The X Factor: (Almost) Official List of Judges

I had no plans of posting this just because it's NOT YET official, but since everyone is assuming that this is the final set of judges, then might as well blog about it no?

Deadline's Nikki Finke recently had an exclusive interview with Simon Cowell, and apparently he revealed that he WANTS Paula Abdul and Cheryl Cole to sit right next to him and LA Reid as judges in the upcoming US version of The X Factor.

Cowell tells me that in addition to himself and Antonio “L.A.” Reid, the chairman of Island Def Jam Music Group who resigned to join The X Factor panel on Fox (and about whom Simon said “was my No. 1 choice to sit alongside me on the show”), he has made up his mind to bring back Paula Abdul beside him and to add a Brit singer convicted of assault who’s virtually unknown to American audiences, Cheryl Cole.

But according to Finke, the negotiations for Abdul hasn't even started and that Cole's deal isn't quite done yet. So ultimately, he could change his mind and go with, say, Jessica Simpson? Haha.

My thoughts? I covered last year's The X Factor UK and I always thought Cheryl Cole was awesome as a judge and mentor. True, she's not widely popular in the US yet, but I don't think it's that relevant at the moment. Oh, and she's unbelievably gorgeous. Talk about a draw for the young male demographic! Haha.

As for Paula Abdul, I don't think it was the best idea. I mean, for a guy who has clearly tried to distance himself from American Idol, throwing Paula Abdul into the X Factor mix sure isn’t accomplishing that. To me, the show will make it look more like an Idol ripoff, having two of the original judges on the show. There's just too much of an Idol connection here. Plus, Paula isn’t exactly a ratings maker - just look at how her dance show did. Cancelled after one season. This comes off as a lazy and safe choice.

I admit, Simon went with chemistry above anything else - he sure had that with Paula and Cheryl - but this panel isn't very exciting. It's silly to compare, but The Voice panel is stronger hands down. At the very least, all of the panel had name recognition and are shockingly current. I think the show just made The Voice look better. Haha. Still, I’m interested to see how The X Factor in the US will turn out.

American Idol: Simon Cowell on the Oprah Winfrey Show

Simon Cowell sat down with Oprah Winfrey for an interview. He talked about his American Idol life, his relationship and finally committing to one woman, his past failures, and what lies in the future with X factor.

I thought that this was a good interview. Simon seemed pretty honest with everything he said. I liked when he confessed that next week's Wednesday Finale show will going to be an emotional night for him - yup! I think I'll be an emotional wreck that day too - as he will definitely miss the show. It's definitely an interesting interview, especially when he talked about his time on Idol - he name-checked Carrie Underwood and Fantasia Barrino as the talents he spotted right away.

It was also interesting to hear him say that somehow Paula Abdul leaving Idol hurt the show. Hm.

Watch the four part interview after the jump!!

PART 1


PART 2

PART 3

PART 4