So as it turns out, a nuke will kill a cockroach. Or so it appears for now -- we thought he was out the door last year too and he managed to scurry back, so there's a chance for him (or rather, any last scared-of-change producer) to reverse this. But his being given the chance to hand out the illusion that it was his choice... with the news stories starting to fly, the network wants the partings to at least look amicable. Good luck getting Nicki to cooperate with that.

(Do you think his vocabulary is truly that weak, or was that just the only way he could think to start any statement in the world?)

I've written a few times on the season's falling ratings & interest: our own lack of discussion reflects that. But I don't think changing all four seats on the panel (including a possible drop to three) is going to fix things. I bowed out this year because the manipulation was too blatant, editing so heavy-handed that it slapped anyone who tried to see beneath. This was a year which created Worsters. (No joke: I watched the sea change for one person who came in to blast them -- then suddenly caught on to what the show was doing and joined the pack. It was like watching a dolphin turn into a shark.) This mass switchout -- reset button, or an attempt to get people in who can be used as puppets with more reliability than the current group? Are we moving back to a semi-open talent contest or heading all the way to purely scripted television? Because this season was 90% of the way towards the later instead of Simon's 68% or so -- and look what happened to the viewership.

Well, to be frank, most of those may have just been angry about the lack of WGWGs. Lowest common denominator..

We'll see who gets brought in and how many. But for now, the only changes I expect to see are strictly cosmetic.

I do think a good portion of the audience the last few years were the WGWG voting for older female.

Anything you do to youth it up or rig it so a female wins is going to alienate them and isn't likely in this market to bring in a lot of new viewers or bring back a lot of viewers.

I can't see them putting together a judge panel that would be more compelling than The Voice. You can hear better singers on other shows. Improving the quality of the train wrecks. Hard to get much wreckier than than they are now, or more original given the number they have run through.

I deleted a bunch off the DVR without watching. Not even watching the Voice, either. I think I'm singing competitioned out.

One big one a year really works. A minimum of 2 every season. I think the reason DWTS still holds on well is that other than SYTYCD there isn't a lot of push to have a bazillion dancing shows on network TV. That and an endless supply of Olympic athletes, football heroes and D-list stars.

*nods*

There's been a couple of articles published which verified what we suspected all along: the most common Idol viewer is female, Southern or Midwestern, late middle age, Caucasian, and slightly more conservative than a Faux News anchor. So this season pissed off the core audience: no eye candy, no major country tilt, and Nicki. If the show gets younger, they lose what they have: if they revert, they can't pick up anyone else and the theme weeks recycle forever. On the plus side, at least they'll never have to shell out for a new song. Minus: the number of guest artists they can invite in keeps getting smaller...

And good singers don't go out for this show. Because this show doesn't make money off good singers -- and perhaps because the truly good singers now know better than to try.

So it's official: it's the frau and it's been them for years. Can the show really afford to revamp to the point where they all go away and hope to rebuild with another segment in a market that, as you said, is officially overpopulated to the point of boredom or exhaustion?

The Worsters think they can push Kree through because the remaining frau will see themselves in her (and can come up with so many reasons not to vote for Candice). And after that, maybe the producers go back to WGWG for as long as they can hold out that fantasy.

Two years? Three?

One?

Zero?

So far it is on the schedule released for next year, but we will see.

That's right, zero!

There's only so many lying pointless cockroaches you can step on per year.

And it's a frau national holiday.

Keith has indicated he'd like to return, but it sounds like no one's asked yet.

I'd like to see Keith back, but no more divas, including Jennifer Lopez, although she was better than Mariah.

Oh hell no, we don't want Keith back!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kelly, Jennifer, and either Clay or Adam.

I don't think FOX is really considering the Happy Frau Factor here.

What they are supposedly looking at: the budget. Work has it that the law has come down from on high: no more eight-digit salaries to get a ventriloquist's dummy into the seat. If they're just going to parrot the Agenda's needs, they will do so on the cheap and like it. As the Worsters have pretty much noted already, you could get Kelly and Jennifer for less than ten million combined, Clay for high six digits, and Adam might work for food.

So let's see how many headlines the Agenda can wring from this.

No official confirmation or word on salary, but the rumor just went to 'and we're waiting on the press conference'.

(AP) The pop star's publicity firm, PMK BNC, tweeted Thursday that Carey isn't returning to the Fox series and is planning a world tour thanks to the success of her new single, "Beautiful."