LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Ellen DeGeneres wants to represent the people on "American Idol," but the people are split about the talk show host's role as the Fox singing competition's fourth judge.

Fans took to the Internet after Wednesday's announcement to express either pleasant surprise or total shock that DeGeneres was picked to replace Paula Abdul.

"I mean, really? Ellen DeGeneres?" wrote popular "Idol" blogger MJ Santilli at mjsbigblog.com. "She guest judged 'So You Think You Can Dance' last season, and her critiques were comic relief. So is she going to be a real judge or some kind of joke? She's a comedian, not a singer or a musician. I'm kinda flummoxed here."

Others on the Internet, including posters on the AmericanIdol.com forums, said they were pleased that DeGeneres, who admittedly has no formal music experience, just a passion for tunes, would join Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi on "Idol."

A "judge" in a singing "competition" should be critically evaluating the wannabes

There's also a chance that Ellen, being a comedian, will be more favorable to VFTW-friendly candidates in the auditions (if she's around to judge them next season) and semifinals.

I don't believe any other incarnation of Idol has a judge with no music business background. The judges are either ex/current performers or music execs. This is really the death knell of the show. Interesting way for Simon to get out of doing it for much longer, I guess. Now he can blame Ellen for the ratings bomb.

Ellen being the 4th judge has to be a VFTW victory! No musical experience or training - perfect!!!

Ellen DeGeneres's American Idol gig splits fans but brings buzz

By Jill Serjeant in Los Angeles

Reuters

September 11, 2009 10:07am

THE stunning choice of comedian and chat show host Ellen DeGeneres as the new judge on TV show American Idol appeared set to revive interest in the top-rated talent show after three years of falling ratings.

DeGeneres, one of the most popular TV chat show hosts in the US, will replace Paula Abdul in the four-person panel when the competition returns for a ninth season in January on the Fox network.

DeGeneres, who has no musical background but says she is an avid fan of the show, told American Idol host Ryan Seacrest today that she would be the people's voice on the panel.

"I'm just a fan like everyone else," she told Seacrest in an interview on his Los Angeles morning radio show. "The people choose. Ultimately it comes down to them, not some executive in the music industry. I hope to be that voice."

"I was shocked like everybody else. I thought Paula was a huge part of the show," she said.

"I was sad, and so I went 'well that's going to be a hole that needs to be filled by someone that really is going to contribute in a totally different way,' and didn't think for a second that was going to be me."

"I hope Paula (Abdul) is okay with it. I don't want anybody to think I took Paula's job away. I feel like she was gone and then everybody was looking for somebody else, then I stepped in. I certainly don't want to be that person that is the evil taking Paula's job away."

"I hope to be that compassionate person, because that's one thing that Paula did bring is that empathy and that compassion."

Mike Darnell, president of alternative entertainment for Fox, said producers felt that "her vast entertainment experience - combined with her quick wit and passion for music - will add a fresh new energy to the show."

The move, just five weeks after the volatile Abdul quit abruptly after failing to get a big pay raise, sent shockwaves through fans and media watchers.

"My first reaction was: surprise, bogglement and skepticism," wrote Time magazine's TV correspondent James Poniewozik. "Which honestly, probably means that it's an excellent choice, at least from the standpoint of getting viewers."

American Idol, which has produced multi-platinum artists like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, has been the most popular TV show in America for six years and is also broadcast in more than 100 nations overseas.

But US audiences have slipped to an average 26.3 million viewers per twice weekly episode from a 2006 high of about 30.8 million.

Entertainment Weekly's Michael Slezak acknowledged that the addition of DeGeneres had created a huge buzz. But he called the move "a big risk" on the part of producers given the comedian's lackluster appearance as a guest judge on Fox's sister TV reality show So You Think You Can Dance earlier this year.

"I certainly think there will be a short-term ratings gain having a big A-list star like Ellen in the mix," Slezak told Reuters.

"I can understand why producers are thinking, 'let's keep it fresh,' because you want to create that excitement. But if Ellen turns out to be as lethal as she was on that one episode of So You Think You Can Dance, I think it could really hurt the show."

Fans were divided over the addition of DeGeneres. According to a poll on AOL's pop culture site Popeater.com, just 45 percent of respondents thought DeGeneres was a good replacement for Abdul.

"I enjoy Ellen's daytime show, but come on. A judge?? She doesn't have a musical background ... BRING BACK PAULA and get AI back to the fabulous show it was in the beginning!!!!" wrote amyldawson on the Americanidol.com comment board.

Some fans said DeGeneres, a lesbian who married her actress partner Portia De Rossi last year, was a turn-off.

"This is one of those shows that brought families together every year. You just lost our family of 7. We don't agree with her lifestyle so our family will be no part of American Idol!!" wrote mnapeterson22 on the Americanidol.com web site.

WTF, guys?? That's what US reports suggest Paula Adbul is saying to American Idol producers - privately, that is, according to Radar online - who switched her for daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres on the US talent show juggernaut.

A source told Radar: "Privately, Paula is very upset. She's never going to admit it publicly but this stung. Paula likes Ellen and she doesn't want to say a negative word about her and she won't." But the news "surprised Paula and upset her," the source added. What Ellen says in response

Kara DioGuardi is "thrilled" about Ellen DeGeneres slipping in to fill Paula Abdul's chair at the American Idol judging table and recently opened up about how tough being the "new kid" was last season.

"I?m a huge Ellen DeGeneres fan, I think she?s going to bring so much to the show," she told Sirius XM's Larry Flick. "She?s somebody who loves music, she?s positive, she loves kids..she is somebody who has watched the show from the beginning, knows everything there is to know about American Idol and I think ultimately it?s going to be a great new energy."

