Ellen DeGeneres is the new fourth judge on American Idol.  Isn’t that great!!!???
Ellen has been a long-time fan and supporter of the show and always has the eliminated contestants on her program.  When the rest of the world was shocked when young Josiah Leming was cut from the show without even making the finals, she had him on and showered him with gifts that could help him further his music career.
Besides, her foray into reality show judging on So You Think You Can Dance proved that she could not only provide useful feedback but could be funny and entertaining at …read more

This morning, The Early Show, welcomed EW.com writer, Michael Slezak, and discussed the possible reasons why Paula Abdul decided to leave American Idol.   CBS News correspondent, Priya David, was also on hand to talk about the shocking turn of events.
Paula was reportedly offered a 30% pay raise but suddenly decided to announce that she would be leaving the show.  Some have speculated that she was unhappy that Kara DioGuardi was invited back to the judges’ panel while others cite the fact that show producers tripled the salary of Ryan Seacrest and Paula wanted a similar deal. 
Whatever the case, it’s …read more

Megan Joy, the most recently eliminated contestant on American Idol, was on Live! With Regis and Kelly yesterday where she performed Patsy Cline’s classic song “Walkin’ After Midnight.”  She looked really relaxed and natural on the show which is broadcasting from New Orleans. 

American Idol winner, Kelly Clarkson, was on Good Morning America yesterday morning where she promoted the release of her new album All I Ever Wanted and performed “My Life Would Suck Without You.”  I had to laugh out loud when host, Diane Sawyer, accidentally said that the album was “bombing” instead of “booming” on the charts. 
I think she sounded great, as she normally does, live which is quite a feat considering how early in the morning she had to sing.  Listen to this and tell me what you think!

Randy Jackson was on Ellen yesterday where he started by complimenting her on how well she looks (Ellen says she went vegan and claims it has improved her life).  He talked about his own struggle to get healthy and lose weight in order to manage his Type 2 diabetes.
Of course, he talked about American Idol and how the auditions have gone.  Ellen showed him a hilarious video of a guy singing Kelly Clarkson’s mega-hit, “Since U Been Gone” (he didn’t know a single word) and then they moved on to a discussion about Simon Cowell’s love life.  Randy said that …read more

American Idol judge, Paula Abdul, was on The View this morning where she talked about the death of obsessed fan, Paula Goodspeed, who was found dead outside of Abdul’s home last month.  She said that the last 5 years had been especially hard but that Goodspeed had been stalking her for the past 17 years.  That’s incredible!  I had no idea!
She also answered questions about the new Idol judge, Kara DioGuardi, and told the story of how she took Kara into her home after a chance encounter on the street.  What an interesting story!  Watch Paula’s complete visit here:

This morning, Ellen welcomed American Idol season 7 winner, David Cook, and it was a fun segment. First, he had a good laugh about that hilarious video of the teen girls reacting to his win (they were David Archuleta fans so it wasn’t pretty), then he sang his single "Light On" (it was a really good performance!) and then he dunked a Sara Lee executive for Ellen’s charity.  Not a bad visit, enjoy the videos!

More after the jump!

American Idol finalist, Katharine McPhee, performed alongside Canadian songwriter, David Foster, on The View earlier this week and, well, I guess it was technically good but I think she just oversang and annoyed me.  They did Somewhere Over the Rainbow and I just didn’t really like it.  Watch it here: