Fox chairman, Peter Rice announced today that Kara DioGuardi is not returning to American Idol this season as a judge. Along with the resignation of Ellen DeGeneres – that leaves us with Randy Jackson as a judge and Nigel Lythgoe returning as a producer.

image of Kara DioGuardi
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Rice refused to confirm any speculation about replacements for the judges. “There’s been tremendous speculation, some accurate and some wildly inaccurate,” Rice says. But “I’m not going to get into the fishbowl of a blow-by-blow account of that casting. We start auditions with the judges in mid-September and certainly plan to have judges in place by then.”

Rumors have swirled that Jennifer Lopez, Stephen Tyler, Harry Connick Jr., Chris Isaak, Elton John, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Simpson, and others are potential replacements. I’m not sure how I feel about any of the above named candidates – except that no matter who they choose, the chemistry has to be great between the judges, and they have to connect with the audience as well as the contestants. It will be interesting to see who they select. I loved that Howie Mandel replaced David Hasselhoff on America’s Got Talent – and would hope they could find someone with humor as well as someone with the bite of a Simon Cowell. I don’t envy the casting crew on this one.

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