Fall TV Blog

Newly selected American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi may have met America’s most famous judges a few days ago but her colleagues say she is already part of the family.

“It’s already a big happy family,” Abdul said Tuesday at the American Idol season 8 auditions held in New York. “We are so happy to have her.”

In fact, DioGuardi has already had quality bonding time with all three judges, says Simon Cowell. “We had a picnic last night. I wore jammies and the girls wore negligees and we kind of broke the ice,” Cowell joked. “We had cake until two in the morning.”

Joking aside, DioGuardi says the judges have welcomed her with open arms–yes, even Simon. “You were nice to me,” DioGuardi said to Cowell on the red carpet about their initial meeting. “You were actually OK.”
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Paula Abdul is “thrilled” that old friend Kara DioGuardi is joining her as the fourth judge on American Idol.

“It’s about time another girl joined,” Abdul told PEOPLE Monday at the U.S. Open opening night celebration in Flushing, N.Y. “More girl power.”

Abdul, 46, who has been an Idol judge for the past seven seasons, says DioGuardi’s songwriter and producer experience will bring a different mix to the table. “She’s going to be a little more different and more from the industry standpoint.”

This isn’t the first time the pop singer has worked with DioGuardi. The two wrote a song for Kylie Minogue called “Spinning Around.”

Despite initial reports of a dustup after Abdul told a Phoeniz, Ariz., radio station Monday, “I am concerned about the audience and their acceptance … time will tell,” both Abdul and DioGuardi say there are no hard feelings.

“Anybody with the right brain would say something like that,” DioGuardi told reporters yesterday.

But will adding another female judge take the spotlight away from Abdul? “No,” says the singer. “This is great for the show. I’ve been waiting for this. I really have and people will love her. She’s great!” –Jeffrey Slonim and Paul Chi, with additional reporting by Monica Rizzo

Stephen Shugerman/Getty; Frederick M. Brown/Getty

Put to rest the notions of an American Idol shakeup, Kara DioGuardi told reporters during a conference call Monday, hours after FOX announced that the songwriter and producer will join the show as a judge.

DioGuardi, a music industry powerhouse, has penned and produced hits for Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson and Christina Aguilera (to name a few). She will meet up for the first time with Idol’s original judges Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul on Tuesday for the New York auditions of the upcoming season, which will air on FOX in January 2009.

Does Abdul, Idol’s lone female for seven seasons, feel threatened? DioGuardi doesn’t think so.

“I haven’t spoken to her. I would think she’d be excited,” DioGuardi said, noting that she and Abdul collaborated on the Kylie Minogue hit “Spinning Around” in 2000.

Fans who were surprised with the announcement that Idol will add another judge are not alone. “I almost fell off the chair,” DioGuardi said of hearing from the show’s producers, who approached her for the gig and are hoping to create “a new chemistry as well as keeping the old” with the expansion of the judges’ panel. (more…)

Paula, Randy and Simon are getting some company.

Grammy-nominated songwriter Kara DioGuardi is joining American Idol as a judge when the singing competition returns for its eighth season in January 2009.

“We are turning the heat up on Idol this year and are thrilled to welcome Kara to the judges’ table,” show creator Simon Fuller said in a statement released Monday. “She is 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.”

DioGaurdi is certainly qualified for the job, having written songs for artists as diverse as Kelly Clarkson, Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, Celine Dion, Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Santana, and Pink. Even Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers have released DioGuardi’s songs. (more…)

He may not sport the Joker’s evil Glasgow smile, or Darth Vader’s menacing voice, but Simon Cowell’s acid tongue is enough to scare the pants off of millions of American TV viewers.

The American Idol judge has been voted America’s favorite reality-TV villain, Reuters reports.

Cowell, 48, won 39 percent of the vote for favorite villain among over 1.3 million voters who took part in the AOL Television poll, it was announced Thursday. Idol was voted best reality show, with 33 percent of the vote, but co-judge Paula Abdul took home another dubious award: worst reality-TV judge.

The FOX music competition also won in the “hottest hook-up” category, for 2008 winner David Cook and second-season alum Kimberly Caldwell, who are dating.

Only 14 percent said they’d want to take part in Idol, however. The Amazing Race took that category, with 32 percent of votes.

Losers in the poll included The Bachelor, which won the “SO over” category, and Flavor Flav. Flavor of Love “won” for the season’s worst reality program, the show that voters didn’t want to go on and scariest star. –Michael Y. Park

Kevin Winter/Getty

Brooke White took some time out of her busy American Idol Live! tour schedule to blog on her MySpace page about an average day on the road. As it turns out, her days are not so average. Here are some highlights:

• Brooke was so busy, she couldn’t write her post in just one location. She starts out in Sacramento, Calif., and ended up in Portland, Ore.

