JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Ellen DeGeneres Named 4th American Idol Judge, replacing Paula

Hee hee hee....I can't stay, but I just happened to catch this news item, and KNEW it would be great fodder for a lively debate over here.

From what I can gather, she has followed the show since day one, and the powers that be are pitching her as someone with a passion for music, quick wit, and extensive entertainment experience who will bring a new energy to the show...or something like that...

Anyway, here's the official word.....

http://www.americanidol.com/news/view/pid/1841

Have fun...but play nice!

Beth

Well, why not, she is the spokesperson for Cover Girl, ain't she? It's rather odd to me that a company would hire a lesbian to encourage women to buy makeup.

I'm tired of perversion showing up everywhere and will probably never watch the show again.

If this offended anyone, hey, I'm an American, get over it.

She'll probably do good. Much less zoned out than Paula was. And I expect Simon Cowell will hate her, because she *will* be intelligent, and opinionated, and maybe even nice to people. I agree with her assessment that there's no point in having any judge with any musical background on the show. The show's not about music. It's about Simon getting to humiliate people.

I expect I will still not watch the thing.

joe

It's quite frightening really.

Paula was stupid, she'll never get a gig like that again...

It's not like I actually watch this stuff {or care} anyway, but it begs the question ...What exactly are her musical qualifications?

None, Bob; she even said so in the interview I caught on my news feed this evening. About the same qualifications as Simon, in other words.

Joe

God forbid they hire a voice teacher as a judge.

Ellen being named a judge on American Idol will

1) bring a fresh take to the show that has been missing for quite some time. Ellen may possibly be a life support system that prolongs the life of the show for at least 5 or 6 more years

and

2) Those who aren't fans of American Idol and never watch it, but are major fans of Ellen DeGeneres, may actually watch American Idol simply because she is on the show.

These elements will add more ratings to American Idol and give it new life. It will get more people to watch the show and may even make up for those viewers who no longer watch it. There will be changes to the show I am sure as Elleng brings her own creative ideas to bear down on the other judges as well as the contestants who brave Simon Cowell's quips.

I am very interested in seeing how this all plays out. Let the games begin yeah?

Ellen is quite a brilliant entertainer and should make the show more interesting. Concerning her musical pedigree: You never know, she might have had piano lessons as a child.

However having 4 "judges" is too many, but no one asked my opinion.

Kevin

I will continue to not watch it <G>
Wy

Ellen was a guest judge for one episode of "So You think you can dance" A show in my opinion that has a LOT more talent than AI.

Ellen brought nothing to the table there, other than attempts at humor. I'm sure she'll be just as useless. I have no interest in watching anymore.

I don't usually watch it either. Once in a while, if nothing else is on.

Hilllllarious.

Tom

If you had a business that was trying to reach a very specific aspect of the purchasing public, how would you go about reaching that community? By getting one of "Their own" on the show.

Want to appeal to the Gay and Lesbian community? Get Americas foremost lesbian. Makes all the sense in the world to me. Didn't they have a whole lot of stuff going on last year about one of the people being the "Gay guy?"

There you go.

MAB

Can you say "Jump The Shark"?

God forbid they should hire a real live voice teacher as a judge.

(oops, did I already say that?)

lol

OK, I'll be the first to say I'm not an Ellen fan...but, that said, why not?

She has no background in music, true. Other than that, why not?

K, yes, she's a lesbian, I'm not getting into that whole discussion, but who cares. There are gay people, everywhere, even working at Lowes as we speak, so what difference does that make. She is a Covergirl spokeswoman, hey guys, lesbos where make up too, and from what I've seen, so do the drag queens, so I imagine sales went up. Huge market for hiding perceived flaws.

I won't watch or not watch based on who is on there judging, I don't think any of them other than Randy and Kara actually have had useful tips anyway. Simon isn't really a musical genius, he's just good at making money. Paula, well, I love Paula, drunk, doped or sober, I just think she's fun!

I do however think it's a huge mistake to put a comedian with Simon Cowel. Why? I don't think it will last long. I can see it now, "Ellen kisses Simon and has him questioning his sexuality"
Field day for the tabloids! It'll happen too, just watch and see (or don't, no skin off my nose) I do see a lot more strange behavior showing up in the auditions though. Maybe soem outlandish folks, oh wait...that won't be new. Hmmm. we'll just have to hide and watch.

What a crock of crap. Why not ask some dumb jock to be a judge on Americal Idiot... er' Idol. What ever happened to qualifications? What ever happened to morality? How about just going down to the seamier side of the Bronx and ask some homeless baglady to be a judge? This is a travesty and a massive injustice to people who try to live decent lives, earn a living and enjoy wholesome entertainment. It is becoming a sick, sick world.

Ah, Well,
It really depends on who wins the thing and how well they sell. It seems that a lot of Idol winners have faded pretty quickly.

Who from the show has been really sucessful?

