Television mogul Simon Cowell is reportedly in talks with FOX to bring his popular British singing show X-Factor to the U.S. as a summer series. He wants to be the executive producer of the stateside version for a cool $50 million, the same pay scale he is pulling in for his on-camera role with American Idol.
The question of whether America will accept another singing show is what the network has to decide. Idol started out as a summer replacement show and took off like a rocket. Placing X-Factor in that same slot might prove to be a savvy move by FOX.
Rumored judges would be Cheryl Cole, Louis Walsh and Simon’s old friend Paula Abdul, who currently finds herself available after parting company with American Idol. She was interviewed last night on Dancing With the Stars, making reference to her old nemesis Cowell and referring to judge Len Goodman as “Len Badman”.
Cowell will only say, “I am talking to FOX. I have a great relationship with them. There has been a lot of speculation and I hope to clarify the situation in the near future.
Simon Cowell turned 50 this week and celebrated with a group of 40 close friends on Saturday night – photos here.
Check out video of Paula Abdul comments on DWTS below.