American Idol Season 10 With Steven Tyler & Jennifer Lopez Off to a Good Start

I had been of the opinion that American Idol jumped the shark when Paula Abdul left, replaced by Ellen DeGeneres and Kara DioGuardi. The departure of Simon Cowell seemed to me to be the final straw in the American Idol coffin.

But.

I think I was wrong. Wednesday night's first episode of the new season of American Idol really seemed like a new and improved version.

And getting rid of, what had started to seem to me, the repetitively, evermore less amusing, Simon Cowell, seems to have been a healthy change.

Sort of like getting rid of a tumor you did not realize was cancerous.

Last year, or was it the year before, American Idol hype said it would be a kinder, gentler American Idol, reflective of the tough economic times. But, I really did not notice much difference. A lot of the same making fun of unfortunate, clueless souls was still very much an element.

Last night there really was none of that old American Idol style meanness. The goofy, talentless auditioners who did appear were treated respectfully and pretty much gently. My favorite of those was the totally clueless Boy Scout.

Right from the very first audition there was a big difference, with Steven Tyler sort of singing along. It was like both he and Jennifer Lopez were more humanely, honestly connected to those trying out than Simon Cowell ever came close to being.

All in all, the new American Idol just has a way more positive feel to it. At least so far.

And I like the enhanced back stories. The daughter of a cancer survivor, a new American from Kosovo, a 16 year old kid who spent time in a homeless shelter. I think my favorite may have been the Singing Waitress.

Both Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez surprised me. Tyler due to how funny he is. Lopez due to how honestly nice she seemed. The poor lady was devastated the first time she knew she had to say no to someone. As auditions continued saying no did not get much easier, with Jennifer at one point saying, "Oh, my God, I hate this! Why did I sign up for this? I want to go home."

American Idol seemed to find some interesting singers in New Jersey. I've pretty much gone from figuring I'd be bailing on American Idol, to now I am solidly in for the duration.

A very pleasant surprise.

And one more thing. Randy Jackson appears to have lost a lot of weight and I thought he came across way better with his new judge partners.

Paula Abdul Debuts “Live to Dance” Promo

Paula Abdul is back at the judge's table on her upcoming dance show, Live To Dance, the new reality-competition series in which the contestants will compete for a $500000 prize.

"I want different. I want new. I want amazing people who believe in their unique ability." the former American Idol judge tells contestants in the promo.

Live To Dance premieres on Tuesday, January 4 at 8 p.m. on CBS. Check out the promo below:

American Idol: Ellen DeGeneres Out with Jennifer Lopez Latest Possible Simon Cowell Replacement

Each day seems to have someone new being the Simon Cowell replacement on American Idol.

Yesterday the replacement was rumored to be Jessica Simpson. That seemed ridiculous. Before Jessica, Justin Timberlake was the supposed replacement. Timberlake made more sense than Simpson.

Today's rumored Simon Cowell replacement is Jennifer Lopez. Ms. Lopez has long had a reputation for being difficult, so maybe she'd be an entertaining judge.

Yesterday when I blogged about the bizarre Jessica Simpson rumor I mentioned that I thought Ellen DeGeneres had grown increasingly tiresome as last season's American Idol drug to its lackluster conclusion.

And now today the big American Idol news is that Ellen DeGeneres is out, having told the American Idol producers that she did not think she was a good fit for the show. I'd agree with that.

But Jennifer Lopez? Why don't the American Idol producers dangle the same big bucks they were giving to Simon Cowell in front of Harry Connick, Jr. and hope it entices him to replace Simon Cowell.

Supposedly Kara DioGuardi has not yet been signed for the coming season of American Idol. Good. Give her the boot too and bring back Paula Abdul.

Harry Connick, Jr., Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson might just be the mix that stops American Idol's ratings slide.

Then again, once a show Jumps the Shark and starts to slide, usually nothing reverses the inevitable slippage to eventual cancellation day.

Tom Cruise Considering a Reality TV Show?

You're looking at the infamous iconic image of Tom Cruise Jumping the Couch on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

It is widely believed it was at this point that the dimming of the Tom Cruise star began.

Made even dimmer by subsequent displays of disturbing behavior.

Tom Cruise has made attempts to fix his damaged reputation, without a lot of luck.

I think the only route to recovery for Tom Cruise would be to finally wise up and get out of the Scientology Cult.

But, in the news today I see that Tom Cruise is considering a different tactic to re-connect with his once adoring public. That being a Reality TV Show showing Tom's private life with wife, Katie Holmes and baby, Suri.

Apparently Tom Cruise has been shooting a lot of footage of his private life at home with the wife and kid.

Unless Tom Cruise has gotten some sort of good judgment transplant that now has him realizing how he comes across when he is in real person mode, well, I'm thinking this is not a great plan for Tom.

