Simon Says: Goodbye “Idol,” Hello “X-Factor”

Fox’s executive session kicked off about 20 minutes late, but network president Kevin Reilly announced there was a good reason for the delay: Fox had only just finalized a deal to bring Simon Cowell’s Brit hit The X-Factor to American TV in fall of 2010 — and welcomed surprise guest Simon Cowell to the panel.

Cowell will serve as exec producer and judge on the show, which is essentially the same as American Idol except that there’s no upper age limit for contestants, and groups are eligible as well as individual singers, who can be as young as 14.

The flip side, however, is that this season of “American Idol” will be Simon’s last.

While the network is optimistic that X-Factor and Idol can co-exist (Factor airing in the fall, Idol in midseason), the truth is that American Idol without Simon Cowell is pretty much Star Search. Unless they can find an incredibly vibrant, corrosive personality to fill that empty chair, I have a tough time imagining a judging session with Randy, Kara and Ellen DeGeneres and some anonymous acerbic Brit to be particularly compelling television.

Cowell, however, remains optimistic that both shows will thrive: “In my opinion it's like having a good player on a good football team,” he said. “But when the player retires the team will continue to be very successful. I'm confident 'Idol' will continue to be the No. 1 show. I want to leave 'Idol' this year bigger and better than it's been before.”

But what may be even bigger news came when a reporter asked Cowell if there was a role for Paula Abdul on X-Factor. While TMZ is reporting this is a done deal, Cowell did nothing to dispel the rumours, professing his love for Paula, saying he knows he’ll work with her again, and, without saying it outright, strongly hinting that she’d be joining him at the judges' table.

"Whatever happens," Cowell said, "I will be working with her in some capacity, because I like her."