American Idol

Ryan Seacrest recently signed a $45 million contract to return to American Idol for three years. But the constant questions surrounding the return of Paula Abdul continue, as the judge has yet to see a contract for Season 9.

“She’s not a happy camper as a result of what’s going on. She’s hurt. She’s angry,” Abdul’s manager, David Sonenberg, told the L.A. Times.

“Very sadly, it does not appear that she’s going to be back on Idol,” Sonenberg added.

Fellow judge Simon Cowell is reportedly in negotiations to further his contract, which ends next year. Randy Jackson already has signed on until 2011. New judge Kara DioGuardi’s future on the show also is up in the air, though she has said she would like to return.

Auditions for Season 9 already are underway, and the show is set to return to Fox in January.

In just a few hours, the Top 3 finalists of American Idol’s eighth season will be down to two. Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert or Kris Allen will be going home as the other two are left standing to battle it out next week for the title.

Bloggers, news agencies and media outlets everywhere are weighing in on how last night’s episode could have hurt or helped the final three guys. Anyone could go at this point, even Adam. But the bigger story today has been how the judges were bickering about song choices and opinions last night.

Simon blasted Randy and Kara for not carrying out their responsibilities to Kris, after choosing One Republic’s Apologize as his judges’ choice. They blasted back as Simon made his close relationship with Bono loud and clear during announcing his choice for Adam, U2’s One. And Simon and Paula squabbled like they have done each and every episode for the last 300 episodes.

But, today, for some reason, the word on the street is that judges need to stop taking the spotlight away from the contestants. It’s a little odd to me, because this has been a central element to the show since it first began with Kelly Clarkson, Justin Guarini and Nikki McKibben battling it out for the first-ever Idol prize.

The judges have opinions. And that’s half the point of the show. We love to hate to love Simon. We think Paula is a little crazy, and she’s the nice one. We know it’s just a matter of time before Randy shouts out “Dawg!” one more time. And we’re still trying to figure out how Kara fits into the mix. But the feedback from the judges, and the arguments that come out each Tuesday night, have been central to the show’s success.

If Simon bashes a contestant we like, it encourages us to power-dial for that contestant. We get angry when our favorites are not praised, even when it’s obvious they haven’t had the best week.

Yes, Idol is a singing competition. But the opinions — the judges through criticism, ours through call-in and text votes — are what make the show function. If the judges didn’t bicker, we might not be as likely to pick up the phone. They give us a reason to care.

Plus, aren’t we all really tuning in for another one of those romantic Paula and Simon kisses?

Now that we’ve covered that, don’t forget to register for the CafePress T-shirt giveaway. The winner will be chosen Monday.

Simon Cowell told Ellen Degeneres he thinks Adam Lambert should win the show in an interview that aired today on Ellen’s show.

“If it was me, based on originality, world-wide appeal, I’d say Adam,” Simon responded when Ellen asked who he thinks will win. “He’s fearless. He’s not playing it safe. … He’s got guts.”

Simon also talked about this year’s addition of Kara DioGuardi, who he alluded to not necessarily welcoming at the beginning of the season. He said, now that he has gotten to know her, they get along well.

Simon also told Ellen all four judges would return for the next season of Idol.

“I’ve always said it’s been the best eight, nine years of my life,” he said.

She’s beautiful. She has a great voice. And she’s one heck of a songwriter.

But Kara DioGuardi hasn’t added as much to this season of American Idol — at least not from a viewer perspective — as some may have hoped. I believe her greatest strength for the show would be helping contestants in more behind-the-scenes settings, where she can talk to them about lyrics and the real substance of songs. That’s what she knows best, and it’s obvious in this YouTube video I found with her singing Strangers and Angels, a song she co-wrote.

Kara has written and co-written tons and tons of hits for many top pop artists, including Taking Chances for Celine Dion, Sober for Pink and Kelly Clarkson’s upcoming single I Do Not Hook Up.

She also recently worked with Theory of a Deadman as an actress in the music video for Not Meant to Be, a song she co-wrote for the Canadian band. And she worked on Dream, which appears on the soundtrack of the new Hannah Montana movie. It seems Kara is using the Idol stage to launch a career that’s a little more in the spotlight.

American Idol contestants are about to get a little bit more criticism — or support, if they’re doing things right.

Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul will be joined by a fourth judge for the upcoming season of Idol. Kara DioGuardi, a songwriter and music producer known for working with the original Idol winner — Kelly Clarkson — will pull up a chair to the judging table for an added twist to Season 8.

“For the past seven seasons, Paula has had to endure the experience of being the only woman at the judges’ table,” Mike Darnell, president ofalternative programming of Fox wrote in a statement. “With Kara by her side, Paula has some backup and now there is going to be a lot more ‘girl power’ on the show.”

Girl power or not, the fourth judge is not something all too uncommon for Idol fans. During the first season celebrities guests and mentors for the week joined the three most famous judges on reality television to share their thoughts and give contestants feedback.

But adding DioGuardi, who also has worked with Faith Hill, Christina Aguilera, Carrie Underwood and others, will be a new kind of voice, so to speak. Her expertise and hands-on work with at least to past Idol winners (Clarkson and Underwood) will bring another industry opinion that could provide new insight to the show.

What may be interesting to see is how DioGuardi’s expertise will shift the focus of the show. It also will be interesting to see if she pens the upcoming winner’s Idol finale song. In the past two years, a songwriting competition has determined the first Idol single.