Poll of the week: David Foster is top pick to replace Simon

With all the buzz surrounding the departure of Simon Cowell at the end of the current season of Idol, especially with the recent news that shock jock Howard Stern has shown interest in the position for a price tag of $100 million, there was no shortage of opinion on this week's edition of IDOL LIVE's poll of the week.

It was pretty close between the top two contenders, as David Foster eked out the victory among replacement judges of choice as determined by IDOL LIVE's readers. He netted nine votes (31%) to second-place option Piers Morgan, who got eight votes (27%). Piers has long been the favored contender thanks to his current position as judge of America's Got Talent (and the British counterpart that discovered Susan Boyle), but David has been getting some recognition as of late.

Among the other choices determined by me, none stood out from the crowd, but the more recognizable names seemed to stand out (Clive Davis, Jamie Foxx, Tim McGraw) over the other producers/label execs (Tommy Mottola, David Geffen, Russell Simmons).

In this week's edition of the poll of the week, readers are asked what their initial reactions to Ellen DeGeneres are, after a preliminary poll conducted last fall that found most readers wanting to be asked what they thought of her in February. Voting will be open for exactly one week.

Piers Morgan 8 (27%)
David Foster 9 (31%)
Tommy Mottola 1 (3%)
Clive Davis 3 (10%)
Jamie Foxx 3 (10%)
David Geffen 1 (3%)
Russell Simmons 1 (3%)
Tim McGraw 3 (10%)

Total votes: 29