Sure, some of you might conjecture that tacking daytime-friendly funny lady/wife of Portia De Rossi onto the panel of alleged know-it-alls to determine America's next big, great pop star may have been the most un-American thing that American Idol's producers could've done to us. And just in time to commemorate September 11, too! But this decision to cast Ellen DeGeneres as part of the Idol brain trust with Kara, Simon, and Randy isn't a totally boneheaded move.

Paula Abdul's pop origins were always dubious, and she's always been a wild card at best. Never really revered for her singing or dancing ability, she soon became something of a self-defeating punchline. Her only purpose was to espouse the role of a lovable, drunk aunt to contestants who otherwise felt intimidated by Simon Cowell or annoyed by the other one (or two, as it became with the last season.) Apart from Oxycontin-addled histrionics, Abdul never really added anything of value. Her rah-rah-rahs were throwaway at best. With DeGeneres, we may not get someone qualified to lecture wannabes on pitch perfection, but rather someone who has seen a parade of pop stars perform on her talk show and has a sense of how to master showmanship.

Whereas SiCo brings the technical critiques (or just a million and one ways to tell performers that their performance was "too cabaret" -- as if such a thing could ever be bad), Randy Jackson brings ... a tenuous connection to 80s rock band Journey and his "dawg"-isms, and Kara DioGuardi brings a bitchy sense of entitlement, Ellen will bring a sense of fun. Or rather, as she puts it, "the people's point of view." But please, whatever you call it, don't term it "hope."

"I love everything about it and I love music, as you know. Hopefully I'm the people's point of view because I'm just like you. I sit at home and I watch it and I don't have that technical ... I'm not looking at it in a critical way from the producer's mind. I'm looking at it as a person who is going to buy the music and is going to relate to that person." Her lips were apparently sealed for the past couple weeks while this deal was being ironed out. She also adds, "I'm thrilled to be the new judge on American Idol. I've watched since the beginning, and I've always been a huge fan. So getting this job is a dream come true, and think of all the money I'll save from not having to text in my vote."

We could while away the livelong day asking ourselves such silly questions like, "What business does someone who can't sing have giving critiques to people who want to be pop singers?" But if we haven't been asking that for the past eight years so, really, why start now?