I'm guessing it would be a trainwreck, with Tom Cruise not realizing he's making matters worse. Just like Britney Spears with her extremely embarrassing Reality TV Show, shot with then husband to be, now ex-husband, Kevin Federline.

And then there was Paula Abdul's Hey Paula Reality TV Show. Major, major trainwreck. Paula seems to have survived her Reality TV Show trainwreck better than Britney Spears Reality TV Show trainwreck, which seemed to be the start of Britney's spiral into, well, madness.

So, it is going to be interesting to see if Tom Cruise goes ahead with sharing his home movies. I suspect someone in his orbit will caution him that this is not a good idea.

Below is an amusing version of Tom Cruise's infamous Oprah Winfrey performance on her couch....

American Idol Season 10 Lowers Audition Age

American Idol's Season 10 auditions start July 17. I don't think Simon Cowell has been replaced yet.

If there were a place to place a bet, I'd place a bet that this is the year when American Idol falls from its #1 top-rated TV show position.

Yesterday it was announced that American Idol is lowering the audition age by one year, so now singer wannabes who are between 15 and 28 are eligible.

15 years old? This does not seem like a good idea to me.

Now, I would have some hope for the survival of American Idol, after Season 9's total lacklusterness, if yesterday it was announced that Harry Connick Jr. was replacing Simon Cowell, that Paula Abdul was returning, and that Kara DioGuardi and Ellen DeGeneres had been booted.

If you are between 15 and 28 and think you can warble like Carrie Underwood and Lee DeWyze go to the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Saturday, July 17, Bradley Center in Milwaukee on Wednesday, July 21, an undisclosed location in New Orleans on Monday, July 26, IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey on Tuesday, August 3, Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas on Wednesday, August 11 and AT & T Park in San Francisco on Thursday, August 19.

I think I'll audition for American Idol this year. Austin is a short drive from my current location. I'm sure I can pass for 28. Do they ask to see I.D.? What I.D. would a 15 year old have?

American Idol: A Lot of People Really Don't Like Kara DioGuardi

A couple days ago I blogged that I thought American Idol had Jumped the Shark. I opined that adding Kara DioGuardi to American Idol was the main Shark Jumper.

Reading through various Internet TV Forums there seems to be fairly universal revulsion at Ms. DioGuardi and her various behaviors.

As in her manner of speaking, the inane things she says, the bizarre flirting with Simon Cowell and a lot more.

So, for amusement's sake I thought I'd copy and paste a collection of TV Forum comments.....
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According to the behind the scenes recap at Entertainment Weekly, the Mike save was pretty much at Kara's absolute insistence. Figures.
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Yeah, her jumping up and down after the save, slapping high fives into the air (and with whomever she could hit) and generally acting like she'd single-handedly just cured cancer was beyond disgusting. The ego has been particularly unchecked since Casey was forced to refer to her as a "superstar" a few weeks back, but now the bitch has apparently convinced herself she invented fire.
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I don't hate her, but her antics are so Over The Top that it has become somewhat of a joke when I watch. I DID get pissed at her for telling Tim Urban not to smile, and I got even more pissed when Andrew sang a song about dancing while sitting down and she didn't call him out on it, but when he sang a song about war without a gun or tank she made a huge deal about it.
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She is to consumed with being fabulous and a legend in her own mind to speak coherently or in a way that is direct and not talking down to them.
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The sad thing is that she thinks that she's more talented, and a better singer, than everyone else. I bet she sits there thinking that she would have easily won American Idol if she was a contestant.
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She's as rabid mad as Paula, but without the drugs, which makes her more pathetic.
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I blame the crash and burn of Idol these past two seasons on Kara personally. You had AI7 which was awesome and then Kara comes in and AI8 was pretty crappy and then Paula leaves and Kara remains and it becomes borderline unbearable.
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Who knew a drunk like Paula was such a godsend.
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Get ready for some music history from Kara on the artistry of the Beatles and how to interpret/emote their songs.
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Without Kara, we wouldn't know who is being true to themselves as an artist.
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She was climbing Simon like a damn tree again last night! The director even tries to tighten up the shot to keep her out of Simon's frame...but those bony appendages always come creeping in. So DISTRACTING.
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Seriously, what's her obsession with groping Simon? Why don't they have her sit next to Randy or make her grope Ellen.
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I noticed that. She also peers at him with such intensity, barely two inches from his face, that it sets him aback for a second or two while he's commenting. Those are the actions of a crazy person, a for real crazy person. Maybe that's the answer. Kara has a secret battle with mania that is only partially controlled.
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I don't think Kara has been as bad this season, but I would have given her a shove or a slap by now if she was into my personal space all the time like she is with Simon. I seriously hate that.
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The sole saving grace of Teflon Tim is his total dismissal of Kara's opinion and the obvious frustration it's causing her.
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Kara informs one and all that the song is about the Vietnam War and Andrew should understand that. Kara gets it wrong --again. "Gimme Shelter" had nothing to do with the Vietnam War. The "war, children" that was just a shot away was a race war some folks were anticipating. At that time American cities were burning (burn, baby, burn) in giant race riots. The Vietnam War was not just a shot away. It was already an ongoing shooting war. Kara shows off her vast musical history knowledge and again comes up empty.
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What great advice for Tim. You're not allowed to "grab" at the audience until you've sold hundreds of millions of albums and become "established?" Makes total sense. She's amazing.
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I can't stand this pretentious hag. Every word she says she takes those pauses just so she and everyone around her knows how important the syllables are. She makes Oprah seem down to earth.
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Seems like she has one of four responses this year: 1. I know what kind of record you will make. 2. I can hear that on the radio. 3. You need to feel the meaning of the lyrics. 4. You need to know what kind of artist you will be.
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Kara hate is universal. As if this show was tough enough to get through with these terrible contestants, then she opens her big fat worthless trap.
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Stop hatin y'all! Kara is such a glorious trainwreck. Even worse than Paula because Kara is trying SO HARD, and she doesn't have the excuse of being on tranquilizers. American Idol will be just fine without Simon, just as long as Kara is so hilariously desperate.

