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YOU BE THE JUDGE: McNamara may have become an instant L.A. Reid fan (though describing him as a “music producer” sells him way short), but she questions another decision made by Cowell about the makeup of the show’s four-judge panel. “When the show opens, in L.A. for open auditions,” she writes, “the fourth judge is Girls Aloud star Cheryl Cole, but by the time they move to Seattle, Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls has taken her place. Cowell has said he replaced Cole because she seemed ‘bewildered,’ but on a first impression, she is much more interesting than Scherzinger, if only for her fabulous Geordie accent. Scherzinger certainly knows her way around reality, having judged on the U.K. version and The Sing-off as well as competing on Dancing With the Stars, but in early scenes she seems more interested in tearing up and out-glamming Idol’s Jennifer Lopez than bringing much to the commentary.” (9/21a)