That would be the show that didn't need a velvet rope around the judges' table. With The X Factor landing Britney Spears and Demi Lovato, the pressure will be on Idol to keep up with the divas. But Idol went there with Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, and before them, Ellen DeGeneres. The show won in the TV ratings, which is the point, but lost some of its mojo, which is not beside the point.
Would the Cowell of 2002, the anonymous music insider, get the call to replace Lopez in 2012?You've read all the reports -- "exclusive! Jennifer Lopez to leave "American Idol" after this season!" -- and maybe even believe them because, after all, she will leave "American Idol" one of these days. So will Randy and so will Steven Tyler. Everybody leaves eventually.
But is she leaving after this year? Here are 12 reasonable reasons why this is all probably bogus. (Hint, it's mostly about Britney.)
J.Lo has deployed underlings to sow the rumors, not facts. I mean come on! "A friend close to J.Lo." Gimme a break! J.Lo's a corporation; it's like saying, "a friend close to General Electric tells me..." For God's sake, she has an army of PR personnel that are sent out to the tab press to tell them whatever she needs to tell them.
J.Lo - like any well-run corporation - has good advice. She knows how Ryan Seacrest and Matt Lauer and so many others play this game to their great advantage. She's doing the same.
J.Lo has had her "friends" tell the tabs that she's just too busy to do "Idol." Just too busy...That's like Goldman Sachs sayings it's "just too busy" to do investment banking, or NBC saying it's "jjust too busy" to air any TV programs...This IS the job, and all the other stuff - the movies and records and tours and who-knows-what - are secondary to this.
J.Lo knows that her resurgent career has resurged in large measure because of this gig.
J.Lo knows the minute she jumps off she'll disappear - just another big star who made another dumb move - and all those things she been "so busy" with will become much less important in the scheme of things. .
J.Lo knows that Britney is her chief rival next season. She'd look like a coward ducking a fight if she left now.
J.Lo also knows how much fun it will be to bury "The X Factor" next season, and knows that she'll be the one holding the shovel. Sure they're on the same network, but if she stays, "Idol" will remain far and away the biggest franchise, and she'll be Queen Bee, and the biggest pop star in the world, while Brit will someone trying to prop up flagging "X."
J.Lo knows that there's so much more money to be made -- much, much more. Double what's she's getting now ($15-20M) for a few hours of work, figuratively speaking, a year.
J.Lo started having her "friends" spread all this talk about being "too busy" right around the very moment Britney signed on to "X." Coincidence? 'Course not. Timing's brilliant because Fox and Fremantle know that if Brit got what she got (yes, reports say at much as $50 million, believe 'em or not, and Fox, of course, knows the precise figure since it's paying it) they've got to step up to the plate, too. This is a negotiating tactic, period.
Jennifer Lopez looked divine as she strolled the black carpet wearing a gorgeous Maria Lucia Hohan gown at the What to Expect When You're Expecting premiere. E!'s own Catt Sadler and Marc Malkin were on hand to chat up the film's stars, so of course they made sure to spend some time with J.Lo.
The American Idol mama dished on her beau Casper Smart, her ex Marc Anthony and even had some advice for the new hosts of that other singing competition
One thing Lopez has appeared to find balance with is her relationship with her ex-husband Marc Anthony, with whom she cohosts the Spanish reality competition show, Q'Viva.
"Marc and I are gonna be performing together in Las Vegas with our whole Q'Viva crew," Lopez said. "Marc and I were friends for 10 years before we got married. We got married, we had two beautiful children, and we're still friends. Things disappointingly don't work out the way that you dream them in your mind sometimes. That's life. But, that doesn't mean that the caring goes away or the friendship or the things that brought you together disappear. They haven't for us, so we just want to be great parents and great friends and just try to do things well for them."
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