Simon Cowell Talks to Seacrest About Idol Exit

It is officially official. We will miss this look. (Fox Images)"]
Stick a fork in him, Simon Cowell is done. With Fox trying to throw a kagillion dolloars at him ($144 million to be exact), money doesn't talk to Cowell, who is apparently bored with the show. And this is how it should be. Celebrities these days always seem to want more money when they are already rich as hell - so they sell out and do stuff and make career choices they aren't proud of because someone shoves wads of cash in their face. Not Simon.

He announced today that this season will be his last, and after that he will instead be a judge on the U.S. version of the British hit he owns, The X-Factor, which is pretty much the same thing as American Idol.

With  cooky but lovable Paula Abdul gone and replaced by the often unfunny self-depricating deadpan of Ellen DeGenerous,  this season is shaping up to be the end of an era for  television's most-popular show.

Cowell called in to Ryan Seacrest's radio show Tuesday morning to talk about his Idol exit.

"You've got to know when it's time to go," said Simon, who said he considered appearing on both shows but  was  worried about  overexposure. "You can't be on TV too much. I genuinely thought people would be sick and tired of me."

Seacrest said,  "I think this year is going to be bittersweet. We're going to have the most fun, and, at the same time, this is going to annoy me to death."

Asked by Ryan what he expected to miss about American Idol, Simon replied, "Everything. We had fun, didn't we?"

What will become of American Idol? Has the fat lady sung?  The  Bodog Sportsbook has  reality TV odds. Need an account? Join Bodog today.