Simon Cowell Leaving American Idol Franchise

With American Idol's newest season starting January 12th on Fox, it was announced Monday that the sharp-tongued judge, Simon Cowell, will be judging his last season. That's right, Cowell is not going to be setting at the table for the 2011 season if the show gets picked up for another season. Rather than judging Idol, Simon Cowell will be bringing his UK Hit show, "The X Factor" to the States and judging that. Fearing a conflict of interest, Cowell has bowed out from future seasons of Idol.

With Cowell leaving, the speculation has already begun about what will happen should the show return for another season. Frankly, if Fox was smart, they would not pick up the show for another season. Love or hate him, Simon Cowell has made the show what it is today. It would be nice to think that the talent has made the show, but the truth of it is, the talent is pretty close to secondary in comparison to people watching to see what Cowell will say next.

Should Fox continue the American Idol franchise for another season, Randy Jackson would be the only remaining judge that has been there from the beginning. With Paula Abdul's defection and subsequent replacement by Ellen DeGeneres and the sophomore judge, Kara DioGuardi, Idol has garnered a bit of flack about how many changes have gone on.

Frankly, if Fox does ask for a 10th season of the American Idol franchise they need to take their time in choosing a replacement for Cowell. Perhaps try to get Simon's equally acerbic judging peer Piers Morgan to take over the seat at the table. To replace Cowell, a new judge would have to be just as sharp and cutting, perhaps someone like Donald Trump in their ability to tell it like it is without the candy coating. DioGuardi and Jackson do not have the personalities to be able to have that sharp, biting judgment of the contestants and it is necessary for the continued success of the American Idol franchise.

Some reports say that Cowell joked that ever-present and busy host, Ryan Seacrest should be the new judge. That, however, would be a large faux-pas on the part of Fox. Seacrest has been the other mainstay of the show and without him on that stage, doing what he does best, the show would continue to slide in their ratings. Hopes would be that Fox would think long and hard about the future of American Idol and perhaps take their soon to be 9 seasons of success and stop before they end up letting the show fall the way other shows have in the past.

Sources:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/TV/01/11/cowell.leaving.idol/