American Idol has Jumped the Shark with Didgeridoos & Bagpipes & Dippy Kara

Dancing With The Stars was #1 in the latest Nielsen Ratings, coming out on top of American Idol for the first time.

I'm thinking this marks the end of American Idol's rating's dominance, after a slow decline, a decline which began with what I believe was American Idol's Jump the Shark moment, that being the hiring of the extremely annoying and extremely un-entertaining, Kara DioGuardi, as a 4th judge.

Jumping the Shark is a term that is used to mark the moment a previously successful TV show begins to decline, where the show starts to tinker with its formula in attempts to slow up it's decline. In regular series this may be ridiculous plot changes, like when the Conner family became rich due to winning the lottery. Roseanne did not last long after that. Often when producers note a decline, things like cast changes are made, i.e. Kara DioGuardi.

The Jump the Shark phrase came from a Happy Days episode where tough guy, Fonzie, in swimming suit and leather jacket, puts on water skis and proceeds to jump over a shark, turning the already cartoonish Fonzie into a ridiculous joke, marking the decline of Happy Days, which continued another 7 years after Fonzie did his shark jumping.

I suspect the decline of American Idol will come much quicker.

The Kara addition last year was followed by this year's expulsion of Paula Abdul, with Abdul replaced by Ellen DeGeneres. Initially, many viewers thought the Ellen addition would be a good thing, but judging from what I read on TV Forums, a lot of the viewers have reacted the same as I have, in that, Ellen's sense of humor grows stale. She adds little.

This year American Idol has tweaked its production. Take last night for example. We see backstage scenes, intro clips, an additional after the judging moment of camera time, followed by being greeted by the other singers.

Somehow there is way way way more time for judges' comments. We start with Randy, end with Simon, and sometimes go back and forth with further comments. Then Ryan asks some more followup questions. Even the contestant gets into it with questions and comments.

Last year, with 4 judges yapping, I remember one instance where time was so short there was no time for Simon to say anything, so he just stood and gave Adam Lambert a standing ovation.

Were the shows only an hour long at this point last year? Is that why there is so much bloat, this year? Filling up 2 hours? I could not watch this without the DVR invention.

Ironically, with the production values seeming to be amped up, with a lot more camera time spent on the contestants, this is widely believed to be the lamest final group the show has ever found.

Another Jump the Shark thing is people seem to be laughing at the judges in a way they didn't before. As in they seem to have made jokes of themselves. Last week Tim Urban was widely seen to have owned the judges, flipping it back on them in a good-humored way. This week, as if the judges realized how bad they'd been, flipped the other direction and heaped positive on the boy. He did not seem to know quite what to make of it.

It now seems obvious, to many, that losing Paula Abdul greatly altered the chemistry of American Idol, in a very bad way. Kara's odd interacting with Simon has really put people off. It has none of the loopy charm Paula brought to her Simon interactions.

The final nail in the American Idol coffin will be Simon Cowell leaving. Simon has seemed a bit detached at times, like his heart isn't in it. And really, why would it be?

Were the didgeridoo and bagpipes last night more minor shark jumping? With way too much time focused on both?

Tim Urban for the win. That'd be an awesome Jump the Shark moment for American Idol.

UPDATE: Wednesday's Results Show reminded me I forgot one other American Idol Jump the Shark element, that being the Judge's Save that was added a season or two ago.

