After nearly ten years of Simon Cowell’s biting commentary as a judge of American Idol, he’s going to be leaving the show after 2010 to launch another one on the same network. Just today, Simon signed a contract with Fox executives to leave American Idol and launch X Factor, another talent show that hails from the United Kingdom. The UK show is pretty much his baby, and his new contract with Fox will bring the series to the United States. Simon believes that X Factor will help him find someone with unusual talent, especially since the show has a lot of key differences from American Idol. For one thing, X-Factor has no age limits – kids as young as 14 and as old as 100 are free to audition. X-Factor will be hitting the US airwaves on 2011. And according to rumors, Simon feels a little bitter about not being a part owner of American Idol, which he developed with his former friend Simon Fuller.
I’m not sure I can imagine American Idol with Simon Cowell gone. Well, I kind of can, but I imagine it to be a rather dull and boring show; Simon’s comments added a lot of life to every episode, and I don’t think Randy Jackson’s antics will be enough to keep it interesting. It looks like the new judges Ellen Degeneres and Kara DioGuardi have to make an effort to keep American Idol exciting, but not too much effort – I hate it when the judges blab away about nothing important.
