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‘Idol’ Producers Reportedly Had Secret Plan to Dump Mariah Carey and Bring Back Jennifer Lopez

Apr 24, 2013  •  Post A Comment

"American Idol" producers and Fox executives recently created a secret plan to dump judge Mariah Carey and bring back Jennifer Lopez, all part of a scheme to boost the show’s slumping ratings, according to The Hollywood Reporter, which cites “knowledgeable sources.”

But the plan reportedly failed when Carey responded with the threat of legal action. Even though producers have dropped the idea of ousting Carey, they are still negotiating with Lopez, who was a judge during the past two seasons, to appear on May’s finale.

A search has begun to find a replacement for Carey, and possibly Nicki Minaj or even the entire judge’s panel for the next season, the story says.

"This is just another ridiculous ‘Idol’ judge rumor, likely started by talks of Jennifer performing on the finale," a Fox spokeswoman told the publication.

A representative for Carey denied the allegations, and producer Nigel Lythgoe said, "I have not been included in any conversation regarding replacing Mariah with Jen this season."

While "Idol" started off the season with a 6.0 rating among adults 18-49 and 17.9 million total viewers, its Wednesday performance show is now averaging a 4.3 rating in the demo, its worst performance since the show debuted in 2001.

While producers hoped Carey and Minaj would provide for dramatic viewing, some "Idol" executives worry the dynamic between the two has turned off some fans, the piece adds.

6 Comments

  1. Minaj is the turn-off. She is disgusting and has made me not want to watch the show at all. i may be older than the “target audience”, but I like and respect Mariah on the show. Minaj is just a bad, slutty image that makes the show look desperate and cheap.

  2. Nicki Minaj is the only reason I watch. Keith Urban was good at first, but she is consistently honest. Mariah just copies Randy, which is boring. Let’s face it, the franchise is just tired. It’s so 2006.

  3. The real problem is that they don’t have a judge that can find real talent that can sell. When Simon was there, most of the winners had hit singles and even some of the runner-ups. Now these people are average at best. The judges are too busy with promoting themselves and their images and not really evaluating the talent.

  4. Dump Carey? They should dump the only one on that panel that has no talent and that is the witch Minaj. Anyone who has to wear a clown wig to get attention is useless. This is the first season of Idol I haven’t watched since the first episode.

  5. They should scrap the whole thing. Well, actually it gets ratings, so no they shouldn’t. As someone who had anticipation for the first season ahead of time and watched the first 8 seasons, the singers all start to sound the same. The winners are the same and ver few of them go on to do anything great.
    I watched for about 5 minutes once of the performances and I’m not sure if the judges have preset ideas in their heads or it sounds better in person, but they praised one of the signers for her “groundbreaking performance.” I thought it sounded like crap.
    The fewer the judges the better. No one offers great help, they all like to hear the sound of their own voices and they ramble on non-sense. Nicki is voice is annoying and Mariah can’t really form an opinion by herself.
    It isn’t entertaining and the shark has been jumped. Now, it’s like Survivor and let’s see what we can do to milk ratings for as long as possible.

  6. Please get rid of Nikki she is obnoxious, disrespectful and really isn’t that talented. I can’t believe she was late to a show because of traffic. Really folks? Love to see Mariah and Jennifer – think that would boost ratings. Keith Urban adds alot to the show and is nice to look at! Get someone that has been in business awhile and knows what they are talking about not some young talent that doesn’t have the respect – I think Adam Lambert would be an awesome judge and boost ratings

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