Simon Cowell and Fox to launch `X Factor' in 2011

After years of doing the judging, it's time for Simon Cowell to be judged.

Fox is getting ready to announce that a U.S. version of Cowell's hit British talent show "The X Factor" will premiere in fall 2011. As in the U.K., Cowell will both produce and serve as a judge.

News could be made official as early as this week, people familiar with the situation said.

As a result, the acid-tongued star judge of American Idol" is unlikely to stay on Fox's long-running juggernaut full time beyond the ninth season, which premieres Tuesday.

Cowell’s departure from “American Idol” won’t mean it's curtains for the powerhouse. Fox and producers 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia are committed to several more seasons of the show.

How will Cowell's exit impact "Idol"? What is "The X Factor" and how is it different?

Read the full story here.

-- Denise Martin and Joe Flint

Photo credit: Fox

Forget the Thanksgiving parade, 'Glee' cast will sing at World Series

They may not be able to sing in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on NBC, but the cast of Fox's "Glee" will get to strut their stuff during the World Series.

Fox has confirmed that cast members from its new hit musical comedy "Glee" will sing the national anthem during Game 3 of the World Series, currently scheduled for Oct. 31. That game will be either in Los Angeles or Philadephia, depending on which team ends up in the series against either the Yankees or the Angels.

Fox had to get a green light from Major League Baseball to have the cast sing at the game. Networks often use the World Series and other big sporting events to promote their own entertainment shows, but it is unusual to actually have a cast of a show perform during the game. Of course, few probably have the chops to do it. At least we know they'll do better than Roseanne Barr did when she butchered the anthem during a San Diego Padres ballgame.

Earlier this week, NBC pulled back an invitation that had been extended to the "Glee" cast to sing during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which the network has the rights to air.

— Joe Flint

Related:

NBC gets schooled after banning 'Glee' cast from parade

'Glee': Sue and Schu throw down!

Get to know the cast of 'Glee' in their own words (photos)

Photo credit: Fox

NBC axes 'Southland' before its second season premiere

NBC has pulled the plug on John Wells' "Southland."

The move comes just two weeks before the gritty cop drama was set to premiere in its new Friday at 9 p.m. time period. Now, in its place NBC will schedule the less expensive news magazine "Dateline NBC."

"I am disappointed that NBC no longer has the time periods available to support the kind of critically acclaimed series that was for so many years the hallmark of their success," "Southland" executive producer John Wells said in a statement.

Wells added that he will shop the show to another network.

NBC will have to cough up some cash to producer Warner Bros. Television and Wells' production company, which had already received a 13-episode order for Season 2. Producers were busy wrapping production on episode 6 when NBC canceled the show. The network was paying about $1.5 million per episode in license fees for the show, and it will eat the costs of the finished episodes as well as the cost of shutting down the production, people familiar with the situation said.

Canceling a show before any of its new episodes have even aired is highly unusual. It begs the question of why NBC renewed in the first place. Ratings for the first season started strong in the spring but quickly cooled over its short, six-episode run.

Insiders also said that once NBC execs saw the initial Season 2 episodes, they were deemed too dark for network TV.

Because NBC now programs "The Jay Leno Show" at 10 p.m. across five nights a week, it had limited options as to where to program "Southland" once it decided Friday wasn't a suitable home.

Of course, Wells may not have endeared himself to the network when in August he criticized NBC's decision to give five hours of prime time to Leno. "I wish NBC and Jay Leno well; personally, he's a very nice guy, but I hope he falls flat on his face and we get five dramas back."

Actor Michael Cudlitz, who played John Cooper on the series, didn't take the news well and via his official Twitter account encouraged viewers to contact NBC in protest. "Don't go quietly. People need to know when they ... up this big," he wrote. He also posted the number to NBC's comment line but said "snail mail is the best."

-- Joe Flint and Denise Martin

Related:
Jay Leno has fewer guests to choose from thanks to rival networks' boycott
NBC and 'Southland' producers worried about the bleeping FCC

Photo: Ben McKenzie as Ben Sherman, Michael Cudlitz as John Cooper in "Southland." Credit: NBC

NBC, ABC, CBS prepare to scramble prime time for Michael Jackson

NBC and ABC, which already had competing Farrah Fawcett Specials at 10 o'clock tonight, are preparing Michael Jackson specials as well. CBS will also do a special on the late King of Pop.

Both ABC and NBC will now air Jackson specials at 9 p.m. NBC initially toyed with cutting its hourlong special on Fawcett in half and using the other half-hour to celebrate Jackson's life, but that idea was quickly squashed. Both will keep their Fawcett hours at 10 p.m.

CBS, which has lots of Jackson footage from the concert it aired a few years ago as well as the memorable interview with Ed Bradley, will run its tribute to the singer at 10 p.m.

-- Joe Flint

Farrah Fawcett's passing has ABC and NBC reeling

The vultures are out.

NBC and ABC are racing to get Farrah Fawcett tribute specials on the air tonight in the wake of the actress' death this morning after a lengthy battle with cancer. NBC at least has a track record in milking Fawcett's illness for ratings. ABC jumped in today without even waiting for confirmation of her passing before announcing the special edition of "20/20" called "Her Life, Her Loves, Her Legacy," according to the New York Times.

If NBC and ABC are looking for someone to discuss Fawcett's career, might we suggest super-vulture Michael Levine, a particularly opportunistic publicist who sent an e-mail out to reporters saying Fawcett's death "feels like a death of our own youth and innocence and it hurts." Oh, and he adds that if you want to discuss that more fully, give him a call.

-- Joe Flint