Fall TV Blog

Hollywood week started with Ellen DeGeneres’s first night as a judge. It was so strange to watch her turning moment by moment into Paula Abdul — giggling, slipping eye-catching bracelets onto her wrists, making strange disconnected comments.

That was just my sick fantasy.

In fact, she was the Ellen we already know: funny and sharp, but never too funny or too sharp.

Her first critical judgment on camera told you all you need to know. Skiiboski, the dude with the perplexing name, was more sudbued and polished than in auditions, but he still couldn’t stop prowling the stage. “You frighten me,” she told him. “You were like a leopard behind a cage.” She also made the absurd yet fundamentally true observation: “Sexy and scary — it’s a fine line.” He was out, but he seemed to leave in a pretty good mood. (more…)

Ellen DeGeneres isn’t denying speculation that she and Simon Cowell butted heads while taping American Idol in recent weeks. In fact, she says the judges’ contrasting styles is part of what makes the show so compelling.

“Everyone’s making such a big deal about the tension,” Idol’s newest judge told Ryan Seacrest on his KIIS-FM radio show Tuesday. “You know, there’s been a lot of fun on that panel. Kara [DioGuardi]’s been great, and Randy [Jackson]’s been great. And I think it was either Wednesday or Tuesday, Simon was great.”

All joking aside, DeGeneres said of Cowell: “I think he’s a funny guy and I think he’s a smart guy. I like Simon. He’s going to be a challenge. He’s Simon, and I’m me. We are completely different people. We’ll see how it goes.” (more…)

American Idol may have found a new mean judge!

According to the New York Post, show producers are in talks to convince controversy lover Howard Stern to take the job of outgoing judge Simon Cowell.

Stern is FOX’s first choice to take over Cowell’s role, an insider tells the paper. “Idol bosses think he’d be even nastier than Simon,” a source says. “They know he would be great TV and would clash with the other judges such as Ellen DeGeneres and the contestants.”

But a second source says that the top-earning radio personality is having commitment issues, since an Idol deal would involve touring the country for auditions and being in Los Angeles for much of the year.

“Howard isn’t ready to leave radio and would like to stay on at Sirius,” the source says. “We believe this is a ploy to make Sirius pay up and keep him on his huge contract.”

Stern, who makes $100 million a year, has repeatedly said on air that his Sirius XM Radio deal ends next January and he’s considering other offers. –Catherine Donaldson-Evans

Jeffrey Ufberg/WireImage; Kevin Winter/Getty

American Idol’s final audition night, a compilation of performance highs and lows along the seven-city tour, started on a contradictory note: Ryan Seacrest kept assuring viewers that the best had been saved for last. On the other hand, he admitted that General Larry Platt’s “Pants on the Ground” had turned out to be the biggest buzz-generator.

It was actually a very strange hour — you can argue that the ol’ general should have gone to Hollywood, too, with the 181 other selectees. The judges liked:

Amanda Shechtman, the first contestant to ever show a talent for ventriloquism. She was on shaky ground with the judges — too actressy, they worried. Normally Simon would describe this as being “too cabaret.” But she got her ticket anyway.

Aaron Kelly. An Idol heart-tugger — he was plucked from a difficult family situation when he was adopted by an aunt and uncle — he seemed somewhat awkward but sang smoothly. It was Miley Cyrus’s “The Climb.” If he won, he speculated, “I might even be a role model someday.” He was among a batch of 16-year-olds going to Hollywood. Rachel Hubbard may have been the best of this lot — the clips were too truncated to tell. (more…)

The American Idol auditions in Denver proved to be of generally superior quality — 26 singers were sent on to Hollywood — before wimping out with a silly attempt to top last season’s famous Bikini Girl. This time, a guy in a two-piece was introduced as Bikini Boy. His real name is Ty Hemmerling, and unlike Bikini Girl he will not advance. He wore it well, though, all things considered.

Victoria Beckham was back as guest judge. For her first episode, she was dressed in an amazing metallic-magenta sheath that would have suffocated anyone with an ounce of body fat. On Tuesday, she wore another metallic sheath, this time in deep blue-gray. What matters, of course, is that she was consistently fair and encouraging.

I would have put through Mark Labriola, a Jack Black lookalike, simply because he was asked to describe himself and answered: “I love cheese.”

Then he actually sang a nice, fluid cover of Squeeze’s “Tempted.” Although he looked more like Danny Gokey than Jack Black, in fact. (more…)

Katy Perry spent just a day as a guest judge on American Idol this week, but that was apparently enough to consider giving up singing should a permanent gig alongside Randy Jackson, Ellen DeGeneres and Kara DioGuardi pop up.

