An $18 million part-time job

American Idol announced Mariah Carey will be a judge this season, replacing either Steven Tyler or Jennifer Lopez, both of whom decided not to return for the fall. Ms. Carey will reportedly receive $18 million for her first year on Idol; not a bad salary for a part-time gig. The arms race for pop icons on talent competition shows continues. Yet while they are willing to pay Mariah Carey the highest judge salary on television, they are also mandating layoffs on the production staff and looking for ways to cut costs. Rumors are that the third judge will be someone priced much lower than Mariah Carey -- perhaps runner up Adam Lambert. American Idol was still the highest rated non-sports series on television last year. Why is the show acting like it's in tremendous trouble? In a word -- money. The overall audience for the show dropped significantly last year, and as a result so did ad revenue. The program still brings in over $700 million in ad revenue to Fox, but it also costs a lot. Competition from other singing programs like "The Voice" are cutting into its audience. So if they want a big-name star to bring attention to the show, the money has to come from somewhere. If I was the show runner, I would first be looking for judges who can contribute to the show, regardless of how big a pop star they used to be. American Idol still hasn't replaced Simon Cowell, the judge we hated but respected, because he told singers when they weren't good enough. We didn't always agree with Simon, but everyone wanted to know what he had to say. That's the quality American Idol needs to find in their judges. If Mariah Carey can deliver the type of sound bites live that will help the contestants and entertain the viewers, she's worth every dollar Fox spends on her. If she can't, she'll soon follow Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez, Ellen DeGeneres, and the other judges that "decided" to leave the show. As a fan of the show, I hope that whoever the third judge is, can bring back some of Simon's acid judgements. After all, when American Idol started, most viewers didn't know who Randy Jackson, Simon Cowell, and Ryan Seacrest were -- and Paula Abdul hadn't had a hit in years. They helped make the show a success, but the show's success also made them. The lesson for us as content creators is that stars can draw attention to your show or movie. But if the content doesn't work, it doesn't matter who's in it -- the audience won't watch. Content remains king.