• David Archuleta and Jason Castro are fan favorites. “If I could make a dollar for every time a fan asked me if I could go inside and get a David or Jason to come outside and sign their T-shirt, I would be a very rich woman!” she says.

• It’s like the Beatles! “I’ve seen girls hyper-ventilate, have a full on break down, I’m not kidding!” she writes.

• There is only one makeup and one hair person for all 10 performers. As for Brooke, the hair stylist brushes her “curly and massive hair,” then gives her extensions. For makeup, she gets dramatic “smokey eyes and long lashes.” (more…)

American Idol’s top 10 finalists hit the road July 1, heading to Brooke White’s hometown of Glendale, Ariz., the first stop on the Pop Tarts Presents American Idols Live! Tour 2008, which will make over 50 stops across the country this summer. So how is life on the road? “So far so good,” season 7 winner David Cook tells PEOPLE, before performing at L.A.’s Staples Center Monday. “We’re getting our feet wet a little bit and the crowds have been amazing!”

Added runner-up, David Archuleta: “It’s been great at every city [so far] and so much fun … to watch other people perform and see how [the audiences] react to them.”

The Idols will travel from show to show on luxury buses (one for the women and one for the men) equipped with Internet, TV, food, music, and beds. “When we’re on the bus, we’re asleep or eating a bowl of Lucky Charms,” says White, who has trouble sleeping on the bus.

But there’s more to do than snooze and eat cereal. “In the front half of the bus, if we want to wind down after the show, watch TV or just have a beer or do whatever, that’s fine,” Michael Johns explains. “Then there’s a middle section where everyone sleeps, and then there’s a back section if you ever want to work on the computers or read books.” (more…)

American Idol contestant Kristy Lee Cook, season 7’s plucky cowgirl who braved Simon Cowell’s barbs week after week, has inked a record deal with a country music label.

Cook, the seventh place finisher whose performance of the Beatles’s “Eight Days a Week” was compared to “Dolly Parton on helium” by Cowell, had positioned herself as this year’s country artist on Idol, singing selections from Martina McBride and Lee Greenwood. Now, she’ll be a label mate of the show’s most famous country star, Carrie Underwood, after signing with 19 Recordings/Arista Nashville.

Cook, a 24-year-old native of Selma, Oregon, will release her first single, the up-tempo “15 Minutes of Shame” on August 11 and she’ll record her album (produced by Brett James, one of the songwriters behind Underwood’s hit “Jesus Take the Wheel”) between Idol tour dates. Her album is expected to be released this fall.

“I’ve wanted this for so many years,” Cook said in a statement. “To have the chance to be a country singer — to make the music I love — and to have enjoyed the support of so many American Idol fans this past season, it all means more than I can put into words.”

Sony BMG Nashville Chairman Joe Galante said Cook will be “very relatable to the country audience and is destined to have hits.” – Eileen Finan

Jennifer Buhl/Pacificcoastnews

After getting dropped from Arista Records, American Idol season six runner-up Blake Lewis says it’s not a big deal.

“Ring, ring, ring went the phone. Iain my manager baring the news. Arista isn’t picking up the second option,” writes Lewis on his MySpace blog. “Meaning, I’m not doing another record with them. I’m totally fine with this.”

Though he was a fan favorite on the show, the move comes after disappointing sales — roughly 300,000 copies sold — since Lewis released the album Audio Day Dream last Christmas.

“I guess the right time was now,” he writes. “No biggy.”

He is, at least, in good company. Past Idol winners Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard, and fellow runner-up Katherine McPhee, also lost their deals with Arista Records.

Next order of business? A tour, an album and a new label. “I’m still with 19 Recordings and I got a tour and new record on the way,” Lewis writes. As for the label, it’s “got to be a place where they actually respect my craft and electronic music.” –Danielle Anderson

Charles Eshelman/FilmMagic

Jeff Archuleta may have gotten a bad rep for micromanaging his son, American Idol runner-up David Archuleta, but Idol winner David Cook doesn’t see it that way.

“I’ve never seen Jeff be anything but a caring, loving father, so for me it’s much ado about nothing,” Cook, 25, told PEOPLE on Saturday.

In fact, Cook looks forward to David’s dad joining them on the bus for this summer’s American Idols Live! tour that kicks off July 1 in Glendale, Ariz., and runs to Sept. 13. Cook says he will be working on a record at the same time as the tour “So I’ve got a busy summer,” he says.

He’s still dating former Idol contestant Kimberly Caldwell, 26, whom he initially asked out last month while she was interviewing him during the Idol Tonight show.

“To sing in front of millions of people is one thing, but to ask somebody out, let alone with a camera in your face, is a completely different vibe,” Cook says.

“But I figured, ‘Why not?’ And it seems to have worked out so far.” –Bob Meadows and Scott Huver

Kathy Hutchins/Hutchins Photo