Idol Chatter & Voice Views

When it comes to Idol, three judges are better than four. Season eight proved that.

But, boy, if I had to choose the third judge, I’d take Paula Abdul over Kara DioGuardi any day.

It looks like the opposite will happen. Paula’s Tweet heard round the Idol world went out Tuesday night: “With sadness in my heart, I’ve decided not to return. I’ll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all being a part of a show that I helped from day 1 become an international phenomenon.”

And viewers will undoubtedly miss the unpredictability Paula brought to Idol. From the playful banter with Simon Cowell to the critiques that left us wondering what the heck she just said.

Zany doesn’t seem to be Kara’s strong point. Taking herself too seriously? Oh, yeah. Wackiness? Not so much.

The season-ending bikini flash? Give me a break. That was orchestrated.

And the contestants will surely miss Paula. From interviewing them, I can tell they appreciated being able to count on one supporter at the judges’ table.

The Idol stage can be an intimidating place. Chris Daughtry said as much in a recent interview. And he was talking about a return to the Idol stage after his days as a contestant were over.

What will Idol viewers miss without Paula?

Here’s a look back at Paula highlights from season seven, which was certainly one of her best.

* To Michael Johns, after his rendition of “Dream On:” “You sound as good as you look and the high notes that you hit, I think my Chihuahuas are going to come and join you on stage.”

Simon’s response: “From dreams to Chihuahuas … only on American Idol.”

* To Ramiele Malubay, after her rendition of “In My Life”, Paula said: “The whole world needs to see what we hear in your voice.”

Whereupon Simon couldn’t resist looking at Paula, rather baffled and repeating: “The whole world needs to see what we hear?”

* Paula’s critique of David Archuleta, after he sang John Lennon’s “Imagine” in the semifinals: “You are ridiculous. I just want to squish you, squeeze your head off and dangle it from my rearview mirror.”

In case you were wondering, that was supposed to be a compliment. But young David looked scared for a moment.

* And then, there was one of the all-time monumental Idol gaffes. Ryan summoned the final five season seven contestants to the stage for an unscheduled critique of their first song. The show was facing a time crunch. Each contestant still had to perform a second song.

And it was Paula’s turn to talk. Oh, my … “Jason (Castro), on the first song, I loved hearing your lower register … the second song, I felt like your usual charm was missing for me. It kind of left me empty. The two songs made me feel like you’re not fighting hard enough to get into the final four.”

Only problem, Jason had performed just one song, which Randy politely tried to point out.
More flustered, Paula continued: “Oh, my God, I thought you sang twice.”

On stage, Ryan laughed nervously and said: “Paula, you’re seeing the future, baby.”

Replied Paula: “This is hard.”

And then, in a bizarre attempt to save face, she smiled and said she had mistakenly been looking at her notes for David Cook. She then praised David C., supposedly from the notes she’d used to pan Jason.

Hey, Paula critics, confusion can be entertaining too.
If this really is the end … thanks for the memories, Paula.

Here’s a link to the AP story on her departure.