Has Chris Isaak become a front-runner in the search to replace Simon Cowell on American Idol?

The Hollywood Reporter says the singer has met twice with Fox honchos about the filling the open judge’s seat. Harry Connick Jr. is still in the running, says THR, but much buzzed-about Bret Michaels is said to be off the list. And Donald Trump is said to have lobbied to replace Cowell, despite his obligations to The Apprentice franchise.

Complicating the process is the fact that Fox is looking not just for an Idol judge, but for judges for X-Factor, Simon Cowell’s new show. Peter Rice, the network’s new entertainment chairman, has said he expects the new Idol judge to join the audition roadshow by early September.

Harry Connick Jr., has also been considered. Rocker Bret Michaels was given the once-over and even lobbied for the job last week in an HLN interview. Even Donald Trump has quietly lobbied to replace Cowell.

*Entertainment News Flash* According to a source from People Magazine, they say Simon Cowell and show’s makeup artist, Mezghan Hussainy are engaged.

Hussainy, 36, has been sporting a large diamond ring on her left hand, reigniting speculation that the english judge has finally found his other half. Cowell, 50, and Hussainy “are very suited,” Cowell’s U.K. rep Max Clifford told PEOPLE last week. “She is someone who is independent and says what she thinks and feels, and he likes that. He’s probably the happiest I have ever known him in the nine years I’ve been working with him.”

Fans of Big Brother, Survivor – in other words reality TV. HULU is about to bring you a original new series about the tales of trying to make it in Hollywood. It’s the debut of If I Can Dream, a new show from Simon Fuller, on streaming video site HULU.

This is the showbiz guru called Simon who isn’t the Simon most of you know, although they both know the Spice Girls, it was actually this Simon aak ‘Simon Fuller’ who made Girl Power work for a few years with the Spice Girls and it was this Simon that actually created IDOL.