Ellen DeGeneres leaves 'American Idol'; Will Fox name a replacement Monday?

Ellen probably decided to quit when she heard they were thinking of brining in Jessica Simpson as host. If JS joins the show, it’s officially dead.

They should fire Ryan Seacrest and make her the host of Idol. If they at least replace Randy Jackson I might actually tune in next season.

I like Ellen but not as an Idol judge. Personally I think the panel should consist on legitimate music industry persons.
I know Kara & Randy are in the biz but I am sure you get what I’m saying.
Idol needs to reboot for season 10 and start fresh…just my opinion of course.

She clearly wasn’t a good fit as a judge, but I’m still shocked she’s leaving already. No chance to work out the kinks?

Got to say good choice to dump Ellen. Though I would have loved to see her remain in a capacity she would have been very good at – MC-ing performance nights and sending the slightly creepy Seacrest puppy off to his 20 other jobs.

Don’t think the show should go “All Famous Celeb Superstar Judges!!” Because the show should still be a talent show focused on performers, not a panel of judges – people watching focus on contestants, not judges. They expect the judges to be good and entertaining..but no one was tuning in mainly for the 12 seconds of fine Cowell bon mots.
It would be like if the Olympics only had “Superstar female Skaters” on judging panel and professed that it was now only about the Great judges and kept cameras and comments on them vs. the young ladies on ice, and the judges clever reactions mattered more than the performances.

Idol did well when the main focus was on contestants and not on unknown Simon Randy or largely best years behind her Abdul. When they began treating the contestants as just an annual scenery change, did little to promote post Idol Careers and lavished most Idol revenue money on multi-million annual judges and MC pay – the show was on it’s way to trouble.

3 Megacelebrities – 3 Times Ellen!! Is not wise. Focus goes further away from performers and audience. Especially if they try a cloning: “Must be a pissy Limey, must have all the “bad kareoke” like lines, must dress in a V-neck, and be vain.” There is also the matter of how much a Superstar with money to burn will actually bust butt trying to be involved and show they care.

Best mix would be ratings poison Kara gone, One celebrity. Not a dinosaur celebrity. And Jackson and one unknown that have good chenistry with the celeb and will be around Idol so much of the week tracking how the performances are shaping up that contestants have to say “you are around too much”.

And if Randy doesn’t have the right chemistry or he can’t amend his work – his last two lazy cliched years he should be gone too.

If we are honest, both he and Cowell did little work in the last two years other than show up and act pained that they even had to do that to collect their 5-million and 45-million paychecks.

To Petra:
Good idea, I think Ellen would be great as the host of American Idol.
Didn’t think of that; you’re right!