Simon Cowell Leaving American Idol: Will "X Factor" Be American Idol 2.0?

American Idol judge and all-around dream-crusher Simon Cowell announced to the world yesterday that he would end his tenure on American Idol at the end of Season 9. At a scheduled press conference at the Television Critics Association, Simon Cowell said that he was going to concentrate on bringing his own show, Britain's The X Factor, to the United States. At present, Cowell is a judge on the United Kingdom's version of the show, which is a lot like American Idol. And it's looking like The X Factor just might be the next American Idol.

Call it American Idol 2.0.

Not only will the American version of The X Factor have the incomparable ever-lovable/ever-hateable Simon Cowell, but there are rumblings reported by TMZ that Cowell's people have been in negotiations with Paula Abdul to sit in a judge's chair on the upcoming show. That would reunite two of the original American Idol judges for the inaugural season of The X Factor. And anyone who has watched American Idol over the last eight years has to admit that there was some strange, quirky chemistry between Paula and Simon.

No doubt it would work. There is precedent...

Could there be a third judge joining them? Could Simon Cowell pull American Idol judge Randy Jackson to the new show as well? There is a possibility. Randy Jackson's contract with American Idol ends at the end of Season 9. It is possible that Randy Jackson could join Simon and Paula again after his contract expires and add to the melodrama of Hollywood infighting to work on The X Factor with his friends. Jackson reportedly has said he missed the departed Abdul. "She is one of our best friends. I miss that. We look down the table sometimes and think, 'Where's Paula?'"

Where would that leave Ryan Seacrest?

Ryan signed a contract over the summer (everyone on the show was in negotiations except for Randy Jackson), which precipitated the very public and acrimonious negotiations (although numbers were kept undisclosed) between the pop star and the American Idol producers. Although she publicly stated that she was not angry with Ryan, whose new contract reportedly spanned three years and paid the host $45 million, she was incensed at the show's producers for paying her what she termed as "Hollywood minimum wage." Eventually, producers would not meet her demands and Paula Abdul left the show.

That would mean that Ryan Seacrest would not be available (without buying out his contract) until 2012.

Still, if The X Factor started off with the three original judges from American Idol? Not a bad line-up to get a top-rated show. Besides, they did it once before.

American X Factor as American Idol 2.0.

Who knows? It could happen.

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Sources:

TMZ.com
MTV.com
BusinessWorld.com