years, he’ll be even more forgotten than Brian Dunkleman.
Remaining on the panel with Simon is the other potentially competent judge, LA Reid. The problem with this show is that judging doesn’t seem terribly relevant regardless. It’s all a competition for the judges, not just the singers. That leaves them praising acts they should criticize and criticizing acts for no reason. It’s either a show about bragging rights for the judges or a show about finding the best singer. The two don’t seem to go hand in hand.
Now the search is on for some new judges. At the top of the list seems to be one of the biggest names in the business, Mariah Carey. Not being pregnant with twins, perhaps now is a better time for her to give it a go.
As long as Fox is doing a bit of winter cleaning, I have a suggestion. Get rid of all the judges on American Idol who refuse to judge. That will leave you with a nice round number, zero.