American Idol brand damaged by Ellen's departure

I feel sick. The news of Ellen DeGeneres leaving American Idol tonight for me was a big blow to the show.

First of all, Paula Abdul left the show last year because she thought she could be paid more money than American Idol was willing to give her in another program. It was unwise, but at least she had incentive to leave America's #1 program.

Then, Simon Cowell left the show because he wanted to earn more money from The X Factor which is a franchise he owns. He even had more incentive. More money, power -- everything, not just an employee. He left America's #1 program for something that could potentially be bigger.

And then we have Ellen -- and it's totally different.

Ellen DeGeneres is just leaving -- even if she had a guaranteed multi-million dollar multi-year contract.

That says a lot. She's telling everyone that being on this show is not worth the millions of dollars and the millions of viewers it generates during the season. The very thing that is attracting all these people like P. Diddy, Howard Stern, Jessica Simpson etc. to throw their names into the judges' pool -- money and pop culture relevance -- she is leaving behind for nothing else. Apparently, by being on the show, she has seen the light that only someone from the other side is privileged to see and she wanted out. Now the show seems like damaged goods. It's just not good enough for one of America's most influential personalities.

It's a sad day America.