Will Simon leave American Idol?

If you’re not great, you’re going to get criticism.” For much of the conference call, Cowell was almost jolly, dropping his on-air Grinch-like demeanor to thank everyone for supporting Idol (which returns on Fox Jan. 13, 8 ET/PT) and to call the show’s run “the best eight years of my life.” Through the auditions and Hollywood round, which have already been taped, the male singers stand out more than the women, he said. He’s happy with this season’s changes, including going from 24 to 36 semifinalists and restoring judges’ wild-card picks, because he thinks that will yield a more intriguing cross section of contestants than the show has had in the past couple of years. He wants to avoid ending up “with 12 people from The Stepford Wives. I think personality is as important as talent on a show like this,” he said. He said he was of two minds regarding the addition of a fourth judge, Kara DioGuardi: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” vs. the fact that it has worked on his show in England.