Viewpoint by Shanda Block/entertainment editor

Season nine of American Idol will not include Paula Abdul on the judge’s panel.

Instead, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres will permanently take Abdul’s place.

DeGeneres has no background in the music industry. She’s just as average as I would be for choosing who should or shouldn’t be America’s next Idol.

Sure, she’ll bring a comedic touch to the show, but comedy isn’t what the contestants need. They need a judge who can make an educated decision of just how far they’ll go in this competition, and DeGeneres is not it.

She told NBC she plans to still juggle her talk show in the mornings along with American Idol at night. Switching from her vastly different show to Idol could be a problem.

Not only will she have to stop the constant joking that her show offers, but while on Idol, DeGeneres will have to show a much more professional side to everything she says and does.

To be fair, we haven’t even seen what kind of judge DeGeneres will really be other than on So You Think You Can Dance.

During her appearance this summer, she was mainly just a jokester and like a little kid in a candy shop seeing the shop for the first time and not knowing what to do with herself. 

Abdul at least had a musical background and could live without the obnoxious overkill of jokes. DeGeneres sure will make a strange addition to Idol. Hopefully, she can handle acting professionally more times than not.

Yet perhaps even with no musical credentials, she will be fair regarding niceness or harshness depending on each contestant. She may just prove us skeptics wrong.

Whatever happens, though, I’ll sure be surprised if she really stays the whole five years of her signed deal with American Idol.

People thought someone from the music industry like J-Lo or former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham would be possible new judges, but boy were they wrong.

Watch out America, DeGeneres is coming.