Bill Keveney with USA Today confirms it with Idol Representatives:
After two seasons away, Nigel Lythgoe is back as an executive producer of Fox’s American Idol, representatives just confirmed to USA TODAY’s Bill Keveney.
Lythgoe, executive producer and judge on Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance, signed a two-year deal and will join fellow executive producers Cecile Frot-Coutaz, Ken Warwick and creator Simon Fuller.
Welcome back Nigel! Let’s bring Idol back to its former awesomeness (hopefully). Nigel made a pile of changes to Season 7 of So You Think You Can Dance, and the jury is still out if ditching the Top 20 and bringing on a cast of all-stars to perform with contestants was a good move.
But, I think Idol took a turn for the worse after Nigel left at the end of Season 7. The changes Ken Warwick made–bringing back the Top 36 and the sloppy way he produced the show led to Idol sliding even further in the ratings. Nigel knows how to produce an entertaining show. His return has me feeling optimistic for the first time in a long while.
Nigel has said to reporters that in the wake of Simon Cowell’s departure, he’d wipe the judges’ panel clean and start over. Ellen Degeneres announced her departure last week, and rumor has it Kara Dioguardi has been let go. Randy Jackson is rumored to be sticking around, but he himself has said nothing is for sure.
News Corp chief, Rupert Murdoch says an announcement on the makeup of the judges panel will be made very soon.
