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Ellen DeGeneres addition to American Idol good for ratings, some thoughts

By April MacIntyre Feb 10, 2010, 17:36 GMT

New judge Ellen DeGeneres Fame Pictures, Inc - Santa Monica, CA, USA

Ellen DeGeneres as judge on FOX "American Idol" has cinched the ratings for the night, according to Variety.

Tuesday night (Feb. 9) began the herd winnowing Hollywood Week on "American Idol," where the real deals are culled from the one hit wonders of the local auditioning process.

Many personalities we liked from earlier auditions were axed for not rising to the occasion, notably the small town girl Vanessa Wolfe from Vonore, TN. She choked in last night's audition, and I was sad to see her go.

The Johnny Confidence of the series so far, "SkiiBoSki" was booted too.

The judges were assembled, and the parade of kids each took center stage and were sorted quicker than a box of chocolates from I Love Lucy, when Ethel and Lucy worked the conveyor belt.

Ellen's demeanor is laconic, low key and subtle. She is no showboater, and says what she means, no bloviating, awkward pauses or mixed messages.  A straight shooter who Kara DioGuardi told Monsters and Critics this morning in a phone interview. overall did "an amazing job" sitting in as Paula Abdul's replacement.

"Ellen knows more about the music business than many people realize," said Kara.

DeGeneres also doesn't flinch, exactly the quality one needs to sit next to Mr. Tact-Less, Simon Cowell, whose brittle veneer seems to have been worn down by sitting through endless mediocre and downright ridiculous auditions for years and years.  It is understandable that he is ready for a new challenge after having to defend his pithy professional summations over and again to clueless hopefuls in denial of their vocal limits.

Then there is Randy Jackson. Randy has a tiger by the tail with his "America's Best Dance Crew," a wildly popular dance competition on MTV, so his mind at times appears to be elsewhere.  He and Kara appear still to be a tribe of two, often times very much on the same page about perceptions of a given performance.

How did Ellen's inaugural debut strike you, Idol watchers? I think we are in for a great season, especially after witnessing Andrew Garcia's unplugged genius rendition of a Paula Abdul hit: Straight Up. His family must be out of their minds over his good fortune, to finally be in front of king makers.  Garcia has it made for the rest of his life; he is that good

Other great turns were Janelle Wheeler's "American Boy,"  Didi Benami's cover of a Kara DioGuardi song, and Crystal Bowersox's soulful send up of an Aretha standard.  She needs some help reality TV dentists, please offer to assist this talented single mom. Her voice is wonderful, but her choppers need some Dr. 90210 loving.  Lilly Scott's Ella Fitzgerald acoustic performance was great but I hope to never, ever, ever see feather earrings again on stage.  Haeley Vaughn's glowing spirit and voice is a head turner too.

Talk back and tell me your thoughts Idol fans. And we will reconvene tomorrow.