By now I’m sure you’ve heard the news. Ellen DeGeneres is American Idol’s new judge. There had been a lot of speculation about exactly what Fox would do to fill the seat vacated by Paula Abdul. I was still waiting for the announcement that Paula and Idol execs had a change of heart and she was coming back. Apparently that is not going to happen.

It will be interesting to see how the Idol audience responds to Ellen. I personally like her and she might add some zest to the show when, heading in to its ninth season, it could go stale.

Let’s face it. Idol has its share of critics. Paula was slaughtered regularly by entertainment outlets over the past few years. On the other hand, Ellen is pretty highly regarded right now. Her talk show is doing great and she has several Emmy Awards under her belt. I don’t think people will mess with her as a judge.

I only have one criticism of Ellen being on Idol. What kind of music background does she have? We all know Simon, Randy, and Kara are in the music biz. Isn’t Ellen a comic by trade? Even Paula was some sort of pop star back in the 80s. I will be interested to hear what kind of advice she will have for the contestants. Maybe she is really just expected to be some sort of comic relief for when the show starts to drag. (Which is really did at times in season 8.)

I am excited to see how Ellen hits it off with Simon, though! The new season of American Idol starts in January.