Paula Abdul and 'American Idol' are back on Fox

newsday.com

Show will offer 'best season' ever with 'unbelievable' talent, she says, and some fights with Simon.

BY JAY BOBBIN | Zap2it
January 13, 2008

For Paula Abdul, it starts all over again in late summer.

Viewers must wait until January to see the sometimes painful, sometimes promising auditions that mark the beginning of an "American Idol" season, but the process starts much earlier for Abdul and fellow judges Simon Cowell and Randy Jackson.

Along with host Ryan Seacrest, they hunt anew for singing stars when the popular talent competition launches its seventh round with a two-part season premiere Tuesday and Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Fox/5.

"I think we have all the makings for the best season we've ever had," Abdul says, having watched auditions in San Diego, Dallas, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Miami, Omaha and Charleston, S.C. "What's really interesting is that the last three years, I didn't remember a lot of the kids. This season, it started off a little shaky, but we began seeing some amazing people and getting hopeful. It really is anyone's game this time, with equal male and female talent."

Thus far, women outnumber men as "American Idol" champs. Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks and Jordin Sparks are the victors to date.

Making up for tedium

As exciting as the final stretch typically is - particularly with unexpected factors like last season's "How did he get so far?" run by Sanjaya Malakar - Abdul admits that early on, "it becomes unbelievably tedious, especially when we only put one of 30 kids through [to the competition in Hollywood], but that's when Simon kicks into full gear of playing pranks and being obnoxious.

"After a while, we have to start livening it up to make it more interesting. [Viewers] love to see the fighting, and this season, we're not letting them down on that count. It usually comes from Simon's boredom; when he's done picking on the kids, he has me."

Indeed, Paula versus Simon is a main attraction of "American Idol," helping ensure strong ratings from beginning to end of the show's season. After a sixth year when superstars from Gwen Stefani to Tony Bennett got involved in "Idol," the show's producers plan to keep the focus more on the contest's finalists this go-round. Still, last year's star-packed "Idol Gives Back" charity initiative will be reprised in April.

Whatever the theme of any "Idol" episode, Abdul maintains the same approach. "The kids know I will fight for them if they're worth fighting for," she says. "A lot of times, they are, though Simon may not hear or see what is very special about them. If I'm fighting really hard for someone, I usually can get Simon to come around, but there are other times when it's absolutely impossible. Then I'll go, 'Randy! Come on!' We're usually on the same page, but I don't give in to the kids if they're not that great."

Abdul has been known to shed a tear when a favorite "Idol" contestant is eliminated, but she reasons, "Competition breeds success, and this show has proven it can create platinum-selling artists. The kids who came out for this new season know that, and that's why the talent is getting better.

"Out of the 50 [finalists] this season narrows down to, I can honestly say there are probably 30 that are unbelievable, and about six or seven that are stellar. If we do this right - 'we' meaning all of America [through the after-show voting] - we could have a top 12 that all could vie for record deals as well as the top spot. That's never happened before."

"Swimming horizontally"

"American Idol" has brought Abdul what she considers the "third chapter" of her career, following her initial fame as a dancer-choreographer (including her stint as a Laker Girl for the Los Angeles NBA team), then her success as the singer of such pop hits as "Straight Up," "Forever Your Girl" and "Opposites Attract." She recently jump-started that aspect with the New Year's Eve debut of her song "Dance Like There's No Tomorrow," produced by "Idol" crony Jackson.

Since everything she does or says is under a microscope now, as it was during last summer's unscripted "Hey Paula!" series on Bravo, Abdul deems her renewed popularity "a dual-edged sword.

"I observe myself as a caricature," she says, "and when you're watching it like an out-of-body experience, you have to learn how to navigate it. It really is like being in an ocean; you can't attack it straight on, you have to swim horizontally. There's me, then there's the persona that people perceive me to be, which is completely the opposite of who I am.

"I'm as empathetic as they come," Abdul says, "which is why I'm a judge on this show. Now, with the paparazzi and the Internet and TMZ.com, everything is blown out of proportion instantaneously. You just have to sit back and think, 'I've been in this business 21 years, and that's 21 years longer than most people have had the opportunity to endure.'

"This isn't my first time at the rodeo, and I know what it's like to be famous; but to be in 35 million homes twice a week is way more topsy-turvy than anything I ever experienced before."

With the writers' strike forcing networks to get creative, and "American Idol" being the force it is for Fox, it would be no surprise for the show to air more than twice some weeks. However much it's on, Abdul cautions the new wannabes what it will take again to stand out from the pack.

"You have to be exceptionally poor or exceptionally brilliant," she says. "In between doesn't work."