Move Over Paula, American Idol Makes Room For Fourth Judge

Possibly in an attempt to bring an intelligible female opinion to the table, Fox has revealed that American Idol will introduce a fourth judge when it returns in January 2009. I’m sure this raises many important questions, but for me I’m wondering how they’ll do tiebreakers during the initial city searches.

Fox announced a big one Monday: America’s most popular series will add a fourth judge. Singer Kara DioGuardi will join Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul on the panel.

In a statement, “Idol” creator Simon Fuller called DioGuardi “a smart, sassy lady and one of America’s most successful songwriters. We know she will bring a new level of energy and excitement to the show.”

While Fuller is hoping she’ll bring energy, Paula is just hoping she’ll bring a new set of meds to pick from before the show.

What do you think of this new addition? Could they be phasing one of the other judges out slowly with this move? The obvious guess would be the overlap with Paula, but I’d sooner guess this was Simon’s long term plan to exit stage right.

Source: Orlando Sentinel