The “Hot N Cold” singer told MTV that the experience was “awesome” and “if I was offered that job as a permanent host, I would ditch my career and take on that career.”

Perry did concede that the job would become tougher as the competition heats up. “I guess the pressure gets really on when you start eliminating the number of people that are going through,” she said. “Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, and then you’ve got the final two. That can be kind of tense and stressful.”

Considering that Perry was already stirring up her own drama — she clashed with DioGuardi on Tuesday’s episode and even threatened to throw a Coke in her face — a full-time judging gig might be wishful thinking. Then again, it worked for Paula and Simon! –Blane Bachelor

Michael Becker/FOX

Carrie Underwood is guest starring on How I Met Your Mother, so it’s only fair that Neil Patrick Harris joined Randy, Simon and Kara in Dallas, Texas, Wednesday as the American Idol audition tour rolled on. Joe Jonas sat in for the second day in Dallas but didn’t have much to say. Maybe he’s too cool. But like Katy Perry in Los Angeles, Harris, who’s also pretty cool, squabbled with one of the judges. He and Simon, it seemed, disagreed more than agreed and their row was highlighted when Kimberly Carver walked in the room. She sang a jazzy original song, which Harris thought was “quite great.” But Simon told him, “Under normal circumstances you wouldn’t be interested. If it was Jazz TV, yes.” Luckily for Harris, Kara and Randy were on his side and Kimberly got a golden ticket to Hollywood. Thirty others from Dallas will join her there. (more…)

For those who may be able to help in the search for Idol contestant Angela Martin’s mother, who disappeared in a south Chicago suburb on Dec. 26, Angela’s family has provided a photo of Viola Brown Martin.

Read all about Viola’s disappearance.

“My mother is a loving mom despite everything that she’s been through,” Angela tells PEOPLE. “She was there at my audition in Chicago. She was the one holding my daughter. It was a highlight for her because this was my third time and she was really happy to be a part of it.”

Angela added that her mother, who had been clean and off drugs for the past seven years, was an admired employee of Burnham Healthcare in Chicago. “She works really hard in the medical records department and is a manager there,” she says. “She has been doing good for herself and even her boss will tell you, they love her up there and are as concerned as we are.”

While Angela is in Hollywood, her sisters and family continue the search in Chicago and also care for Angela’s daughter Jessica Creamer, 10, who has Rett Syndrome. But it was her family who encouraged Angela to pursue her dreams in difficult times. “It was hope,” Angela says. “It’s a lot of hope while I am on American Idol. There’s nothing but hope because I know that that will be our breakthrough. I know American Idol will really, really help our situation.” –Cynthia Wang

For more information on the investigation and how to submit a tip, visit the Web site for America’s Most Wanted

Courtesy Angela Martin

Avril Lavigne and Katy Perry joined the American Idol judges Tuesday in Los Angeles, and the starlets showed sass, saying no to hopeful singers when the judges — even Simon Cowell — said yes. Katy even clashed with Kara DioGuardi, mocking her at times and threatening to throw a Coke in her face when she shot back.

But the real battle was for golden tickets. Jim Ranger, a 27-year-old pastor with three kids, sang his own song, “Drive,” and made it through despite concern from Avril (who wore devil horns) that he wouldn’t be able to handle being a pop star.

Simon said Mary Powers, who sang a Pat Benatar song, was “a little cliché.” But she got unanimous praise for her stylish voice and scored a ride to Hollywood. She then brought her 8-year-old daughter into the audition room to say hello to her favorite judge, Simon. It was a cute moment from the bristly Brit. (more…)

When Angela Martin first auditioned for American Idol in 2007, the Chicago songstress made it to Hollywood. But once there, she learned that her father had been murdered; shortly thereafter, she was cut in the second round. In 2008, she auditioned once more and made it to the top 50, but she had to leave the competition to go to court to settle a traffic ticket.

On Jan. 19, viewers saw Martin, in her last year of eligibility at the age of 28, get unanimous approval from the judges and another golden ticket to Hollywood after singing “Just Fine” by Mary J. Blige during the Chicago auditions, held in August (watch a clip of her audition). She explained that she wanted a better life for her and her 10-year-old daughter, who has Rett Syndrome, a developmental disorder. Simon Cowell said, “You’re really talented, you need a break, and you’re just good.”

(more…)