IDOL DAY TODAY!!!!!

For me its a dose of both American and Singapore Idol :)

SI MINI REUNION BREAKKIE!

In about 11 hours I'll be out having a sumptuous breakfast with some of the Idol gang. I'll be twitpiccing, so check out my twitpics/twitter :) I'll be sure to get updates on everyone and fill you guys in on all thats been happening the moment I get home (and get some time to myself :)).

Have you got burning questions for any of the Top 12? Post 'em below under comments before 9am tomorrow (Wednesday) and I'll try and get you your answers :) Follow me on Twitter and I'll ask and answer them while I'm with them k?

We'll be doing a proper reunion at the end of February, so hopefully everyone turns up for that one. Fingers crossed that all goes well and the reunion happens ;) Will let you know when later.

AMERICAN IDOL DAY ELLEN ON IDOL DAY!

I can't believe this day is FINALLY here! We've endured countless ridiculous auditions (who can forget the girl dressed as a guitar, dude I have nightmares about that tan) and countless guest judges, Posh in Boston, Posh in Denver, Joe Jonas, Devil-Hoodied Avril, Mary J. Bleah, Kristin 'dismissed-after-1-day' Chenoweth (I loved NPH, respected Shania and just couldn't stop drooling over Katy, so props to them for actually being worthy of the seat). Ok to be fair, I drooled a little over Joe too, but he had so little screen time, it wasn't drool worth mentioning.

So...

Ellen.

Expectations are riding v. high on this one. I truly hope she delivers.Me and like, a gazillion others, including and especially the people at Fox. Ellen's meant to be some kind of a saviour for for the show, viewership numbers have been sliding the past two seasons and for the first time ever, The Grammys rated higher than Idol (not sure if this is due to people not watching Idol or just more people interested in the Grammys) - not a good thing.

So in comes Ellen to save the day. From the minute they announced she was taking over Paula's place, I was ecstatic - she is such an inspired choice.

Ellen brings in a new and large fan base. Plus, her daily talk show is another avenue to promote Idol (just like Seacrest does on his radio shows, hey, cross-promotion is key nowadays, lookit all the collabos happening in music!).

With Simon leaving the show at the end of this season, if Ellen manages to win the audience over, its also one less major worry for the producers. Simon's other baby 'X Factor US' will be in direct competition with Idol once it starts. So this season, producers will have the added headache of not putting Simon on a pedestal like they have been for the past 8 years as that will only serve to promote him and their future competitor.

Allie Is Wired has stated that producers will be reducing Simon's role :

"Expect to see less and less of Simon this season. The focus is going to be back on the contestants and less on Simon’s harsh criticisms of them," an insider tells me. "They also will be spending more time focusing on Ellen once she gets through her first few weeks live from Hollywood."

"With Simon Cowell on the brink of ditching ‘American Idol’ to take the throne of ‘X-Factor,’ insiders tell me that executives have figured out a way to ease him out of the conversation this year — focus on Ellen."

Well, from the looks of this trailer and the 'Ellen hates Simon' PR spin (oh yea, you bet yo' a** this is a PR spin - I can smell it), 'Focus On Ellen' may quite truly be this season's mantra. She seems quite 'take charge'/'head judge' in the few short clips you see here - woot! go Ellen!

And check out this tweet from Ryan Seacrest ...

RyanSeacrest :

just talked to @theellenshow...regarding simon she said "he's gonna be a challenge"..."we're both completely different people"

UPDATE!

Found one more American Idol trailer that will give you another look at Ellen's demeanor on the show...she looks serious, but still manages to crack a joke in her trademark deadpan blase expression..

Ok folks, time to hit publish and go watch The Noose! (I love this show! Recorded it just now and now that the kids are a-snoozin', its time for Mommy to watch TV - Noose, Bachelor and V here I come!)

xoxo, s.

ps. Don't forget to be posting your queries for our own idol alums below before 9am tomorrow! Nitez all!

pps. Oh, and listen to this (click!) - its Howard Stern responding to the rumour about him replacing Simon on Idol. What do you think? Is he worthy of the Cowell seat? imo - you have GOT to be kidding me. Seriously? Nooooooo.....