'American Idol' rumormania
Posted: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 12:20 PM by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
Filed Under:
TV
If you're a music star who wants to make headlines, it can't hurt to have your name twined with that #1 television show, now running three times a week, "American Idol."
First, Courtney Love claimed that she had been approached to replace judge Paula Abdul on the hit singing contest. Fans of the show went nuts. Sure, Paula had her moments, but in whose universe is Crazy Courtney an improvement? Just as viewers were passionately swearing they'd never watch FOX again if La Love started chugging Cokes next to Simon and Randy, "Idol" producer Nigel Lythgoe joined the fray.
Lythgoe told Us Magazine that he never called Courtney about any job on "Idol," saying he was "afraid someone may have misrepresented me." In other words: She got punked. What he didn't say but probably was thinking: Consider the source! It's quite possible Courtney hears herself getting job offers 24-7 from various planets that none of the rest of us have yet visited.
That rumor was barely put to rest when another arose: Next, "sources" -- including Robin "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" Leach -- were claiming that Michael Jackson would be making an "Idol" appearance.
While Jackson certainly has enough songs for the "Idol" finalists to each sing half a dozen each with no repeats, it was almost impossible to visualize the troubled Jackson of recent years, complete with facial mask, showing up to coach the Idols through a week of practice and performance. And of course, that rumor was also blown apart, this time by Jackson's own rep.
But reporters remained desperate for just a crumb of news about "Idol" personnel changes, and today it looks as if they've finally hit on one or two that could be accurate. Jennifer Lopez is reportedly set to perform on the April 11, and another rumor says Gwen Stefani will beat her to it, performing March 28. MSNBC.com's own Jeannette Walls reported that an upcoming issue of Star says it was Lopez and husband Marc Anthony who approached the show.
It's all good for "Idol": More publicity for a show that already gets heaping helpings of it. Every rumor just gets the show's name in the paper again, while if the show simply came out and announced its guest-star lineup, as "Dancing With the Stars" just announced its cast, all the fun of speculation and wild rumors would be over.
There's really no reason why "Idol" can't get creative when it comes to guest stars. A recent MSNBC.com poll suggested such tongue-in-cheek theme nights as Hasselhoff Night, Creed Night (Chris Daughtry, come back!), Smiths night, or Weird Al Yankovic Night. It's fun to think of the Idols, even the perky and the country-western ones, having to get all morose and sing the Smiths' "Girlfriend in a Coma," and the occasional "Idol" metalhead could rock out with Weird Al's "I Love Rocky Road."
Let's start a rumor of our own: Which singers would you like to see on "American Idol"? Which theme nights should the show tackle? The sky's the limit here in FantasyLand, much as, apparently, it is in Courtney Love's mind.
