'American Idol': Kara is reportedly out [Updated]

The musical chairs at the judges' table of "American Idol" continued, as reports circulated Friday morning that Kara DioGuardi had been fired from the hit series.

TMZ reported that the songwriter-judge has been let go. That follows Thursday's announcement from Fox that Ellen DeGeneres, who appeared for only a single season, has also departed the program. Meanwhile, Deadline.com identified actress-singer Jennifer Lopez as a judge when the show returns for its 10th season next year.

The reshuffling is far from over as the network scrambles to replace star judge Simon Cowell, who left the show in May amid great fanfare. Of the judges from last season, only Randy Jackson remains a judge on what is still America's most popular television series.

Executives for Fox and the series could not be immediately reached for comment.

[Updated 9:18 a.m.: A Fox spokeswoman said the network would not comment on TMZ's report.]

-- Greg Braxton

Photo: Kara DioGuardi. Credit: Mario Anzuoni / Reuters

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Comments

[Marley]

. I never like to see people lose their jobs, but I was no fan of Kara - see came across as arrogant and wanted the focus to be on her rather than contestants, i.e. her bikini vs. bikini girl. Talked funny too. Hasta la vista Kara.

[Pamela]

I think this is a great move for the show. Kara DioGuardi just filled a seat and never really had anything of importance to say. I hope they can get the show back to what it used to be.

Pamela
http://www.datecover.com

[tw]

The show has seen it's day....viewers are down, and the Producers are pulling out all the stops to save the show...but alas, it's dying......RIP.

[fuzzibear]

In addition to changing the judges, the producer who suggested "Frank Sinatra night" should never be allowed to make another suggestion.

[BeautySchoolDropout]

Good riddance. Kara never added anything to the show for me. In fact, I quit watching when she came on the scene. Paula leaving finished it for me. Don't know where we'll go from here, but I might watch again if they go back to a 3 judge format, with J-LO as possibly the "new Paula"... who in the heck could ever replace Simon, tho?!?

[Dante Gutierrez]

Fox Network can shuffle/reshuffle or even fire all the American Idol judges, but the fact remains that as long as the show allows their audience or watchers from around the nation (or even the world?) to make multiple calls or text messages to vote for their choice contestants, the show winner(s) will always remain 'suspect' with an asterisk (*) attached to their names!

Small wonder the AI ratings have steadily gone down in numbers year in, year out!

[innerjuju]

Hurray!! If only this proves true! Kara's advent on the show began its slow decline. Pompous pandering to the contestants, mimicing Randy's opinion and the cougar act were enough to make me sick. I will never forget her lounged all over the arm of a potential contestant's chair while she broke him the bad news that he hadn't made the cut. It was so fake. Fox would send out surveys about how viewers felt about each of the judges and how to improve the show. It felt wonderful to be able to say "Boot Kara" in as many blocks as I could. Is it actually possible that a network listened to viewers??

[K]

All this "overhauling" is just treating symptoms. The real problem is that AI has been dead for some time. I say let it go, give it a decent burial and let's move on.

[lauraleebb]

It seem's like the only one who really want's to stay is Seacrest, because of his gigantic salary. I bet Randy has had enough too, but he is a trooper. The show is getting tired. They are not finding Kelly Clarkson's,or voices like Stoddard. More and more mediocre talent at best. They should all end the show. Without Simon it will be more dull.

[A guest]

Who cares about the judges anyway... I only watch AI for the good singing... Last season was really bad though. Hopefully this season will be much better... Good luck AI!...

[beebee]

Idol is focused on choosing contestant on whether or not they make for good tv (pretty, handsome, tragic stories of their lives) rather than on talent. Then they allow unlimited votes so that tweens and teenyboppers have the final say after spending hours voting with their thumbs. Now the last contestant standing doesn't do so because they're talented but because they have been able to sway the teen vote.

[lacowboy]

I, also, am glad Kara is gone. She was smug and arrogant.
Question is, though, who to replace her?
My vote is BRING THE TRAIN WRECK BACK!
It's time for Paula to regain her seat at the judges table.
At least she was entertaining.

[MB]

Put a fork in it... AI is done...

[Shannon]

Say what you will, but Kara's comments during the past season were the most cogent and helpful of all four judges! Randy and Simon were phoning it in, and Ellen isn't cut out to cut throats. But Kara was on it. Yes, she was terrible her first year--but her second year, she really grew into the role...

...and all that mess with Casey was absolutely no worse than Simon drooling over some of the contestants, only he was allowed to drop it while Kara was teased constantly. SHE didn't keep bringing it up.

[Dilly]

Now if we can just get Ran-Dawgy Jackson out of there it will truly be a fresh start for this former powerhouse.

[Bill Murme]

I’m glad the show parted with Ellen and Kara. They never contributed much. The show’s floating a lot of replacement names, and several sound reasonable. The one exception is J-Lo, who has a pompous way about her that’s made her movies unwatchable, and would probably make her Idol criticism a channel turner. The show needs older, more responsible voices. Its credibility was shattered last season when the judges were actively promoting two marginal singers, Crystal and Lee. The night they pushed Siobhan Magnus off the show – possibly Idol’s finest talent in 9 years – their ratings nose-dived. They’ve got a lot of damage to repair.

[fattddaddy]

Have to agree with Dante Gutierez...the problem is not the judges, it is the voting. Kara may not be warm and bubbly, but she knows music, voice, and what it takes...who gives a damn about "you look beautiful" or "I'm a fan, but"
Idol has made the results contaminated by allowing voters to text 1000's of votes per person. I hope Nygel Lythgow will end this practice...don't blame the judges!

[fattddaddy]

I thought J-Lo was a DNR and Idol has just resuscitated her. Her movies don't sell, her music career is at it's low point and her product lines are suffering. She needs Idol more than they need her.

[merryjoe]

Get rid of Randy too. Let's start fresh.

[XM]

Let's all admit it - we all watched AI because of Simon. His raw, uninhibited opinion (the British accent adds to the effect) on talent was a welcome shock to America's carefully guarded PC sensibility. You can tell some of these CLUELESS singers were a product of our tendency to shy away from the truth, as we're silently wary of charges of discrimination, intolerance, insenstivity, etc.

We approved of Simon chopping down arrogant hacks as "the worst singer I've heard in my life", instead of opting for carefully packaged words that dilute the criticism. We loved his pointed analogy to terrible performances ("that was like some ghsatly theme park performance"). And we appreciated how Simon simply told a superior singer in danger to "respect the public vote", instead of whining about how everyone got it wrong and spinning conspiracy on racism.

You would vote for Simon, if he was a politician.