What American Idol needs for it's next judge

Name recognition? Ideally I don't think Simon Cowell's replacement should necessarily need to be somebody you've heard of; I wouldn't know who he or any of the other judges were if it weren't for their role as judges but at this point the show is so big that if they got some lesser known producer people might react by saying "what?" What's important is not how well known they are but how intelligently and creatively they critique. I think the biggest mistake the producers can make is trying to find somebody who's very similar to Simon, in fact if it were my decision I might rule out anybody that does have a british accent. I think what's important is that they are like Simon in the sense that they are not like the other judges and I also hope they find somebody who is just as honest. I once heard on a radio program the Simon does the show a big service because he's the only person who will tell horrible auditioners that they're terrible, I think the next judge needs to be like Simon in that sence but if people get the sense that it's a copycat the rating are going to go down even further.

If I were producer for American Idol and the current judges were all retireing and I needed to find a new panel this is the criteria I have.

• 3 Judges
• 2 male and one female
• One white judge but no more than that, especially not two white men
• A music producer, an artist, and a music critic
• Between the producer and the critic I would want one to be from the Rock spectrum, and the other to be from either somethine like pop, hip-hop, or rap.