McClatchy Tribune

All you “American Idol” fans who were hoping that a last-minute change of heart would bring Paula Abdul back to the show can now give up on that dream.

Fox has announced that Ellen DeGeneres will be the new fourth judge on the show. She’ll start work on “Idol” after a parade of temporary fill-ins including Victoria Beckham, Mary J. Blige, Kristin Chenoweth, Joe Jonas, Neil Patrick Harris, Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry and Shania Twain winds down during the audition rounds.

“I’m thrilled to be the new judge on American Idol,” DeGeneres said in a Fox press release. “I’ve watched since the beginning, and I’ve always been a huge fan. So getting this job is a dream come true, and think of all the money I’ll save from not having to text in my vote.”

Meanwhile, fans of Ellen’s daytime talk show have nothing to fear. She said during a taping for Thursday’s episode that she’ll stick around, taking on both a day and night job.

Of her role as judge, Ellen said, “Hopefully I’m the people’s point of view because I’m just like you. I sit at home and I watch it and I don’t have that technical. I’m not looking at it in a critical way from the producer’s mind. I’m looking at it as a person who is going to buy the music and is going to relate to that person.”

Of course, we won’t know how this will all work out until we see how Ellen meshes with the other judges and what kind of chemistry she can generate. But there’s a lot about the move that makes sense even if Ellen brings no pop-music experience to the table.

Like Paula, she’ll probably be the warm-hearted cheerleader type a role that needed to be filled. Unlike Paula, she actually speaks English, is coherent and can intentionally spew hilarious one-liners, giving Simon a run for his money in that department.

What she doesn’t bring to the mix is Paula’s endearing loopiness, penchant for drama or flamboyant sense of fashion. And, just a hunch here, but we probably won’t see her do too much flirting with Mr. Cowell.

Now that a person of Ellen’s stature has been hired, it’s unfortunate that she won’t get more screen time, thanks to the producers’ regrettable decision to continue with the four-judge format. We learned last season that there’s just not enough room for all of them. Kara DiGuardi or even Randy Jackson should have been dumped.