Britain’s Got Talent Changes for 2011 – O’Grady to Replace Cowell?
Rumours have been circulating in recent weeks that the Britian’s Got Talent judging panel, featuring Piers Morgan, Amanda Holden and Simon Cowell will be having a reshuffle for the next series in 2011 and potentially a format revamp.
The recent series received criticism from viewers, saying there were too many rubbish acts being put through to the semi finals (including a guy who chopped wood while singing), too many dance acts and no acts with a high caliber like Susan Boyle from the 2009 series. In addition, the series rating average was 10.64 million, nearly 3 million down in comparison to 13.36 million which was achieved for the 2009 series. Although the average was nearly 3 million down it still beat the competition against the other channels.
Britain's Got Talent logo, courtesy of ChrisBHeath
It was reported days after the final that Simon Cowell would be cutting back his judging role on the panel and only appearing for the live semi finals and finals. Earlier this week, word was spreading that Piers Morgan would be signing a $6 million deal to replace Larry King on CNN. With Morgan signing the deal, this would restrict him to attend any auditions in the UK as this lasts 2-3 weeks across the country but could be allowed to attend the live semi finals as he would only be required to stay in the UK for the last week in May. Amanda Holden’s position on the panel is uncertain but is likely to retain the judges’ seat in 2011.
With Simon and Piers being out of the picture for potentially some or the whole series next year, The Sun newspaper has been reporting that Paul O’Grady will be replacing Simon Cowell for the 2011 series. Paul O’Grady’s background has been appearing in the bars and clubs in the 1970s as his alter ego, drag queen, Lily Savage. Paul brought the Lily Savage character to mainstream television in the 90s and became the host of Blankety Blank (Match Game) for five years on BBC, later ITV. Paul retired the drag queen in the early 2000s and focused on chatshow presenting, this led him to a sucessful daytime chat show on ITV, then Channel 4 between 2004 and 2009. In 2005 he presented the pilot for Britain’s Got Talent under the name Paul O’Grady’s Got Talent. The series wasn’t comissioned at the time due to clashes with ITV bosses forcing him to move his chatshow to Channel 4 in 2006. This led to America’s Got Talent being the first televised show to feature the format. O’Grady has recently signed a deal to present his chat show on ITV for primetime Friday nights and now could appear on ITV’s top show in 2011.
Paul is a favourite with viewers (young and old) and given his background experience with talent and variety. He would be the ideal replacement for the judging panel. He would also be perfect for the live semi finals since his daytime chatshow was live three a days a week and can interact with the audience and also have a moan. Simon Cowell has dealt with reshuffles before on The X Factor which led the show reaching high figures with the introduction of Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole on the judging panel and the introduction of an American Idol style live results show on a different day (Sunday) to the main live perfomance show Saturday), so this is nothing new to him
Does Paul get your vote or the dreaded buzzer? Who else should be considered for the judging panel for the UK show?
I’m an American, but I saw bits and pieces of BGT and loved it right away as opposed to AmGT. I was 100% anti-Got-Talent until I saw excerpts of BGT. The acts are better (the good, the bad, and everything in between), the judges are more likable, and each judge in the semifinals has a different opinion instead of the harshest judge on the pannel doing all the buzzing. It won’t be the same without Simon and Piers on the pannel at the audition tapings. With Simon bringing X Factor to America, he’s an even more busy man than ever! Gotta do what you gotta do; I wish them nothing but the best!
I still don’t believe Cowell will quit the auditions considering his biggest gripe with them was Amanda and Piers putting through what he saw as “rubbish” acts. He’s hardly going to deal with that by removing his vote completely.
If he does quit though he needs to quit completely. Wouldn’t be fair on his replacement if he came swanning in at the live show stage.
The show (especially the auditions) will never be the same without Simon and Piers. They’re what made the show funny. If this is truly the case, then the show is in need of a MAJOR revamp. Paul would be an excellent ‘temporary’ replacement for Simon Cowell during the auditions. As for Piers Morgan, why not replace him with Louis Walsh? He did pretty good when he was filling in for Simon.
Also, the semifinal format needs to be changed. Instead of having seven weeks of just auditions, and then just one week of the live shows (which seems too crammed), why not spread it out more? Have one semifinal show each WEEK for five more weeks, and then the live final.
I think that Simon Cowell should still be a judge too.