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.
awesome reader comment of the day
STA reader Missy left such a funny – and truthful – comment on this morning’s Julia Allison intern post that I decided to make the comment its own post:
Sing it, sister. To be honest, not all Americans do this, but there are plenty of power-mad, selfish jerks out there who seem to think it’s appropriate to make their employees wait on them hand and foot. Ideally, intern and assistant jobs would be like apprenticeships in relevant fields, but when you have lots of people competing for jobs, it’s a lot easier to make them do grunt work alongside their actual projects. That said, no one should ever have to pick up Julia’s dog’s shit except Julia.