Fox offering up a bizarre MJ tribute Monday: a repeat of American Idol

In the wake of his surprise death yesterday, the networks scrambled to cobble together retrospectives of Michael Jackson's life and works and get them on the air as quickly as possible. I expect we'll see more carefully planned tributes coming down the road. But none perhaps more bizarre than Fox's proposed tribute to the King of Pop, coming up this Monday, June 29 at 8 ET.

They've decided to air an encore of the Michael Jackson themed episode of American Idol from this past season. In it, the Top 13 contestants performed from Jackson's catalogue. It's a bizarre choice, because despite a few good performances, notably from Kris Allen, Alexis Grace and Allison Iraheta, most of the performances were either okay or downright terrible. I'd think you'd want some good singing of perhaps some of his better known works to honor the man.

Or maybe Fox just figures this will generate more ratings being that it's the number one show on television and all, though I'm not sure that it will. Reality generally doesn't rerun well, and who's clamoring to see the whole Top 13 again anyway ... except for all those kids who bought tickets to the concerts.

Maybe Fox is onto something here after all. What do you think? Is this an inspired way to pay homage to the King of Pop, or a misfire of epic proportions?