Is Paula Abdul Leaving American Idol Because of Kara DioGuardi

Though American Idol's contestants are systematically failing to impress the judges, there seems to be some fireworks going on behind the scenes. Indeed, it appears some friction between Paula Abdul and fourth Idols new judge Kara Dioguardi. Entertainment Tonight, the source to turn to if you want to get slapped in the face with Hollywood's dirty laundry over and over again, reported that Abdul was quoted earlier this week as saying idol had "tried four judges and it just doesn't work." Though nothing indicated Abdul was saying anything bad about DioGuardi, her tone seemed to suggest she wasn't happy with the current arrangement.

In a related story, Abdul was speaking about her current engagement as the whacky comic relief on American Idol's judging panel and mentioned that this was the last year of her contract with the entertainment juggernaut. She went on to say that there were so many things she wanted to do, hinting that if she didn't have Idol to deal with that she could be out doing them. Is Paula leaving Idol? Will this season be her last?

For those of you who've read my previous American Idol related content, you know that the announcement of the addition of a fourth judge came as something of a shock to Idol's fan base. With the show steaming along at good speed, gaining higher ratings and garnering more telephone calls and text messages than ever before, why would producers decide to change up the formula? I proposed that Idol was attempting to ease the transition from one judge to another much the same way television show add new characters for a season before beloved favorites are put out to pasture.

I had drawn the conclusion that Simon would be the first to leave Idol but this new news about Paula's non-Idol endeavors may prove to be the foreshadowing of another departure. Would Idol really be the same without the love/hate banter between Miss Abdul and Simon Cowell?

So far, Kara has failed to ingratiate herself on longtime Idol fans and her opinions differ so much from those of the incumbent judges (as seen on the Wednesdays live performance show) that it remains to be seen if she's even a suitable fit to the format let alone a suitable replacement.