Madonna to replace Simon Cowell?

Madonna to replace Simon Cowell??

Not really. Although a report in the London Sun claims Madonna will pick up the "American Idol" judge's dream-squishing mantle in the upcoming talent search series, "The Road to Stardom with Missy Elliott." expecting to air early next year on UPN television.

According to the paper, Madonna won over the show's producers by "destroying hopefuls during a screen test," although it seems unlikely the pop icon would suffer the indignity of a try-out for a UPN mid-season replacement. "She doesn't suffer fools gladly," the insider source tells the paper. "If someone walks into the room the wrong way she'll say 'no' before a note is sung ... She will reduce people to tears because she is so direct ... There is no showing off like there is with Cowell."

Elliott asked Madonna - remember, they did a Gap ad together - if she would be interested in being a judge on the new show, in which the hip-hopper will look for the next big hip-hop star, London's Sun said. After Madonna finished her tour last month, she taped a screen test of sorts: She was shown tapes of contestants, and producers recorded her reactions. The Sun said that many of her comments were so harsh, she made Idol's notoriously acerbic judge Simon Cowell "sound like Snow White."

If it works out, Madonna would face the final few contestants.