When last season of American Idol added fourth judge Kara DioGuardi, many speculated that Kara’s addition was a potential test to see if she could replace Paula Abdul in case Paula decided to leave the show (because a woman can only replace another woman, obviously). Now, Paula’s embroiled in difficult contract negotiations that leave her status on the show uncertain. Her manager has complained to the press that Paula is being lowballed - she makes far less than fellow judge Simon Cowell and host Ryan Seacrest, and she’s holding out for more money.
As an avid Idol fan, I could go two ways with this. One is that Ryan and Simon both provide more value to the show than she does - Simon’s also a producer and helped create the show, and while it seems like hosting a reality show is easy, compare Ryan with a lesser TV host and you’ll see how talented he is at moving the show along and smoothing transitions. Ryan’s the only host, but Paula is one of three - or four - judges. Besides, her commentary is often rambling or irrelevant - do we really care that you like someone’s personality or outfit when they can’t freaking sing? Part of me thinks she should be grateful to Idol for resurrecting her career and making her a pop culture icon. After all, would she have had her reality show, jewelry line, endorsement deals, or other side gigs if she hadn’t made her Idol-fueled comeback? I doubt it.
On the other hand, there’s the Randy Jackson factor.
Randy Jackson is more useless as a judge than Paula is. Even when Paula’s comments aren’t about singing, she’s usually funny (intentionally or unintentionally) and can give a good sound bite when she needs to. Randy, on the other hand, just repeats the same variations of “yo, dawg” and “you can SANG” to the point where I just tune him out entirely. While I sometimes get annoyed by Paula’s randomness, I often forget Randy is there entirely. The salary disclosure I’d most like to see is his - if what Paula makes is comparable to Randy, then I think it’s fair. If he’s making more than her, then I would definitely cry sexism. Kara’s too much of a new force to compare her and Paula, but Paula and Randy negotiated have been on the show the same number of years and have basically the same job. Interesting that he’s the one whose salary isn’t being reported on right now.
What do you think?
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