c-span 2

American Idol's choice of Ellen DeGeneres as a judge replacement threw everyone for a loop, even schlubs like me who don't watch the show.

It's not that she's not talented, successful or funny. It's just an odd choice, putting a comedian on the show that takes its goal of crushing losers' dreams on live television so seriously. It would evoke the same reaction from me if they picked Andrew "Dice" Clay as the new judge, if the Diceman was talented, successful or funny.

And besides, why do they need humor and comedy on such an otherwise serious show? There are lots of humorless, vapid and downright boring shows that are crying out for comedic interjection.

I didn't even realize this until just now, when I was surfing around doing my "What's On" post, but Stephen Colbert is going to be on C-SPAN2 at 11:30 tonight. He's going to be part of a breakfast panel at BookExpo America, along with Ken Burns, Khaled Housseini, and Lisa See. Should be fun.

Colbert has a new book coming out on October 9, but it looks like he's doing promotion for it a little early, which is good news for us. I'm not sure if this is a brand new show or something repeated from the past week or so, but if you haven't seen it, it's new to you (to borrow an old NBC phrase)!