Every good story needs a great villain. What's Batman without the Joker? Wolverine without Sabertooth? Taylor Swift without Kanye West? In the reality TV singing competition world, there was no bigger, nastier, snarkier dream crusher than American Idol's British judge, Simon Cowell. Except for maybe Diddy from Making the Band seasons 1 and 2, but that show didn't have nearly the cultural impact of Idol or Simon. When desperately hungry wannabe singers belted out their best note and smiled with a delusional sense of self-satisfaction, Simon was the voice of reality dropping on their aspirations like a ton of bricks. "That was dreadful," Cowell would say while shaking his head and crossing his arms in exasperation. The contestants either took the tongue lashing with grace, burst into tears or angrily fired back at Cowell's vitriol. It all made for television gold.
Cowell's snapping turtle nature immediately caught on with viewers and he became the unofficial barometer of most contestant's true talents. If Simon thought you were good, then the audience knew that they were pretty good. But after the first few seasons, Simon mellowed out, perhaps the tears of the rejected haunted him at night. And with his patty cake mate Paula Abdul exiting the show dramatically last year, it appears that Simon has grown bored of the whole Idol routine. Well, not really. He's actually looking to launch his OTHER reality TV singing competition called X-Factor Stateside, and word is Ms. Abdul will be joining him.
Nonetheless, Simon put on a sad face yesterday as he made the announcement that he would be leaving American Idol after this current season is over.
So we're left with Kara DioGuardi, Ellen DeGeneres, Ryan Seacrest and Randy "Yo Dawg" Jackson? Yeah, it might be time to put the giant to sleep with that bunch holding down the fort.
