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HE began as Mr Nasty, morphed into one of the most beloved (and richest) stars of worldwide pop culture, and ushered in a brutal style of reality TV.
Simon 'I don't mean to be rude, but..' Cowell bids farewell to American Idol, leaving a litany of stinging put-downs, an assortment of black and white T-shirts and big shoes to fill on what began in 2002 as a summer talent contest and became one of the globe's most watched TV shows.
"Simon's departure is the end of an era on Idol. Everybody knows the show is going to lose something big and irreplaceable when he goes," said Todd Gold, managing editor of Fancast.com.
Cowell's exit as a judge from American Idol is more an 'au revoir' than an 'adieu' for TV viewers. (He plans to return with his own X-Factor show in late 2011). But the abrasive Briton and his one-liners have established a trend that has been widely imitated on US television.
"We had seen nasty people on TV both in fiction and non-fiction. But we had never seen anything quite like him before," said Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University.
"It was almost when you put a panel together, you had to have certain types and one of those included the Simon character," said Thompson, recalling the arrival on US shores of Brits Piers Morgan (America's Got Talent) and celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay (Hell's Kitchen), and Italian choreographer Bruno Tonioli (Dancing With the Stars).
Idol judge Kara DioGuardi said Cowell's British accent was key to his success.
"Somehow everything they (the British) say is, like, lovely and fabulous. Even when they say, 'It was terrible', it almost sounds nice. It rolls off the tongue well. Whereas if I said, "That was awful,' it's like, 'Bitch!'," DioGuardi said at a music industry event this week.
"He gets away with a lot of stuff, and I think that it's because he has conviction. He doesn't look back, he doesn't care what people say, and he's helping these kids," she added.
Whether he was rolling his eyes in exasperation, mocking fellow judge Paula Abdul, or introducing Americans to curious British expressions like 'ghastly', or 'a bit wet', 50-year-old Cowell was a breath of fresh air in the tried-and-true talent show formula, media watchers say.
He quickly became known simply as Simon, inspired a wave of T-shirts with slogans like 'Simon Said I Was Good', and made 'karaoke' a dreaded epithet.
"Simon dragged us into the reality that not every wannabe singer should be told to follow their dreams. It was a refreshing point of view that needed to be heard on US television," said Entertainment Weekly's Michael Slezak.
In a 2003 autobiography, I Don't Mean to Be Rude, But... Cowell said he produced his first insult at the age of four. He told his mother bluntly that she looked like a poodle.
Actress Vanessa Williams will trade her scheming ways on TV comedy Ugly Betty for a role on a show where just about everyone seems to be plotting something: Desperate Housewives. The ABC network said that Williams will play a housewife in the upcoming new season starting in September, in a regular role that will see her make an appearance in just about every episode.
