I'd argue that at the rate Simon's boobs are growing, if they wait a season or two that might not be necessary. He is, after all, the guy who keeps making drag queen comments. Is Simon trying to tell us something? Anyway, let's restrict the possibilities to the definite females. Sorry Ru Paul; you would have been terrific. Here are some candidates.
1) Oprah - Unbelievable synergy from the Harpo productions and 19E. Oprah music club, AI magazine, Oprah hour-long specials with the last four finalists.
2) Cher - She once had the number one show on television. She could match toughness with Simon. During auditions they could have endless variations on Cher impersonators. Who better to talk about performing attitude, etc?
3) Madonna - You know I was going to make some jokes about this one, but it might actually be really interesting. Her last tour did a bit too well though for this to actually happen.
4) Condaleeza Rice - Knows music very well. Would give the show an air of class and, to be honest, I'd rather have her in this job than her current one.
5) Faith Hill - No one on the panel knows country. She could tell stories about her family to make the judges seem a bit more wholesome.
6) Alanis Morissette - Would give the judging panel a more contemporary edge. Capable of the ironic commentary in this context that could be genuinely fascinating with all these jagged little pills thrown Simon's way.
I'm sure there are even better possibilities out there. I should say I'm perfectly happy having Paula Abdul as one of the judges as long as she's healthy and I won't speculate about that. What I would say is that the sad thing is far more people will talk about Paula leaving the show than will talk about the loss of one of the best judges of our culture we'll ever know: Molly Ivins. Now you want to talk about a real American Idol.
Article comments
1 - Kaonashi
The best guest judge I've seen on the show was Gene Simmons. He didn't sugarcoat his answers like many of the female guest judges do. He was actually as strict -but not purposefully mean- as Simon in his remarks, and was often spot on.
2 - chancelucky
I'd forgotten that Gene Simmons was actually pretty good in his judge stint. I think the worst I recall were Ashford and Simpson.
For whatever reason, the judges seem to be the key to the show. I have no idea why the chemistry between the curent 3 seems to work, but I don't think any of the other "competition" reality shows have managed to turn their judges into a major part of the mix.