photo: FoxThis week brought the news that Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban have joined "American Idol," and that Usher and Shakira will replace Christina Aguilera and Cee Lo Green on the next season of "The Voice." And in this competitive and cutthroat world of reality singing shows, "The X Factor" of course had to get in on the action too--drumming up some buzz of its own by replacing its head judge, Simon Cowell.

Okay, not really. No need to worry that Ellen DeGeneres, Steven Tyler, or Jennifer Lopez have been recruited for "The X Factor" just yet. But it certainly was jarring on Wednesday's episode when--after falling ill in Kansas City--Simon sat out the show's first hour of auditions, and flew out his old "X Factor U.K." co-star, an affable Irish gent named Louis Walsh, to fill in for him at the last minute.

photo: FoxSpeaking backstage to Yahoo!'s Reality Rocks at this week's "So You Think You Can Dance" finale, show producer/judge Nigel Lythgoe was quick to admit that he frequently caught flak this season from "SYTYCD" fans on Twitter--sometimes for supporting untrained finalist Cyrus Spencer, and then later for openly championing eventual winner Chehon Wespi-Tschopp instead. But the discussion, of course, soon turned to Nigel's other show, "American Idol," since viewers have had plenty to say on Twitter about "Idol"s new judges--particularly the very polarizing Nicki Minaj.

Ahoy, "Voice"-viewing mateys! Today is National Talk Like A Pirate Day, in case you didn't know--so what better occasion for me and my "The Day After" co-captain, Matt Whitfield, to talk about a program that features Cee Lo Green's shoulder-dwelling parrot? Besides, talking in scurvy-riddled voices will make our discussion of last night's "Voice" show a little more interesting, really, since Tuesday's episode was a somewhat underwhelming one. Arrrr....