Idol's 4th judge -- Ellen DeGeneris

Not qualified to be a judge? This isn't the Supreme Court. Anyone who's ever listened to pop music is qualified to be a judge. Besides, the show is about finding someone who can become a popular performer. DeGeneres knows quite a bit about being a popular performer. She doesn't have to break down their technical merits -- the other judges can do that.

 

She was a judge on one of the other Idol clones, the one about dancing. So You Can Dance? I don't fucking know, my wife watches it.

Anyway, she seemed very nervous and wasn't good at all, pretty much heaping praise on every single person on the show.

Doesn't mean she won't be good on Idol, because she can be funny, but at her best, she's also understated, subtle, but snarky when she targets someone in her act.

I doubt that brand of humor will be displayed on the show, I expect her to be the designated contestant cheerleader.

 

Criminy, it's NOT the frickin Olympics, it's just a lowbrow TV show created for the sole purpose of entertaining viewers and getting ratings.

I cannot believe how seriously you're taking this "qualifications" bullshit (particularly when the person being replaced here is that musical scholar Paula Abdul), anybody who listens to and buys pop music is qualified to give an opinion about which musical performer sounds the best and is most likely to sell if given a contract.

 

I am so relieved that I am not the only one who thinks Ellen isn't funny. My old roommate used to watch her show and laugh at everything she did, I never laughed once.

 

Sorry, I don't think she's funny or entertaining...

 

There's quite a bit of hyperbole on this thread. Jeebus.

 

Also, the thread hed is misspelled.

 

Sorry, but she's still unfunny and untalented with any spelling...

 

Careful you people who are criticizing the choice because she's unqualified. Someone might call you a homophobe.

I suggested Elton John - who happens to be gay, a hell of a singer and songwriter - on the other thread and it didn't matter because I insulted the poster lady of gay rights. The hell with it....it's music and singing, and Ellen does neither.

 

Oh really? Well some of those opening-round acts were listened to by someone who judged them capable of singing on this show. Those singers took them seriously and were humiliated. And I'm not talking about the super jokes they stick on there for laughs.

Ellen is as much a judge as the person who picks up the phone and texts 1-800-goidols4

 

I'm not even sure what you're talking about in that first paragraph.

And since you bring up the people who pick up the phone and text in their votes, you might want to keep in mind that those are the actual judges. The winner is chosen by popular vote, not by the "experts." Should the viewing audience be disqualified too because they don't have musical training?

 

I don’t watch American Idol. There is nothing appealing to me about a singing contest where the end result is some pre-packaged soulless product designed to sell. There are, obviously, plenty of people out there that love the show and buy the records. That isn’t for me.

Since I view this show as nothing more than marketing, publicity, faux rankings and a means to produce more revenue later on, I see nothing wrong with Ellen as a judge. Hell, they could put a monkey up there and I’d think it was perfectly within the realm of what the show actually is.

There is way too much over analyzing about what this show produces. It doesn’t produce artistic talent. Being a good singer is a talent but it is hardly artistic.