HOLLYWOOD DIRT OVERFLOW (9-10-09)

"AMERICAN IDOL" INSANITY

ELLEN DEGENERES WILL BE PAULA ABDUL'S SUCCESSOR ON "AMERICAN IDOL":

ELLEN DEGENERES has announced that she will be replacing PAULA ABDUL as the fourth judge on "American Idol" this season. And just to be clear, this isn't a one-time appearance . . . Ellen will be Paula's SUCCESSOR.

Ellen dropped the bomb herself yesterday, during a taping of "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" . . . amazingly, before the Internet even had a chance to SPECULATE about it.

She said, quote, "I have a big announcement to make . . . and no one knows this . . . I just finally got the OK, just moments ago, to announce this to you today: I am going to be the new judge on 'American Idol'."

She then joked, quote, "I'm not leaving here, don't worry about that, I'm going to have a day job and a night job. That's the times were living in. We're all doing that." --As far as we know, Ellen has never been a singer or worked in the music industry . . . but she's bringing a CONSUMER'S voice to the judges' table.

She says, quote, "Hopefully I'm the people's point of view, because I'm just like you. I sit at home and I watch it. --"I'm not looking at it in a critical way, from the music producer's mind. I'm looking at it as a person who's going to buy the music, and who's going to relate to that person. So I'm hopefully going to be the voice of what we're all doing at home."

(--You can watch Ellen's full announcement, here . . .)http://ellen.warnerbros.com/videos/?autoplay=true&mediaKey=9c645e4d-d1ba-43cf-b604-9e75af7e045f

Ellen will join the other judges . . . SIMON COWELL, KARA DIOGUARDI and RANDY JACKSON . . . immediately AFTER the auditions. As you probably know, "Idol" had various celebrities serving as "guest judges" for that round.

"Idol" executive producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz says, quote, "We're all delighted to have Ellen . . . beyond her incredible sense of humor and love of music, she brings with her an immense warmth and compassion that is almost palpable."

There's no word yet on how much they're PAYING Ellen to provide all that "warmth and compassion" . . . which was essentially Paula's role. --By the way, IF Paula WAS still playing hardball with the producers . . . banking on the fact that they'd eventually cave and pay her to return to "Idol" . . . I guess you can now consider that bluff CALLED.

Paula hasn't released a statement. She hasn't even said anything about it on Twitter, which was her go-to forum when she announced she was leaving "Idol". --However, Paula DID Tweet about her "VH1 Divas" hosting gig . . . linking to a new commercial for the concert. (--It's actually pretty funny. Here it is . . .) http://blog.vh1.com/2009-09-09/paula-abdul-got-her-vh1-divas-hosting-gig-at-an-employment-agency/

(--Paula has said her decision to leave "Idol" had nothing to do with "money" . . . it had to do with "principle." Of course, she could have meant that it was over the PRINCIPLE that everyone else was getting more MONEY than her.)

ARE MILEY CYRUS AND LIZA MINNELLI JOINING THE CAST OF THE "SEX AND THE CITY" SEQUEL???

"Life & Style" magazine claims that LIZA MINNELLI and MILEY CYRUS have joined the cast of the "Sex and the City" sequel. Liza will play HERSELF, performing at a gay wedding. And the producers are still trying to figure out where to put Miley.

(--A while back, Miley admitted that she watched the sanitized "Sex and the City" reruns on TBS. Still, I have a feeling this won't actually happen.)