Wednesday, August 27, 2008

HERE'S ANOTHER CLUE FOR YOU ALL -- THE WALRUS IS NOT PAULA: I'm just getting around to Adam's post about a fourth Idol judge, and I note some speculation, both here and elsewhere, about whether this is a vote of no-confidence for Paula. I disagree -- I think this is a vote of no-confidence for Randy Jackson.

Idol's judicial model is ingeniously simple, actually. Though people tend to think of them as the mean one, the incoherent one, and the indiscriminately positive really incoherent one, each supposedly represents one facet of the music industry. While their comments sometimes blur territorial boundaries, Simon is the business, Randy the profession, and Paula the dream of stardom.

So in bringing in this DioGuardi character, an industry pro with far more success than fame, Idol is saying that there's room for constructive technical criticism beyond "[reflexive laughter], let me be real, dawg, I [was/wasn't] feelin' it." Over on Idol's sister show, SYTYCD, the judges often (not always) raise specific technical issues, and it seems to work well. I suspect that's what the producers are looking to add to Idol.

Speaking of SYTYCD, since when is Lacey Schwimmer a regular on Dancing and Cuckoldry With the Stars? Isn't that her highest and best use? And approximately how many seconds after the tour ends will Kherington join that show?

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