In the interview which hits the airwaves on Friday at 9:00 am ET, DioGuardi talks about how excited she is to "hang out" with the comedian.

"I?ve only met her once, I did the [Ellen] show, she was delightful. I would love?to say [to her] ?this is great?..and let her know that I?m completely ecstatic."

DioGuardi was even more candid when discussing her own Idol experience.

"It was pretty hellish." She admitted. "I got slagged?it was difficult for them to accept the change. It was difficult for them to understand why somebody who nobody had ever heard of could kind of come out of nowhere and sit next to these iconic figures. You know, why was I there, what did I do to deserve to do to be there?"

She continued that many watchers were ignorant about her professional contributions which didn't help their reticence to embrace her: "You know I could understand it, and I think to this day I don?t think people probably don?t still understand really what I?ve done in the music industry or?.my achievements. And that?s OK ?slowly they?ll learn, hopefully. Or they won?t. And it will just be easier this year because I?m not as fearful as I was last year?for someone who?s never been on live television it?s very, very challenging to go from the back of the studio to the number one TV show, and that kind of visibility. And it was very, very, very scary."

"I?ve only met her once, I did the [Ellen] show, she was delightful. I would love?to have anal sex with her and say [to her] ?this is great?..and let her know that I?m completely ecstatic."

Ellen DeGeneres as the fourth judge: Is this the end of 'American Idol' as we know it?

by Michael Slezak

Chalk me up as one of those people who greeted the news that Ellen DeGeneres is joining the judging panel for season 9 of American Idol with the sudden urge to drive a fork into my thigh and wake up from a strange and horrible nightmare. (Side note: We all do dream about Idol on a regular basis, right? Right.)

Now don?t get me wrong. I adore Ellen DeGeneres. As a comedian, that is. I?ve seen her live in concert twice. I watched every episode of The Ellen Show (her short-lived 2001 series with Cloris Leachman, not to be confused with the groundbreaking sitcom Ellen, which I also loved). Heck, I?d even tune in to something as hein as the People?s Choice Awards if they brought her in as host. But as a permanent replacement for Paula Abdul as the fourth judge on my very most favorite television show? Can I get a ?hell to the no? up in here?

If you caught Ellen sitting in as a guest panelist a couple months ago on So You Think You Can Dance, then you probably understand my dismay. Ellen treated the gig like an extended (and extremely strained) standup routine, essentially making the focus all about herself while failing to provide even an Abdullian level of critical feedback. By ignoring her dismal, one-episode track record as a reality-show judge, Idol?s producers once again expose three deadly blind spots that continue to put at risk the short- and long-term health of television?s top-rated show.

1) American Idol is, always has been, and always will be about the contestants. The day the show stops churning out future Carrie Underwoods, Fantasia Barrinos, and Chris Daughtrys ? performers who?ve reached superstar status in concert, on Broadway, and on radio ? then it simply becomes another cog in the low-stakes reality-television wheel. So why have a fourth judge at all? Why take away precious screen time from the true stars of the show? I don?t know about you guys, but I?d have traded a thousand of Randy?s ?for me, for yous? last season for just a few more seconds of singing from Kris, Adam, and Allison. Those kids ? the ones who you?d never heard of in January, but whose music you can?t wait to buy in November ? are the only A-list talents Idol should be worried about pimping.

2) Until (or unless) Ellen drops the ?nice gal? persona, then she will not be representing the ?people?s point of view,? which is how she described her Idol role while taping an episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show that will air today. People love Simon Cowell not for his taste in Hanes v-neck undershirts, but because he often has the courage to express on national television the exact ? and not always polite ? thoughts they?re having on their couches at home. Simon Cowell is the voice of the people. And my deepest fear is that in her new role, Ellen DeGeneres will be the voice of a beloved talk-show host and comedian who?s too concerned about damaging her public image to provide the kind of niceties-free feedback that the audience ? and yes, the contestants themselves ? need and deserve.

3) Credibility counts ? or at least it ought to ? when it comes to the judges panel. Which isn?t to say that Randy or Paula (or at this point Kara) necessarily represented a dream team of stimulating, high-minded feedback. Nor is it to say that an Idol judge needs to bandy about terms like legato or crescendo or ?package artist? to do his or her job well. But look at the panel on Project Runway, for example. Even when I vehemently disagree with Nina Garcia, Michael Kors, and Heidi Klum, I never stop respecting them, nor do I find myself questioning their credentials, or their ability to spot a shoddy seam or bunky tailoring or an insane crotch. Is it possible Ellen has the ability to separate the Ramiele Malubays from the David Cooks, the Jorge Nuñezes from the Kris Allens? I sure hope so. But based on her SYTYCD performance, I can?t shake the deep fear that American Idol is adding creampuff to the menu when we really need some bitter lemon.

Of course, only time will tell how (and how much) Ellen?s presence on the panel will affect Idol. At the very least, I?m hoping that Simon and Ryan will once and for all ditch their regularly scheduled homophobic banter now that they?ve got a (powerful) lesbian colleague in their presence. And even if Ellen?s Idol tenure yields little more than corny punch lines ? ?Are you two carpenters? ?Cause you nailed it!? she blathered during her SYTYCD run ? perhaps it?ll awaken a dormant-yet-skilled critic deep inside Randy or Kara. Hey, maybe that?s crazily optimistic, but the alternative ? that my very most favorite television show is standing at the edge of a gasoline lake with lit matches beneath its toenails ? is simply too much for me to contemplate.