Harry Connick, Jr. returned to the American Idol show this past week as a repeat mentor for the Season 12 finalists, but if Idol’s production team gets its way we’ll be seeing a lot more of him.
Connick confirmed to TV Guide that yes, producers have approached him to be a judge for American Idol 2014, the 13th season of FOX’s series.
“They wanted to know if I would be interested and it’s a blast, but I don’t know, it’s hard to make a commitment like that,” Connick said backstage.
Considering Harry’s dust up with judge Randy Jackson during last week’s results show could there be a potential for a repeat of the Mariah-Nicki clashing if he were to replace Keith Urban?
That brings up another question. Who would Harry Connick Jr be replacing on the American Idol 2013 judges panel? I’d think production would be starting with a search to replace the female occupants before the males. Keith Urban is there at a cut rate (a few million versus Nicki’s $15M) and Randy Jackson seems to be sewn in to his seat. Neither of those two are stellar, but both are relatively stable in comparison to who they sit between.
No matter what happens with the panel next year we might not see Harry as part of the solution. He told TV Guide it’d take a $600 million payday to get him in the role. Clearly he’s joking, but also shows he’s not dying for the job.