Breaking News: Here Comes Da Judge!

As if I needed any more reason to watch "American Idol" next season -- Ellen DeGeneres announces on her show today (and officially broke the news just hours ago) that she is being brought on board as the fourth regular judge on the "Idol" panel, to fill the vacancy left by Paula Abdul when she announced her departure last month. With the passion she has shown for "Idol" on her daytime talk show -- talking about the week's performance round at nearly every opportunity, and bringing almost every departing finalist onto her show as a guest -- as well as her passion for music in general, I have a hard time thinking of a more suitable person to sit on the judges' panel.

Notice I said "suitable", and not "qualified". That's the only problem I have with Ellen becoming an "Idol" judge: she'd be the only one on the panel who doesn't have a professional background in the music business. All of the other three judges have worked as producers, with Kara also having extensive experience as a songwriter and a singer, and Randy as a studio and touring musician with countless music acts. Don't get me wrong ... I'm otherwise totally jazzed about Ellen being on "Idol" ... I'm just worried about how everyone else will accept her, particularly because of this notable lack of actual experience in the music industry.

Will she be funny? Of course. Will she know what she's talking about? As long as she sticks to what she knows and doesn't pretend to know more than she does (in other words, if she speaks from the perspective of a passionate music fan, and also provides feedback from her experience as a performer trying to entertain an audience), and I don't think we'll have to worry about Ellen coming off as fake. So ... bring on the new season of "Idol"!