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(CNN) — Even before Ellen DeGeneres took her seat on “American Idol,” the roar began.

Cries of “What does she know about music” and “Bring back Paula Abdul” lit up blogs and message boards. Then the next shoe dropped — anchor judge Simon Cowell announced that the ninth season would be his last.

Fans had barely adjusted to the addition of a fourth judge, Kara DioGuardi, the season before. Once it was announced that DeGeneres was coming onboard, the naysayers were even more perturbed.

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Will she be there? If so, will she be able to give a decent performance? Those were the questions hanging over tonight’s “American Idol,” thanks to yesterday’s hospitalization of Crystal Bowersox. As a result, the Top 10 Girls performance show carried a dramatic thrust that it usually doesn’t have.

So was it self-defeating incompetence, a pressing urge to reassure viewers that Bowersox was OK or a helpful assist to an ailing singer who might have been waiting to hop back into bed that she was the first of the evening? Probably all three.

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I’m not sure what happened tonight, but it was not a great way to kick off the season.

Overall the performances for the most part were just so-so. Katie Stevens – loved. Siobhan Magnus – I’m a new fan. But so many of the others really failed to deliver. I thought this was the year of the woman in music. Guess the Top 12 didn’t get the memo.

I so hope the guys step it up Wednesday night. Seriously.

So who do you think is going home? Who stays?

Full Story at msnbc.com

There are compelling reasons to watch “American Idol” this season — the talent pool is deep, Ellen DeGeneres has changed the chemistry around the judges’ table and the production value of the show has even improved substantially.

When Tuesday night’s show airs, there will be another reason to watch: Fox is straying from it’s previous plan to wait for Wednesday’s show to announce the top 24 contestants. Instead, part of the final two dozen will be revealed on Tuesday.

Full Story at  msnbc.com

Sources close to “American Idol” continue to dispel rumors that Howard Stern will be joining the show, and some have gone so far as to say no formal offer was ever made to the radio host.

“Could he have talked to someone at 19 Entertainment (the production company behind ‘Idol’)? Sure. Did he get an offer? No. No way,” said one source.

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Kara DioGuardi, you are a sly one!

I participated in a conference call on Wednesday with the “American Idol” judge and she was pretty guarded about the stuff I most wanted to know.

She declined to comment on the show without Paula saying, “I really don’t want to speak about Paula’s absence because you can’t really compare Paula and Ellen, they’re completely different and I think they both bring something valuable to the table.”

And forget getting some scoop from her about rumors that Howard Stern is in the running to fill Simon Cowell’s seat next season when the Brit departs.

“Right now that’s a rumor and I don’t really know if I can even speak on it,” she said.

Full Story at msnbc.com

LOS ANGELES – Ellen DeGeneres makes her much-anticipated debut on “American Idol” on Tuesday, shaking up the dynamics on the show’s judging panel and auditioning her own talents for the biggest TV audience in the United States.

The arrival of the popular talk show host and comic is expected to boost viewership on the Fox television network’s aging singing contest, now in its 9th season and facing challenges to its coveted spot as the No. 1 show on U.S. TV

Full Story at msnbc.com

Fox devoted eight days to the “American Idol” audition round, but there were only seven cities on this year’s cross-country vacation for host Ryan Seacrest and the judges. That gave the show an extra hour to fill, which made Wednesday a clip show that focused mainly on singers who did well enough to make it to Hollywood.

Sixty more minutes of heartwarming tales and nervous-sounding voices … who could ask for anything more?

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(CNN) — There’s lots of speculation as to who will be replacing Simon Cowell on “American Idol” and who will serve as judges on Cowell’s new show “The X Factor.”

One name being bandied about is that of Tommy Mottola, former head of Sony Music Entertainment, who is said to be in the process of being courted by both shows as a possible judge.