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According to industry insiders, Fox appears to have settled on a quartet of judges for the upcoming 12th season of American Idol with not a moment to spare as taped auditions are eyed to begin as early as next week. Joining confirmed new judge Mariah Carey will be Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban and possibly Enrique Iglesias, who just wrapped his tour with departing Idol judge Jennifer Lopez and is negotiating with Fox. Information on their salaries is conflicting, but Carey’s is believed to be in the $15 million-$17 million range, Minaj’s and Iglesias’ in the $10 million-$12 million range, and Urban is rumored to be earning about $3 million-$5 million. Don’t forger host Ryan Seacrest, who also is pulling a cool $15 million a season. The role of original American Idol judge Randy Jackson remains unclear.
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I think it’s a huge mistake to get rid of randy at the judges table, it would be nice to have some continuity.
By continuity, you must mean the someone saying the same, stupid things week-after-week, year-after-year.
Let’s face it: Randy Jackson is an inarticulate nobody.
Idol jumped the shark when Kara joined as the fourth judge and the show has been in a tailspin ever since. This move, however, with an all-new celeb panel could generate enough curiosity to bring it back. Maybe.
When Kara joined? Try Ellen. Kara at least had constructive criticism to dole out — which we seldom heard from the likes of the Jo Lo/Tyler/Randy trio over the last 2 seasons. Will be interesting to see what happens, the judges are key to making a dull season like last one interesting — or not (as was the case).
AMERICAN —-IDLE.
Who the hell thinks flash in the pan and talentless Nicki Minaj is worth $12 million while established country music star Kieth Urban’s opinion worth only $5 million? Especially since the most successful Idols have been in the country category.
I AGREE!!! Rediculous.
Nicki Minaj? Pathetic. The only talent she has is to drop the f-bomb to music and shake her huge booty. The woman is vulgar beyond words.
Idol should have kept Randy Jackson at the table. No question about it.
u are so damn right bout that.!
AWESOME! I can’t wait!!! (rolls eyes)
All there’s big names and such a diversity of music genres does make for a compelling panel. Well done AI…but man this really makes the hiring of Demi Lovato look embarrassing for Simon Cowell. The Voice and Idol have these big A listers and Cowell has someone who’s never gone platinum and last two albums didn’t even sell enough to be certified as gold (500,00 copies US).
The new judges should generate initial audience interest, but odds are Idol will continue its downward slide. The rating numbers will still be significant, however, the lofty peak which Idol once enjoyed will never be seen again. The good news for Idol is that it will always beat its competition like The Voice…easily.
BTW – How does Keith Urban feel receiving such a relatively small salary compared to the others?
Unless Adam Lambert is a judge I refuse to watch the show.
Amen to that. No Adam, No idol. Stupid show.
I seriously doubt they’ll miss your viewership but good for you for (thinking you’re) taking a stand!
Yup! Removing this from my DVR
What a bunch of garbage. None of my EX Idol watchers will be watching the new season. They don’t like anyone on this panel and neither do I. An old has been diva that is phony as a 3 dollar bill that can barely talk, a clown that can’t sing as in Nicki Minaj and a borning latin singer with no personality? I don’t have anything bad to say about Keith Urban but the rest stink and I have no desire to watch them. Idol has gotten progressively boring the last couple of years and this year takes the cake. Goodbye Idol. Frees up my time to do other things.
Oh yes, the DVR. I will be removing American Idol from my DVR also yeaaaa
What a weird panel – I don’t see a whole lot of chemistry there, but then again, I wasn’t involved in negotiations. It seems like X-Factor, which had the worst panel last year has actuallymanaged to come out on top now.
Just throwing money at the problem isn’t going to solve it.
Until I hear an Official announcement I will not hold my breath. How many of these “insiders” have put their “info” out there already, with a gazillion names being thrown out there? Yeah, I am beyond caring anymore until an official statement has been put out. How long have the rumors and speculation been going on now? Sick of hearing about it, frankly!
Nobody is going to care about AI anymore. The reason I always watched is I liked the format of the show. The past few seasons they have changed it up so much, it is hardly recognizable as the show it once was. XFactor looks so much more interesting to me this year that I may migrate over there. I do not want to look at Mariah and Nicki Minaj on my screen every week, just No! I don’t know enough about Keith or Enrique to care. And since Enrique was just touring with JLO I suppose that is how he got included for consideration in the first place, because honestly, I don’t think many even know who he is.
Big mistake. Four judges is one too many which we already learned in the past. In addition, they are all performers rather than adding a producer or executive (which is what the show has really been missing since Simon left.) I was praying for Jimmy Iovine — the only person who had something valuable to say during the last two seasons. Oh well.
Three of the four will probably make it work. But the addition of Nicki Minaj will be all about her, her outfits, and her hair…not about the competitors. Bad error in judgement by the American Idol producers. Having watched the show from the very first episode of Season 1, this is the beginning of the end. Biggest problem with the Voice is that one is forced to look at Aguiler’s bad/sad cleavage and Celo’s teeth all night.
What kind of lame panel is that? The only good people are Mariah and Keith Urban. Nicki Minaj really? Who is she going to judge?
AI has become a very sucky show but I would watch it just for Keith Urban…almost…TV is such a waste of time.
If Adam Lambert is a judge, I’ll refuse to watch.
Oh well, another year when I only watch the episode Adam Lambert performs on…..ditto from my daughter
Enrique should be paid more. he is the biggest Latin star. sold over 120 million records world wide more then all of the other judges and has 68 number one songs in various billboards charts
The biggest problem with idol isn’t the judging panel, it’s the same format over 11 seasons, what they should do is have America determine bottom 3, judges save one person, & then the person with lowest votes is eliminated, this might stop the WGWG from winning
All I needed to hear was Enrique Iglesias. I’m there. Won’t miss a minute of his screen time!
LOL Lame boring judges makes a good partner to lame boring show!The show has been dead for awhile anyways, this decision should finally put it to rest.