Paula Abdul's new gig as lead judge on CBS's upcoming series Got to Dance is... happy? Grim? An opportunity for the 47-year-old singer to bring back her oversize blazers and leggings? Not so bad? Whatever it is, it's not a Simon Cowell production, and that makes us fearful for next year's smattering of reality competitions. I certainly figured that Paula would join Simon on the American version of his hit X-Factor. But could it be that Paula Abdul's smartest move is detaching from all American Idol associations for good?
Now, I'd like to think that Paula Abdul is incapable of poor decisions, but we all saw Hey Paula, right? She's not in the clear.
While no one yet knows the specifics of Got to Dance, I assume its format is sophisticated, a ripe opportunity for Paula to criticize with authority. She was famously a Laker Girl early in her career, but she was also one of the most in-demand music video choreographers of the 1980s. She knows things. In this video with ingenue Janet Jackson, she teaches the pop newcomer how to insert "nasty" into her groove.
We also don't know how Got to Dance will differ from the pretty-much-flawless So You Think You Can Dance, but if it is similar, this is better for Paula than any Simon Cowell production. Much as we miss Paula on Idol, we can't forget that her tenure next to Randy Jackson was dogged by a significant share of viewership that deemed her worthless. Here, she can be both the sympathetic judge with a tear (or tidal wave) in her eye, and the most trusted figure on the panel. Playing second banana to "Cold-Hearted" Cowell again would feel like a sham, and establishing her own brand of optimistic encouragement as a prime attraction is simply a more logical step. Wouldn't you rather see Paula pinpoint a problematic jete, reference her showstopping "Straight Up" heyday, and jolt into impromptu poses when she digs something? Instead of just sitting there without the vocabulary to even tell Melinda Doolittle why she loved her rendition of "I'm A Woman"? I'm on board.
Plus, her spot on Got to Dance is a beacon of hope for the world's supply of unemployed animated cats.