For Me American Idol Has Jumped The Shark

That is Crystal Bowersox. She got sick last week and so the boys sang on the girl's regular song night, while the girl's sang on the boy's regular song night, with Crystal leading off the night's singing, recovered from her mysterious ailment.

Last week I blogged about the boy's show. I was so bored by it and so annoyed at how inane the American Idol judges have become, when the girl's seemed even worse to me, I didn't have the stomach or desire to blog about it.

I sort of decided I was done with American Idol. For me it has jumped the shark. I think the jump started with the addition of Kara DioGuardi, accelerated with the dropping of Paula Abdul and went into full jump mode with the addition of Ellen DeGeneres.

I thought Ellen DeGeneres was going to be fun. But we are only a few weeks in and she has grown tiresome. And sort of repetitive.

After what has it been, 8 years, or is it 9, of American Idol, Simon Cowell needs some new cliches. "That was very karaoke." "I've heard a performance like that a million times on a cruise ship." "That was something I could have heard at a theme park." "That was like some dreadful wedding singer." He's become a very tiresome old man.

And then, the comments seem even more mean-spirited than previous years, if that's possible. Cowell comments about Casey James' voice, saying something like his gritty tone seems forced, more like sand. To which Kara adds it sounds like dirt. How are these remarks helpful?

And then, one of the 4 who got sent home, this week, was 16 year old Haley Vaughn. The judges told her she just was not ready for this, she needs more training. Huh? Out of the thousands who tried out these idiots put her in the Top 24. And then decided she was not ready.

I also was not getting the pimping of the Bowersox girl. She seems nice enough, but nothing that I look forward to hearing again. I don't remember another season of American Idol where I can find so little entertainment. Of the girls I like the blonde who played the piano, but I don't remember her name, which is telling. I also like Casey James. At least he has a personality and seems like a normal guy.

I've got 24 DVRed, ready to watch tonight, did not have time to watch 24 last night. I may, maybe, give American Idol one more chance, maybe.

Samantha Harris Leaving Dancing With The Stars While Greg Louganis Wants To Dance

I'm sure some viewers may have liked Samantha Harris and her co-hosting on ABC's Dancing with the Stars. For me, she was the weakest part of the show, a co-host with a gift for babbling inanities way too frequently.

Ms. Harris never seemed natural and relaxed, while her partner Tom Bergeron may be the best reality show host on TV, with a genius gift for spontaneous ad libs.

In other DWTS news, Olympian, Greg Louganis, has let it be known that he wants to dance on Dancing with the Stars really really bad. Louganis is now a gray-haired 50 year old, still a healthy guy 22 years after testing positive for HIV.

There is a rumor floating around the Internet that Paula Abdul has indicated she would like to be on Dancing with the Stars. I assume to dance, though that would seem a bit unfair, what with her extensive dancing and choreography history.

Maybe Paula Abdul could replace Samantha Harris. Paula's loopy charm might be entertaining.

America Idol Starts Tonight From Boston For Simon Cowell's Final Season

That's a rare photo of American Idol's Simon Cowell without his toupee.

Season 9 of American Idol kicks off tonight with auditions in Boston. Simon Cowell announced today, or was it yesterday, that Season 9 will be his last season of American Idol.

Supposedly Cowell is moving on to concentrate on the American version of his X Factor talent hunt show. The Brit version of X Factor is a bit hit in the UK.

I guess the U.S. can handle yet one more talent show.

Meanwhile the American Idol juggernaut starts up tonight. I do not believe Ellen DeGeneres shows up as a judge til after the audition episodes. So, it'll be just Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi doing the judging in Boston.

Tomorrow night the auditions continue in Atlanta.

I really don't think American Idol is going to be as entertaining without Paula Abdul and her loopy antics and odd bickering with Simon Cowell.

If Simon Cowell really leaves this cash cow after this season, I'm thinking that might signal the fast decline of American Idol.

Paula Abdul's Fate After American Idol: Dimmer or Brighter?

Nobody is indispensible, especially on reality TV. Although American Idol executives felt that resident judge Paula Abdul is not worth almost 1/4 of the salary offered to the other judge Simon Cowell, opportunities are continuing to knock on Paula's door after announcing that she decided to leave America's most watched TV show. Is leaving the judge's chair in AI a fatal blow at her dreary career or will it spring greater opportunities for her?

Lately, Paula Abdul was offered to be a contestant or guest judge in Dancing with the Stars and another one from So You Think You Can Dance. Another offer sprung up allegedly from Ugly Betty, wherein Paula is offered a role in the new season at Mode. Well, if I am asked, the Ugly Betty role would be meatier since Ugly Betty is starting to lose pizzazz. Ugly Betty Season 4 will kick off on October this year! Props to you, Paula! We hope you can get a better job after Idol.