At the beginning of the week, “American Idol” producers have announced that when the show would be resumed in January 2009, it will pay much more attention to performers who manage to make their mark in Hollywood, focusing less on early auditions.

Moreover, the following season will also bring forth a new judge on the show and also bring back something, the famous „wild car” round for the contestants striving to make it among the final twelve singers who are set to compete with each other afterwards.

Nevertheless, Paula Abdul will not lose her spot as judge for the competition, as rumor has had it for a while now, with executive producer Ken Warwick having revealed during a telephone conference with journalists that Abdul would be returning for the January season.

In addition, Warwick also stated that he was not ashamed by the fact that the audiences had dropped within recent years, saying that he even expected ratings to further decrease a little.

„American Idol” has come to have an average number of viewers of 28.1 million per episode in 2008, from the average of 30.8 million that was registered in 2006.

The show launched back in 2002 and since then, it has put now-stars such as Kelly Clarkson, country singer Carrie Underwood and Oscar-winning singer-actress Jennifer Hudson on the map and established them as notable performers.

The new season is scheduled to air on the Fox network on January 13, the two-night, four-hour premiere being the first step in the show’s attempt to focus more on contestants’ talent.

Furthermore, this eighth season is said to offer an extra week to the „Hollywood Round,” during which the participants in the talent television show will be given more time to convince the judges they deserve a spot among the 36 that will remain after the round.

As for the fourth judge, singer and producer Kara DioGuardi is set to join the panel comprising Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul.