I must admit I was rather shocked when I first heard about this -- Fox entertainment division is considering hiring Howard Stern to replace Simon Cowell, who is leaving after this season on American Idol. But the more I think about it, the more it makes a weird kind of sense.
Cowell was the show's "mean guy". When everyone else was trying to be nice and diplomatic and let a singer down easy, Cowell could be counted on to tell the unvarnished truth regardless of whose feelings were hurt. That made people love to hate him. Stern is the same kind of personality. He'll cut through the BS and tell you what he thinks, regardless of what anyone thinks about his opinion. People would easily love to hate him.
On his radio show, Stern admitted that he has been talking to Fox, and is considering taking the job at American Idol. He said it would depend on the money -- he is asking for the same $100 million a year that he is currently earning at Sirius Radio (and his contract with Sirius expires at the end of this year).
Here are some of Stern's comments on his radio show yesterday:
"It might be possible, we'll see. They'd have to pay me a ton of dough because I already make a ton of dough."
"A $100 million to judge a karaoke contest? Yeah, I would do that show for $100 million."
"If I do say so myself, I can't imagine anyone else but me replacing (Cowell). I mean, I don't know. How else are they going to make that show work? Who knows how to broadcast and who knows how to be interesting? And who's not afraid to speak their mind?"
"It would be the best thing that happened to me. What a cush job -- $100 million for four months. Who wouldn't take that?"
Stern also said he would not continue doing his radio show if he got the American Idol gig. That's the part that makes me doubt this whole thing. Say what you will about Howard Stern, but he's always been very loyal to his co-workers like Robin, Artie and Gary. When he made a move, he always took them along and made sure they got decent contracts.
He may just be using Fox to make sure a new radio contract will still pay him the big bucks. Then again, maybe he's serious. It's impossible to know at this point. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the future brings.
