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Yesterday, American Idol unexpectedly announced that--after testing out a series of Paula Abdul replacements for its ninth season with guest judges like Katy Perry, Posh Spice, Mary J. Blige, Kristin Chenoweth, Shania Twain, and Neil Patrick Harris--the series has finally hired a new permanent fourth judge, comedienne and national treasure Ellen DeGeneres.

Some people--and um, by "some people," I mean "me"--immediately did an Ellen-esque happydance upon hearing this news. These people (i.e., me) think that Ellen will bring a fresh sense of humor to the show, will put Simon Cowell in his place with her gleefully sarcastic barbs, and will free up the somewhat less entertaining other female on the Idol judging panel, Kara DioGuardi, to just do her straightahead job without the added pressure of having to be all witty and soundbytey.

But detractors see Idol's Ellen hiring as such a desperate act of shark-jumping that even Fonzie would give it the thumbs-down. (Although, it should be noted, many lodged the same complaint when Kara signed on, and the show did survive.)

I understand the doubters’ doubts, to some degree. First of all, Ellen is not a singer by trade. Of course, some would argue that Paula Abdul herself was never a real singer either--but at least Paula approached the show from the point of view of a seasoned performer and recording artist. As for the other judges, Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson are veteran producers and record executives, and Kara is a sometimes-singer and a successful songwriter (although her co-penned "No Boundaries" travesty, a coronation song so bad it seemed more like a punishment than a prize, didn’t exactly lend her Idol cred). So presumably, the other three judges have pro expertise in the pop music world, while Ellen does not. Ellen's layperson approach may not be a bad thing--after all, pretty much everyone in America has some sort of opinion on the contestants, season after season—but some naysayers argue that Ellen isn’t qualified. (Yeah right, as if Posh Spice is...)

And then there’s Ellen’s tendency to ramble. And ramble. And ramble some more. (I was at the studio pre-taping when she was a guest judge on So You Think You Can Dance last season, and her tangent-laden comments had to be heavily edited for the eventual broadcast.) We all remember that when the Idol format was expanded to four judges last season, the added chatter caused the live broadcasts to run overlong several times, much to the chagrin of people who’d preprogrammed their DVRs to end on the hour, or the Bones fans who were robbed on their favorite show’s crucial opening scene. With Ellen on board now, this will probably be a continuing problem. Considering Ellen's habit of stammering and wandering off on tangents, I advise Idol fans to set their DVRs to record until about 23 minutes past the hour, and Bones fans to, well, find another show to like.

Anyway, despite the concerns addressed in the prior two paragraphs, I think Ellen will make a fabulous new Idol judge. First of all, she actually owes her own career to a reality TV competition--it’s a little-know factoid that way back in 1982, she got her first big break when she won the Showtime network’s “Funniest Person In America” contest--so maybe she’ll relate to the AmIdol contestants in a way that the other judges cannot. And hey, at the very least, we won’t have to worry about Ellen hitting on skeevy singers like Corey Clark...

In all seriousness, though, I think what Ellen will bring to American Idol more than anything else is her sheer unabashed FANDOM. For years Ellen has made no secret of her love for Idol, giving even unjustly ousted Hollywood Weekers like Josiah Leming and Kyle Ensley a platform on which to perform and tell their stories by inviting them onto her show (Josiah’s Ellen appearance even led to a much-deserved Warner Bros. record deal). So this seems like a dream gig for her. I eagerly welcome her unbridled enthusiasm--the perfect foil for Simon’s curmudgeonly disdain for pretty much everything except tight black T-shirts. And on that happydancing note, I give you my favorite Idol-related Ellen moments of the past, so you can get in the mood for American Idol season 9:

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