I
t looks like Randy Jackson is the only original American Idol judge from last season left standing – or sitting – at the judges’ table.
Hours after Ellen DeGeneres announced her exit from the reality show, TMZ reports that Kara DioGuardi has been fired. Kid Glue first reported that Kara was the only judge with a year-to-year contract, and our bet is that American Idol decided against renewing her deal.
Ellen reportedly left the show on her own accord, because she felt it was difficult to judge people and “sometimes hurt their feelings.” The daytime talk show host also cited her already busy schedule as one of the reasons for her exit. She tweeted that she had “Voted [herself] off American Idol” on Thursday.
Hot on the heels of the judging exits – two potentially exciting new additions have been named who will join Randy Jackson at the judges’ table: Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler.
Random, yes, but I think it could work.
Jennifer Lopez and Paula Abdul have had similar music careers, and I think we should also be able to count on “Jenny from the block” to spew a little nonsense just like another lovable Idol judge of seasons past. Plus, what else does she really have to do?
Steven Tyler has had a long and successful music career with his band Aerosmith – he’s probably been performing longer than most of this year’s contestants have been alive – so I’m interested to see what sort of advice he’ll offer.
Do the new judges and the return to the three-judge format make you want to tune in next season?
