Simon Cowell

Mario Lopez to join Khloé Kardashian on ‘The X Factor’

I don’t really know what to say about the X Factor fire-pocalypse, with everyone except Simon Cowell being booted off the show as Cowell attempts to fix the U.S. version. I guess if you’re going to retool, you should retool this way, because it guarantees a lot of media coverage, a lot of stories, and a whole round of new stories when they roll out the new hosts and judges. Firing one person, or firing all these people at different times, wouldn’t have the same impact.

A tiny Wolfe at the bathroom door, a flirty old Castro in Cuba and the Times’ new editor needs her red pen

No one expected an old weird-looking rock star to save American Idol

Newsmakers exits

We need a new Simon. Bring on the condescending self-absorbed diva.

Katie Stevens seems like an unrivalled front-runner, but she’s not particularly “relevant”

She combines the best elements of Woody Allen and Oprah

It was, for a breathless moment, like staring into the country’s soul

The highlight of last night’s American Idol was a contestant’s performance of “Footprints in the Sand”, a song that hit big for Leona Lewis as a charity single in 2008. Many viewers were probably surprised to learn that Simon Cowell, a man famous for his no-nonsense, unsentimental persona, actually had a writing credit on this piece of sentimental nonsense.

The ‘American Idol’ guest judge counsels a pastor with three young children on the perils of pop stardom

It’s not just that he’s leaving the world’s No. 1 hit show. It’s where he’s going that’s the threat.