American Idol Season 9 Premieres on January 12, 2010

Ellen DeGeneres Begins Her Judging Duties During Hollywood Week

Hartley Engel, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Dec 9, 2009 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

The ninth season of "American Idol" premieres on January 12, 2010 on Fox. As most Idol fans already know, Paula Abdul will not be returning as a judge. Abdul, who had been with Idol since the shows inception back in 2002, unexpectedly left the show earlier in the year and was replaced by talk show host-comedienne Ellen DeGeneres. Thus, DeGeneres, who signed a five-year contract and will continue to host her popular daytime talk show, joins Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi as the hugely popular reality competition's new fourth judge.

Ellen DeGeneres did not judge the first rounds of auditions in the summer, however, because she had not yet been named as Paula Abdul's replacement. Celebrity guest judges were used during this stage of the audition process, and they include Kristin Chenowith, Victoria Beckham, Mary J. Blige, Neil Patrick Harris, Joe Jonas, Avril Levine, Katy Perry and Shania Twain. Consequently, Ellen DeGeneres will begin her judging duties next month during Hollywood Week. This portion of the show features 200 contestants who passed the summer auditions - and is known for being particularly demanding on the Idol hopefuls.

The filming of Hollywood Week was pushed back (it's typically filmed in November) to January due to scheduling conflicts with Idol's most hard-to-please judge, Simon Cowell; thus, Hollywood Week will air in February.

As a devoted fan, I am very much looking forward to season 9 of "American Idol." It will be interesting and fun to see how the aforementioned guest judges interact with and evaluate the contestants. I'm also looking forward to welcoming Ellen DeGeneres as Idol's newest judge; I'm a big fan and I think Ellen will be both funny (obviously) and compassionate.

Of course, most of all, I'm looking forward to seeing all the new Idol hopefuls (including the ones who can't sing but think they can - think William Hung - and the ones who can't sing but are pleasant to look at - think "Bikini Girl") and the grueling, forbidding process they have to go through to get a shot at being the next American Idol.

Will season 9 of American Idol produce a contestant as talented and controversial as Adam Lambert? It's doubtful, but you never know.

As mentioned above, season 9 of American Idol premieres on January 12.

Source:

American Idol Web Site

Published by Hartley Engel

I was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada but raised in Los Angeles, California. I have a BA and MsEd degree from USC. View profile