Fox just issued a statement confirming that Kara DioGuardi won’t be returning to American Idol next season. News comes as Jennifer Lopez is finalizing a deal to join the Fox series and amid speculation that Idol might be reverting to the original three-judge format. Also closing in on a deal for the reality series is Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. And executive producer Nigel Lythgoe said last weekend he’s still trying to land Elton John. So Randy Jackson will be the only returning panelist  after Simon Cowell, Ellen DeGeneres, and now DioGuardi have gone.
Kara DioGuardi is stepping down from her role as a judge on AMERICAN IDOL. DioGuardi joined AMERICAN IDOL as a judge in the series’

Ray Richmond is contributing to Deadline’

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It looks like Fox will be able to confirm shortly at least one new member of the American Idol team for next season, returning executive producer Nigel Lythgoe whose deal has been completed and is expected to be announced tomorrow. At Fox’s TCA presentation on Monday, the network’s entertainment chairman Peter Rice stated that ”the only thing I an tell you with absolute certainty is there are no signed deals with anyone on either side of the camera who wasn’t on the show last year,” referring to judges as well as Lythgoe. 
Lythgoe will serve as an executive producer on Idol alongside Ken Warwick, who has been running Idol for the past 2 years, creator Simon Fuller and Cecile Frot-Coutaz. His duties will be strictly off-camera and he is not in contention for the show’s judging panel, Fox sources say. Lythgoe’

(HMG) – There have been a number of big names from the entertainment field tossed around as potential new judges on “American Idol,” to replace Simon Cowell. Nigel Lythgoe’s return to ‘

(HMG) – Wow, the speculation on who will become the new American Idol judges is in high gear.  While recent reports have Elton John, Usher and Paula Abdul, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Simpson, Chris Isaak, Harry Connick Jr.  among celebrity music industry folks under consideration for American Idol, as we mentioned previously, Nigel [...]

EXCLUSIVE UPDATE 6:30 PM: We’ve just learned the backstory of how Ellen DeGeneres bowed out of American Idol and who will be the new judge taking her place. It’s Jennifer Lopez, whose singing and acting career has been on the skids after her recent movie failed at the box office in the spring and she was dropped by her record company Sony Music Epic Records this past winter. We hear her manager Benny Medina (whom she once fired) orchestrated the meeting with the American Idol producers a month ago, and negotiations have been ongoing ever since. We’ve learned a deal was closed earlier this week under the utmost secrecy.
Still to be decided is who will replace Simon Cowell. Everyone associated with the show wants Elton John, but we hear he’s asking for too much money and has too many touring commitments he can’t get out of. (Denials That Justin Or Elton Judging ‘Idol’) Tonight, unconfirmed reports say Idol has offered Cowell’s judge seat to Steven Tyler.
As for Ellen Degeneres, we’re told she wanted off the show two months ago, and she and her reps went in to to see Fox Broadcasting’s Entertainment Chairman Peter Rice and Alternative TV President Mike Darnell and asked to be let out of the year left on her contract. “She’s not comfortable. She’s not happy. It’s not been fun,” Fox was told.  But Rice and Darnell responded that, with Cowell leaving,