Channel 58 is moving "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" up an hour, to 2 p.m. weekdays, starting Monday. The move opens up the 3 p.m. hour for Oprah protege "Dr. Oz" and his new show.

Ellen's Monday guest list include Jennifer Love Hewitt and Kelly Osbourne.

Her daytime talk show won't be affected by word that she's joining the "reality" TV bench as the fourth judge on Fox's "American Idol" in January.

I haven't had a chance to comment on that move and I'll have to say I expected Paula Abdul to come to terms with the "Idol" folks and return to the spot that made the faded pop star a prime-time star. Replacing her with Ellen brings a known commodity to the show. But Paula's instability was one of the many parts of the equation that yielded a long-term "reality" TV success.

Fox has to be a little nervous about Abdul's absence. While she's not as crucial to the show's continuing success as Simon Cowell, she's a close number two.

No, Ellen's not a pop music professional. But she's a proven TV host with a regular audience. She'll work well with the mom contingent of the "Idol" viewing crowd. And she's likely to be as nicey-nice to the singers as Abdul was.

One of the signs of skill behind "Idol," the top-rated show in television for years, is the ability to keep the program on the public radar through the summer, although the show only airs from January to May.