Idol 4 changes include shorter semifinals, shift in use of celebrity guest judges.

Idol 4 changes include shorter semifinals, shift in use of celebrity guest judges.
Changes for the fourth season of American Idol will affect the way the show structures the semifinal competitions and how it uses guest judges. Celebrity guest judges will most likely disappear from the end of the series, while “[m]usicians such as Gene Simmons, LL Cool J, Brandy and Kenny Loggins will join judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson” during the auditions, according to USA TODAY. Additionally, the semifinals “will be shortened from five weeks to three, with judges picking 24 singers (12 men and 12 women)—rather than the 32 of last season—from the Hollywood round. In the semifinals’ first week, which starts Feb. 21, the women and men will be split into groups, one performing Monday, followed by the other on Tuesday. Viewers will vote to eliminate the bottom two from each group on Wednesday. That process will be repeated for two weeks, resulting in six male and six female singers in the final 12,” the paper says. That’s different from last year, when “eight of the 32 semifinalists sang each week, and viewers chose two of them for the finals.” There will also be more Hollywood episodes focusing on the contestants who make it to that stage of the competition.

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