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Is it just me, or was the audition round of American Idol just flat this year? The great auditions weren’t all that great. The bad auditions weren’t as funny as in the past. I don’t know if they ran through the very best and the very worst and we’re left with something in the middle or if it is just a case of “we’ve seen it all before”. Either way, the show has left me nonplussed so far this season.

I go way back with Idol.  Season 1 far back.  Justin and Kelly far back.  It’s been a fun ride, but I think the writing is on the wall and the end is nigh.

The end has been in sight for a while now.  It started when the judges inexplicably put Sanjaya through to the top 24.  The very notion that he was one of the 12 best singers that the judges could find just screamed that they weren’t looking all that hard.

But life, and American Idol, went on.  Simon was mean.  Randy called everyone “Dog”.  Paula babbled incoherently.  And the singers kept coming.  The occasional Sanjaya or Kelly Pickler couldn’t ruin the show.

Now Paula is gone.  For reasons that I cannot fathom, the producers replaced a very replaceable cog with… Ellen DeGeneres, who has no connection whatsoever to the music industry.  If the previews for the Hollywood week round are any indication, she’s going to be less useful than Paula, which is a little bit like being less hairy than Howie Mandel.  It isn’t easy.  The one bit of Ellen’s wisdom that the advertising gurus at Fox chose to show us is her telling a contestant to get some shoes because Hollywood is a disgusting place.

Now the word is that Simon will be leaving after this season to focus on his next British Import – X-Factor.  Early rumors point to Howard Stern as his replacement.  If that’s the case, this is surely the last season for me.  Even if they choose a less odious replacement, I think I may be done.  Let’s all hope that X-Factor fills the void that Idol will leave behind.