J-Lo, Tyler and Randy are American Idol Judges

 It has finally happened. We now know officially who will sit at the judges' table when the new season of American Idol starts. It will be singers Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, with holdover from last season Randy Jackson. Hopefully it will be a good mix. Meantime, the contestants are auditioning and as of this year, contestants can audition through "MySpace"
    . . . June


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J-Lo and Tyler In, Randy Stays; Did Idol Fix the Right Problem?

Posted by James Poniewozik Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at 1:46 pm- Tuned In - TIME.com:

American Idol today officially announced its new judging panel: singers Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, with holdover Randy Jackson. And it did it in classic Idol results-episode style, with a stage reveal that suffered from technical problems and told us something we all more or less already knew after stringing us along forever.

The audio went down for most of the 10 a.m. PT webcast with Ryan Seacrest (omen? blessing?) but cut on long enough for a few comments from the new celebs. J. Lo waxed Abdul-ian in her encouragement to would-be Idols—"You can do anything you want in life! Just concentrate on the moment!"—while Tyler reflected on the higher calling that is Idol judging: "It's about being part of something much bigger than yourself." Like the Army, but with a gajillion-dollar contract.
And Randy? Just glad to be here.
I see one immediate positive from the announcement: four judges was too many, often hobbling the show for time and commentary, so at least it's the right number. But will hiring big-name musicians fix the right problems for Idol?
I can't judge J-Lo and Tyler as judges per se; their public personalities don't give much clue as to what they would be like behind the table, and it may be that they've shown American Idol something that it liked. (Idol producer apparently loved Lopez as a mentor. With Tyler, you get the immediate benefit of having a knowledgable judge to critique the 500,000 performances of "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing.") What concerns me is whether American Idol decided to sign up a couple of big-name music artists because they took the wrong lesson from the failed Ellen DeGeneres experiment.
My concern is that Idol thinks Ellen's problem is that she wasn't a musical artist, and so lacked credibility. But Ellen's problem wasn't that she wasn't authoritative enough. It's that she wasn't persuasive enough. She wasn't a good judge, because she wasn't willing to judge.
Now granted, one factor may have influenced the other. It may be that DeGeneres was intimidated judging music because she was a non-musician, though it seemed more like a simple function of her personality. (Kara DioGuardi, on the other hand, had a strong musical resume but never established her own voice on the panel.) Ultimately, what viewers at home respond to is a strong, well-expressed point of view, be it from a music pro or not.
Read More . . .

Jennifer Lopez Now an American Idol Judge?

 It appears, according to the article below,  that the deal is finally done and Jennifer Lopez is an American Idol Judge to the tune of $15 million on top.   One down . . .    It's about time that the judges are picked and they start thinking about the new season. There has been more publicity about picking judges than for the contestants.
   . . . June


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Done deal? Jennifer Lopez an American Idol Judge
National Web Buzz | Examiner.com:

For weeks there have been rumors about Jennifer Lopez and her on again off again deal to be the latest American Idol Judge. Reports out today say the deal is done and that has Lopez trending as a hot topic on Trends Buzz.

Aceshowbiz.com reports, 'Words are, Lopez and her manager Benny Medina have been asking for $15 million on top of the demands but FOX would only tolerate $12 million and Lopez accepted. 'I think it was just positioning,' a source further said. 'In the end, she didn't turn up her nose up at $12 million. I would have been very surprised if she had walked away. She needs the money. She lives very very well. It comes at a cost.'

Last month People.com reported, "The singer-actress had been closing a deal to be a permanent judge on the show for its upcoming 10th season but the deal fell apart. “Her demands got out of hand,” says the source. “Fox had just had enough.”

But now, according to Deadline Hollywood,Lopez wanted three million more, asking American Idol producers for 15 million , but FOX, Fremantle and 19 Entertainment balked so she reportedly settled for 12 million to fill the seats left behind by Simon Cowell and Ellen Degeneres, J. Lo also reportedly wanted a ‘vanity' package that would include a movie and TV development deal at FOX, but the studio passed on that as well.

Read on . . .

Will We Know Who The America Idol Judges Are by Next Week?

 We've been waiting for some time now to hear who will replace the current judges. It appears that Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler are the favored ones, but no confirmation so far. If this is the final makeup of the panel, will it work? Can it possibly be as entertaining as Paula and Simon going at it without gloves? I don't think so somehow 
     . . June


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American Idol’ judging confirmation likely to come by next week
National TV | Examiner.com

The selection of the next 'American Idol' judging panel is almost at an end -- and it is many ways due to necessity. With the remaining contestants needing to film their segments with the judges at some point within the next two weeks, the show has to have some more people to be sitting aside remaining judge Randy Jackson.

According to Variety, the show is almost ready to launch its new-look panel, complete with Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler sitting in the famous chairs. It has been an long, often confusing process thanks to internet rumors left and right, but Lopez and Tyler have been considered the favorites for the job for the past month

So why hasn't "Idol" announced this news yet? There could be a few reasons behind the wait:

• They are waiting to finalize the contracts.
• They want to choose the right time to announce the news.
• They are merely trying to milk every ounce of publicity out of this story.

So far, the judging search has been among the more popular news stories of the summer -- so the last strategy mentioned in certainly working.
Read on . . .