What he said helped turn a singing contest into a pop-culture force that dominates TV, even in its ninth season and with sliding viewership -- and whose future is clouded by his departure after Wednesday's season finale.
Cowell was so colorful and biting in his criticism that it felt like a bracing slap in the face of the performers, viewers and social convention. Brits such as Cowell may be accustomed to candor but Americans tend to err on the side of cheery positive reinforcement.
Most importantly, the music industry veteran was authoritative and mostly on target. With the intimidating hauteur, he steered viewers to the proper assessment of contestants.
"You sucked the soul out of that song," Cowell told Andrew Garcia after his performance this season of Marvin Gaye's "Heard It Through the Grapevine." "It was like a musical, the bad part of the musical," he said to Didi Benami after she tackled Linda Ronstadt's "You're No Good."
He was key to the show's early success, said Tim Brooks, a TV historian and former network executive.
"His sarcastic -- but knowledgeable -- put-downs lifted the show from the traditional 'Star Search' mold to something genuinely new on television, a talent show where not only was the competition fierce and the standards high but the judges were part of the entertainment," Brooks said in an e-mail.
