Lythgoe and Fuller originally launched "Pop Idol" in Britain, which begat "American Idol" here. Lythgoe produces Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance," where he's also a judge - the type who analyzes the show's brief modern-dance performances the way English professors analyze Chaucer.
Lythgoe told a reporter in April that if he was in charge of "American Idol," he would replace the remaining judges.
Soon he'll be in charge.
Getting Justin or Elton is going to be tough because they're both already incredibly busy. But how about Billy Joel? He's got the music chops and a personality. For our second judge we'd pick longtime music producer Steve Lillywhite (U2, Dave Matthews, countless others). He's expressed interest in the job (and as an added bonus, he's British). And for our third spot, we'd make a play for Alicia Keys. She's going to have a newborn, won't be touring and what better way could there be to stay in the public eye.
You're welcome, Nigel.
The daily Mel
Just when you thought the Mel Gibson-Oksana Grigorieva story couldn't get any weirder, along comes this gem from TMZ.com: On the day Mad Mel went psycho on Oksana's recorder, the pair had just a few hours earlier been celebrating the birth of their daughter.
TMZ reports that before Mel went nutso on Feb. 18, he and Oksana were in the back yard of his Malibu mansion for a ceremony during which a gardener planted a Santa Lucia fir tree in honor of their daughter, Lucia.
After the tree went in the ground, so did Lucia's placenta. Such a burial seems to be a tradition where Mel grew up in Australia.
What allegedly set Mel off was seeing Oksana smile at the gardener. Mel later accused Oksana of sleeping with him.
Note to gardener: Only one tree planting per day, pal.
