Steven Tyler - TVLine

January 18, 2011 12:41 PM PDT

American Idol Returns Wednesday: Six Ways We'd Improve Season 10!

by Michael Slezak

The premiere of American Idol‘s hotly anticipated/anxiety-inducing tenth season is only a day away, and like a contestant on Bridalplasty, the show will be debuting a radically different face when its veil gets lifted this Wednesday at 8/7c.

It remains to be seen whether or not all the widely reported changes will ultimately reinvigorate or eviscerate Fox’s veteran ratings juggernaut, but regardless, I’ve got a little extra advice that I think will boost the chances that 2011 will be remembered as the year Idol got its groove back. Without further ado… …READ MORE

January 11, 2011 12:23 PM PDT

New American Idol Crew Meets The Press: 'We're Taking It Up a Notch'

by Matt Webb Mitovich

Steven Tyler perhaps sums it up best when assaying the upcoming 10th – and rather different – season of America’s most watched TV program: “Idol is taking it up a notch. No more, no less.”

Among the changes American Idol has undergone since staging its underwhelming ninth season: Following much falderah, Simon Cowell has moved on, to shepherd the U.S. version of The X Factor (premiering this fall on Fox); both Kara DioGuardi and Ellen DeGeneres also have vacated the dais; Nigel Lythgoe is back as an executive producer; and contestants will face new performance challenges throughout their journey.

Meeting the press for a 40-minute panel discussion at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on Tuesday, here is what the judges and producers had to say about the “new” Idol. READ MORE