(I Tivo fast forwarded through one of the audition episodes. Nicki Minaj? Seriously? What's her deal?)

Reserving final judgment until the performance episodes, but she's perhaps the best judge outside of Simon Cowell that this meagre platform has ever fielded.

She's got a whipsaw wit, she's genuinely funny, and she gets right up Mariah Carey's ass. She was also in the right when the non-troversy happened between her and the rest of the panel. I, for one, happen to think that it's fine that young adults have varied interests in the field of music. It doesn't mean that they don't know who they are, it means that they aren't closed-minded. Minaj was the only one not trying to stuff that child into a country pigeonhole.

Being retired I watch American Idol. What else is there on?
One can tell after a few notes if the contestant has any singing talent. I agree sometimes with the judges and other times I don't understand their thinking. The show is just normal television entertainment. A vast wasteland. To each his own.