American Idol: Ellen DeGeneres replaces Paula Abdul!

It's official! Paula Abdul has been replaced! According to Variety, Ellen DeGeneres announced on her daytime talk show that she will join Simon, Randy and Kara as the fourth judge on American Idol. I guess after eight seasons, the producers finally realized that Paula was more effective as comedic fodder (bet you people took bets on how high she would be every night) than as a judge. I mean, has she ever given a negative criticism? I applaud her for her enthusiasm but woman, have an opinion!

So why pay Paula so people can laugh at her when you can have a sober crowd-pleaser like Ellen? That way, the audience are laughing with Ellen. Ellen's quirky and real but I think she'll need some time to ease into her new seat on the American Idol panel. Reading the news on Variety, it hit me - Ah, Ellen's appearance as guest judge on the last season's So You Think You Can Dance was an audition! To test the TV waters, to see Ellen could possibly bring in the ratings. Personally, I felt Ellen was way to easy on the dancers. So I'm hoping to see less rah-rah, more funny / tongue-in-cheek comments from Ellen on American Idol. Idol needs a Mary Murphy! I can't believe I'm saying this but Mary Murphy used to annoy the hell out of me every time she laughed/screamed but strangely, she grows on you!