Most important ‘Idol’ judge? It’s Paula Abdul

Viewers respond instead to the person: their story, their clothing, their personality. That explains all of those packaged segments about the contestants, and explains why someone with a confrontational personality never has a chance.

In his judging, Simon Cowell has increasingly been acknowledging this phenomenon, even though it’s been present since season one. Simon referred to it as the “it factor,” or the “X Factor,” borrowing the name of his other UK talent search show. After each performance, his criticism tends to focus on the actual singing and song choice, but he’ll often acknowledge the role other factors play. This season, he told one contestant, “This came over as a bit of a joke. Having said that, I have a feeling the audience at home will like you.”

Paula Abdul is viewers' intrepid guide into the world of likeability. She finds the most absurd and random things upon which to compliment contestants, as if she were there to protect them. That explains why Paula is sometimes referred to as the show’s “den mother,” hovering over and protecting her cubs, particularly from the scary man next door, Simon Cowell.

Paula’s also an important judge because, let’s be honest, Simon Cowell has been flinging the exact same insults for the past five years. Paula is unpredictable and often hilarious.

In the middle of this season’s semi-finals, she erupted into giggles during the results show and said that Heather Cox and Brenna Gethers were going home “because one of them ate pizza and the other ate salad.” Later she said, “Simon gave me advice and said on ‘The X Factor’ he always refers to a fortune cookie and says the moth who finds the melon finds the cornflake always finds the melon and one of you didn’t pick the right fortune.”

As hysterical and completely insane as this was, it also betrayed Paula’s core constituency, because they expect her to coddle the contestants and reassure the audience. Her flippant, absurd response came dangerously close to betraying her true feelings about the competition, that it’s more of a joke than a serious talent competition, a competition where arbitrary, pizza-or-salad decisions made by the audience are the rule.

But really, that’s what Paula Abdul reaffirms nearly every time she talks about a contestant, and that’s why Paula Abdul is the show’s most important judge.

Andy Dehnart is a writer and teacher who publishes reality blurred, a daily summary of reality TV news.

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