Ellen DeGeneres was a very Successful Entertainer long BEFORE the Sexual Politics got into the mix. She'll be LOTS funnier than Paula ever was..JMO. And..if you can say "DINKS"...(Double Income, No Kids)..she'll appeal to folks with a LOT of Buying-Power out there..you betcha.

When Simon Says "Re-Invent"..the ratings usually go up..if only for a while. (So What..there are probably all sorts of Future Judges just dyin' for the chance to resurrect the ratings there.)

Me Personally..when I wanna hear "Old Hits Again" I just turn on the Radio...

But..yeah..IF Ellen's Hillarious-Enough, I might just get curious-enough to pay 'em a Visit..once-or-twice.

As for Morality on TV, JMO but the Christians own ENOUGH Channels to be More'n' Happy...or should be..already.

Best Wishes/Big Hugs,
Stan

Just makes me even less inclined to watch it than before. I've never thought she was particularly funny.

Greg

I agree 4 judges is too many.

That's funny!

I think that'd be interesting....

They've produced at least one gold record every year and most years went platinum. Even William Hung made a lot of money because of American Idol.

There's no denying the shows impact on pop culture.. The winners have had varying degrees of success though...The biggest winner of all has no doubt been Carrie Underwood, followed by Kelly Clarkson.

Some have obviously underachieved {Rueben Studdard, Taylor Hicks}
And a few also-rans have done better than the actual winners {Jennifer Hudson, Chris Daughtry}

Well, I have watched Ellen from her earlier sitcom days. She is a good comedienne and has been rather witty... I like her.
But she & AI is not exactly a good match here.
With all the musicians that are so qualified for this seat, it's a given, it's all about marketing & money.

God forbid they should hire a real live voice teacher as a judge.
Didn't someone say that? (Hi Vicki)Or someone who actually hires or scouts talent... You know, someone who has a clue...

Would be nice if it were more than a karaoke show working with a limited song list to sing or sang songs by unknowns (yes, I know they have to work for economic reasons from packages of rights purchased from publishers on a bulk basis, which is why you see so little new music on most such shows). It sort of reminds me of this old show from my childhood in LA called both sides now, conservative newsman/commentator George Putnam was paired with Mort Sahl who represented the "left" but not seriously and just tried to crack bad jokes, it ended when Putnam couldn't take it anymore and stormed out, but it was high entertainment while it lasted)

I haven't watched AI since the first couple of seasons. I find out who won when my wife tells me such and such songs were performed by this or that Idol winner. Obviously some very talented performers come out of it, I just don't care for the show for reasons others have expressed already.

I do love Ellen, though. Loved before I knew she was gay. Love her still. She's cute, engaging and funny as hell. I'd be more inclined to tune in just to watch her take the air out of Simon.

Can't wait.

What's American Idol?

Of course you do realize that Ellen is the biggest proponant of "Free music" don't you? Her show will not pay to use any music in her dance segments or anything on her television show. Don't think it is a coincident on having her on the biggest music show at all do you?

Sure, no overall effect on the music business there is there?
Already we have half the world that has decided that NOBODY should be paid for music or any creative work there, now just what we all need, one of the main proponants of the "I want what I want and I want it right now and don't intend on paying for it."

Watch away. Another nail in the coffin of the music business. Contribute to it if you want.

MAB

Director Quentin Tarantino did a surprising job coaching one week, so I don't think Ellen is necessarily going to be a bad judge. A bigger problem may be that you really only have two musicians on the show as judges. However Ellen is an entertainer and AI is entertainment- it's all the same.

Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

MAB

Maybe we should start pushing for comedy to be free and see how she likes them apples.
I think a front row seat on the Titanic would be good for her.

Marc you might be right on the chairs...

These guys simply have a number #1 hit hands down...tons of money behind it...
She is seated next to Simon for a reason...doesn't really matter that she is not a music maven...they have simply figured out that she just represents the rest of us blue collar folk that will be a great bounce to the comic side of the show....

There is something much deeper at work here, and I am not sure many people see it. If you want to get rid of paying for music, you do it incrementally.

There is a leader of the pack of today's music market. American Idol. All reality music television shows have followed it. If you incrementally allow acceptance for something, i.e. her shows insistance that they "don't roll that way" in paying for music, is just one more incremental brick.

A few months back I had put up a big front in a desire to stay away from the National Endowment for the Arts. This is because I don't believe in government funding at all for arts. But now it has been revealed that the NEA is being used for the current administration's propaganda on it's agenda.

All of this is an incremental addition of the entitlement mentality. Give anyone what they want when they want it with no thought of the reprecussions. And it has been building for years.

American Idol and Ellen are simply another part of that. Seemingly unrelated parts of a larger objective. To eliminate all copyrights and protection for creative works.

I could be wrong, and will be the first to admit if I am. But watch for battles brewing on this. Pay attention to other elements of this.

MAB