Ellen!

In a surprise announcement, Ellen DeGeneres and Fox broke the news that she would be replacing Paula Abdul on the American Idol panel for the ninth season.

“I have a big announcement to make. 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,’” said DeGeneres in a taping of her talk show today.

DeGeneres, who was a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance, admitted that she has no musical background but would approach it with a “producer’s mind” and would judge based on what she would want to buy as opposed to on a technical level. ”Hopefully, I’m the people’s point of view because I’m just like you,” she said.

No doubt Ellen DeGeneres will keep things comedic as a judge, but I’m sure I’m not the only person who feels like she is an odd choice of judge. I was looking forward to someone who is a musical legend, but I can also think of worse people to take that middle chair.

What do you think? Will Ellen’s position help or hurt Idol?