• by Don Seaman , Featured Contributor, July 30, 2010

Well, you can hardly accuse them of being "American Idle" this off-season. Now Ellen DeGeneres becomes the third "Idol" judge to leave the show. Prime-time television's reigning king has had so much off-screen casting turmoil lately you'd think that it was suddenly airing on NBC. Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien are just about the only two celebrities who have not been rumored as possible judges for the show.

Here's the wire report of what's going on:

The latest two names floated have been Jennifer Lopez and Diddy (or Puffy, or Unpronounceable Symbol, or whatever he's calling himself now), but rumors have swirled for months about everyone from Elton John to Justin Timberlake. And there's still no clear resolution of whether to replace one judge, two judges, or all four.

The modestly accepted Kara DioGuardi has been on a year-to-year contract basis, leaving only the last original and most vanilla of all the judges, Randy Jackson, as essentially the only judge left.

Now the reports have it that Kara is out, J-Lo is in, Aerosmith's Steven Tyler might be the long-rumored Simon replacement, rebooting the original 3-judge panel format. Longtime producer Nigel Lythgoe reportedly will return after his departure for Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance."

So this potential "major makeover" of Fox's anchor franchise might be coming to an end, or at least a plateau, for now. But in terms of buzzworthy drama, the shenanigans might be coming to a halt a bit too soon to ensure "Idol" regains some of the audience it's lost. If the show gets "set" now, all we have to look forward to are some Fox promos and a saturation bombing of Steven, Jennifer and that other guy's picture everywhere Fox can put them.

Perhaps Fox is missing an opportunity. Why not start the next season with a short December pre-series: "American Judge" -- an audition to actually be an "Idol" judge?

The judges could be Nigel Lythgoe, Fox's Peter Rice, and of course, Simon Cowell.

Imagine if you will: Peter: "Sir Elton, can you say 'Dawg' again?"

Simon: "Mr. Diddy, what sort of musical credentials could you possibly bring to this franchise?"

Nigel: "Wouldn't you rather see if you think you can dance, Miss Lopez?"