TVSquad

Get on your craziest costume and ask your mom again if you really, really can sing because it's time to start the process of making an ass of yourself on national television all over again. Only this time, the crazies who go to the first round of auditions won't get the chance to sing in front of the judges until a callback sometime later this summer. That's because while they want to get the audition process under way, American Idol doesn't know if they're bringing back Paula Abdul or Kara DioGuardi.

I wonder if this move will keep some of the crazies away. Now you're looking at two entirely separate trips just to look stupid on television. Will it still be worth it? Sure, the local crazies will still come out, but what about the travelers? It is interesting to note that Idol is changing the process up this much due to contract questions. That must mean that they're really not sure about one or both of the women's return to the show. DioGuardi was on a one-year deal, while Abdul's multi-year contract ended this season.

I'm not sure the four judge thing worked, and not just because they constantly went over on time. Kara just didn't really add anything new to the mix, unless she's the reason Paula was more coherent than usual. In fact, Paula provided much more constructive feedback throughout the season than Kara did. I don't think Kara was horrible, in fact maybe it would be better to lose Randy. He's just about completely run out of anything that isn't a "catch phrase" to say.