the buzz log

While Oprah is busy boosting book sales and pushing presidential candidates, Ellen Degeneres has become the "American Idol" godmother. This week, she welcomed waif Josiah Leming, whose cut during Hollywood Week inspired Daughtry-like outrage among show fans.

Searches for "ellen degeneres" popped up another 35% on the day of the program, and related lookups for "josiah leming on ellen" (+1,344%), "josiah leming" (+518%) and "josiah leming american idol" (+483%) surged for the woebegone underdog.

Ellen had ties to the Fox competition last season, serving as satellite host on the shoe-horned "Idol Gives Back" telethon. Besides showing Ryan Seacrest how proper hosting's done, she dug around in the spare change tray in her car and came up with a $100K donation. The fairy godmother instincts re-emerged Tuesday when she gifted Josiah with $8,000 worth of musical instruments.

Did the largesse inspire Top 24 contestant Colton Berry to invoke her name during boys' singing night? Colton, largely overlooked by "Idol" cameras, took his first opportunity to introduce himself to America by calling himself Degeneres' twin.

Nice try, but being Ellen's adopted pet inspires nine times more searches than being her teen-boy doppelganger. Not that Colton should give up getting in the godmother's good graces. After all, searchers don't call her "ellen degenerous" for nothing.