'Idol': Exec Talks Paula, Season 8

Image credit: Michael Becker/Fox

AMERICAN IDOL Randy Jackson, new judge Kara DioGuardi, Ryan Seacrest, Paula Abdul, and Simon Cowell will launch season 8 on Jan. 13

American Idol executive producer Ken Warwick tells EW.com he had ''no idea whatsoever'' that Paula Abdul fan Paula Goodspeed had been a long-time stalker of Abdul's when she auditioned for the fifth season of the Fox show in 2005. Goodspeed's body was discovered earlier this year in her car near Abdul's home, an apparent suicide. Last week, while appearing on on ABC's The View and Barbara Walters' Sirius radio show, Abdul accused Idol producers of allowing Goodspeed to audition even after Abdul told them the woman had an unhealthy history with her ''I said, 'This girl is a stalker of mine,''' Abdul told Walters on the radio. '''Please do not let her in.' Everyone knew. I was shaking.''

''The whole event is terrible, obviously,'' responds Warwick. ''[Paula] might have told someone [about Goodspeed]. I don't know who it was. She certainly didn't tell me at the time. I had no idea, and I was in the room. Normally, she would have told the security there. They're the people who would handle it.'' Warwick does acknowledge he knew Goodspeed was ''a fan'' of Abdul's. ''It was written on the notes.'' But he hastens to add, ''if we think anybody is even on the cusp of being violent in any way, they don't even get into the room. I would never contaminate the credibility of the show by putting someone dangerous or someone who would hurt themselves in that room. I just wouldn't do it. It's not worth it.''

This back-and-forth comes as Idol ramps up for its upcoming eighth season (premiering January 13). Warwick previews alterations to the semifinal stage of the competition — get ready for the Top 36! — among other significant changes:

Why a new judge? To make Simon unhappy
Songwriter and record producer Kara DioGuardi will join the show this season as its first permanent fourth judge. Warwick says that beyond the need to shake up the Idol format in its eighth season lest it get staid, he also wanted a fourth judge to keep Simon from ''always getting his own way.'' In a tie, Simon gets the deciding vote, but Warwick says the net effect of DioGuardi's presence on the panel was more contestants Simon didn't like going on to Hollywood week: ''Sometimes, a kid who normally would have gone [home] comes to Hollywood, and they’re fabulous.''

Hollywood week will actually be in Hollywood
In seasons past, ''Hollywood week'' really took place in the southern California city of Pasadena. This year, says Warwick, the show held the Hollywood stage of the auditions in Hollywood's Kodak Theater, home of the Academy Awards and almost every American Idol finale. Warwick says the bigger backdrop brought out extra nerves in some of the auditioners, and extra nerve in others: ''If they were good, their passion to get through was more intense than it had been in previous years.'' In fact, Hollywood week was so good this year, it will air over two weeks.

NEXT: On long-toothed mentors