Not that ''Idol'' isn't tweaking its formula too. An attempt to employ a fourth judge failed (hip-hop artist Angie Martinez dropped out after only three days). So the biggest change this time around may be a tougher-talking Abdul. EW sat in on some New York auditions, and the formerly spineless panelist was at times downright Simonesque. ''You have a beautiful voice,'' she deadpanned to one seemingly qualified contestant, ''but you don't have your act together.'' (Last summer, ''Idol'' coexec producer Nigel Lythgoe told EW that he wanted Abdul to be more critical.) ''I'm still nice,'' Abdul insists. ''The thing is, after the success of the first season, being a good singer isn't enough. What [else] are you bringing to the table?''
Cowell suggests that contestants' talent is also remarkably improved. ''The guys this time around are a million times better,'' says the judge, who feared a rush of theme-park performers. ''I thought, If we get one more person in from bloody Six Flags, I'm walking off the show. But we have people who work on cars, chop logs, and stuff like that.''
Don't worry: The early episodes will still include Tamika types. ''Apart from the good ones, we've had some of the worst singers I've ever heard in my life. Ever,'' says Cowell. ''Even I, who have been doing it for 25 years, was sitting there with my mouth open.''
Perhaps that's why Cowell swears he won't return should there be a third ''Idol.'' How definite is that? ''One hundred percent,'' he says. ''I couldn't care less.'' (''The same for me,'' says Abdul.) ''I haven't heard [them] say that,'' says Berman. ''We're just happy all our judges are with us for [this season].''
Unless Simon and Paula bite each other's heads off before the finale. ''There's a fantastic thing going on in the auditions, where Paula now asks for pillows [to sit on],'' says Cowell. ''She's been to somebody like Tony Robbins or something, who's obviously said to her, 'The only way you deal with those mean boys on the panel is to be taller.' So every time she brings a pillow in, we bring a pillow in. We're now so far above the desk, it's become absurd.''
''It's not anyone's idea but mine,'' says Abdul, who hopes to release a new single by this summer. ''I've done that my whole entire career. Look, I'm 5 foot 2.'' So does she now tower over Cowell? ''In my own mind,'' she says, ''I will always be taller.'' (Additional reporting by Nicholas Fonseca)
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