American Idol adds fourth judge: Kara DioGuardi

Fox Broadcasting announced today that they are adding a fourth judge to the "American Idol" panel.

Kara DioGuardi, whom Idol creator Simon Fuller lauded as "a smart, sassy lady," is a Grammy-nominated songwriter whose songs have been recorded by Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, the Jonas Brothers, Christina Aguilera, Faith Hill, Gwen Stefani, Celine Dion and Pink, among others.

"For the past seven seasons, Paula has had to endure the experience of being the only woman at the judges' table," said a statement by Mike Darnell, president of Fox's alternative programming. "With Kara by her side, Paula has some backup and now there is going to be a lot more 'girl power' on the show."

Here's a video of DioGuardi singing Faith Hill's hit, "Lost," which she co-wrote.

"We had originally intended for 'American Idol' to have four judges," said Executive Producer Cecile Frot-Coutaz. "We've seen from our international series that having a fourth judge creates a dynamic that benefits both the contestants and the viewers."

Auditions for season eight of Idol took place from July 17 (San Francisco) to Aug. 19 (East Rutherford, N.J.) It's unclear whether DioGuardi was present at the auditions.

So, is this bad news for Paula? Vote below!

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-- Anne Neville

Comments

[GJ Lawrence]

I think adding Kara DioGuardi as a fourth panalist will definitely create more interest to the mix of judges and Paula will have to shape up and focus more on the judging process -- or oops, Idol might be back to three judges, but without Paula.

[Golden Paws]

A fourth judge will be interesting. At least we won't know in advance what she's going to say.

"What's up dawg", "Your outfit is beautiful", "That was hideous".

This judge will have something new to say.

[Libby56]

It is a GREAT idea to add another judge to throw off the predictable interplay and comments that became so tedious last season. So many times last season, shows bogged down when Simon, Paula, Ryan, Randy would do their silly fake bickering and in-jokes and asides to each other---while the contestant (and we viewers) waited for them to focus again on the business at hand.

The judges are like the color guys. Imagine if the color guys on TV doing football games didn't focus on the field, and instead focused on themselves and each other! To steal a phrase from another reality show: you're fired!