14 DAY TRIAL // Following months of frenzied online speculation and repeated refusals to comment from Fox, the new and presumably improved panel of judges for American Idol has been announced: Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler and Randy Jackson.
Host Ryan Seacrest made the announcement during a live press conference hours ago, saying the time had come for season 10 of the popular show to ask the question not of who will be the next Idol, but who will be the next Idol judge.
As it turns out, the places left open by the departure of Simon Cowell, Ellen DeGeneres and Kara DioGuardi, will be occupied by Tyler and Lopez.
Useless to point out, the show will return to the 3-judge format, the two coming to join Randy. Other changes will not be made, save that music exec Jimmy Iovine is now a permanent mentor for the contestants.
“I’m looking for the next Michael Jackson. We’re looking for the best American Idol ever,” Jennifer Lopez said after being introduced, as cited by People magazine.
“It is about concentrating in the moment, do the best you can. Just live! Just live, it’s your moment,” the singer also said about what she thought of her mission on the show.
Tyler too said he was positively thrilled about the possibility offered to him with the position as judge on the incredibly popular show.
“[It] feels like the perfect feathered nest. It’s being a part of something much bigger than yourself. I want to bring some rock to this roller coaster,” the rocker told the screaming crowd.
With all this, some can’t but doubt whether JLo and Tyler have what it takes to fill the gap left by Simon’s departure, especially since last season proved that it takes more than a kind heart to be accepted (see Ellen DeGeneres’ case).
As Entertainment Weekly’s PopWatch puts it, Lopez needs to up her game by ceasing to try and please everybody, because the show relied heavily on Simon’s brutal honesty to survive.
Since Tyler will most likely be like Paula Abdul, yet another former judge, then it’s up to Lopez to make this work – and given by her first statement as official judge, she probably won’t be able to be honest enough. Not immediately, at least.
“J.Lo’s new-agey, everyone-gets-a-gold-star first impression left me wondering if she understands the role she should be playing as Fox’s venerable-but-vulnerable ratings powerhouse enters the post-Simon Cowell era,” PopWatch writes.
“There’s nothing ‘mean’ about telling a kid he’s never going to make a living as a singer. […] Someone has to do the hard work of detonating their wayward dreams – or rather, their delusions. Otherwise, they’re gonna wind up homeless!” the same report argues.