Just five day’s after attending her ex-fiance DJ AM’s funeral, Nicole Richie gave birth to her second child. She and Good Charlotte rocker Joel Madden welcomed son Sparrow James Midnight Madden into the world on September 9th. The baby weighed in at 7 pounds, 14 ounces. His sister, Harlow Winter Kate, was born in January 2008.
In something straight out of the “I thought it was really a joke” category is the announcement that Ellen DeGeneres will replace Paula Abdul on “American Idol” as a judge. No, I am not kidding! If you remember, Paula announced last month that she would not be returning to the still terribly popular show for its ninth season.
It was announced yesterday that DeGeneres would replace Paula after the auditions, which means she will sit alongside Simon, Kara, and Randy starting in January 2010. Of her new position, DeGeneres said, “I’m thrilled to be the new judge on American Idol. I’ve watched since the beginning, and I’ve always been a huge fan. So getting this job is a dream come true, and think of all the money I’ll save from not having to text in my vote.”
I like the positive spin the CNN article put on this announcement, saying DeGeneres has years of experience in front of a live audience. Now don’t get me wrong, I think DeGeneres is a very funny comedian and is great on her talk show. But, I just can’t see her fitting in with this mix of judges. Paula was always the one that offered the singers (even the bad ones!) support and hope. While I can see DeGeneres doing that, there is just something slightly goofy about her that I can’t see mixing well with any of the other judges, especially Simon. And what does DeGeneres know about music?
I guess all the “American Idol” fans can do at this point is wait and see how this all plays out. I was really hoping this was all just a ratings thing with Paula announcing her departure, but I don’t know if she and Fox would play it out this long.
(This image of Ellen DeGeneres is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.)
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