TVSquad

For those of who actually care about American Idol -- and you have the random body part that Randy Jackson signed and haven't washed since to prove it -- there are some changes coming to the new millennium's answer to The Gong Show.

Fox officials will confirm some of these changes at a press conference today to respond to rumors leaked to the Internet, that glorious wonderland of movie rumors and girl-on-girl pornography.

The Hollywood Reporter said a unidentified fan site received a staff memo from a show employee and leaked some of the potential changes. Sadly, none of them involve fitting the panel with dog shock collars that activate when they speak or letting Sex Pistols frontman Johnny Rotten sit in as a guest judge.

I must confess, I really, really enjoy American Idol. Sure, I could do without the mean-spirited auditions and the tacky group numbers reminiscent of Up With People, but for the most part, it's a satisfying guilty pleasure.

It's not just the talented contestants that keep me watching, though. I like the judges and the way they interact with each other. I had really mixed feelings when I heard the news that American Idol would be bringing on another judge: curious to see how she'd fit in with the others and what her style would be like, but nervous that she'd change the dynamic between the original three too much for my liking.

So imagine how I must be feeling now that this news has broken -- Paula Abdul is looking to leave American Idol to pursue other projects.

Maybe they got tired of the criticism the current panel has been getting for their devolving into piles of cliche-ridden goo. Maybe it's a test run to see if they can find someone the audience can embrace so they can get rid of one of the other three judges. Maybe it's just because they wanted to have four judges from the beginning and it just took them a long time to get there.

Kara DioGuardi joining American Idol as a fourth judge is an interesting choice. As an award-winning songwriter and producer she definitely has the credentials to be involved as a judge on a singing competition. but the show almost never features original songs. You'd think that having a great songwriter on the panel would inspire the addition of a songwriting aspect to the show. I'd love to see the contestants challenged to write their own music, or in some cases bring some of the original music they've already created to the stage.