Idol Bombshell: Paula Says She's Off The Show

According to a series of Twitter messages last night, Paula Abdul has tweeted that she won't be on the ninth season of "American Idol," as negotiations over her salary increase apparently broke down.

It's being reported that Fox offered the Idol judge a 30 per cent increase over her current salary of about US$2 million a year (which would bring her into the $5-mil-a-year range), but she was looking for a lot more in light of the massive deals given to Simon Cowell and Ryan Seacrest.

Here's what Paula tweeted: "With sadness in my heart, I've decided not to return to #IDOL. I'll miss nurturing all the new talent, but most of all… I'll miss nurturing all the new talent,but most of all being a part of a show that I helped from day1become an international phenomenon … What I want to say most, is how much I appreciate the undying support and enormous love that you have showered upon me … It truly has been breathtaking, especially over the past month … I do without any doubt have the BEST fans in the entire world and I love you all."

My gut instinct is that this isn't over yet; I'm thinking this is her latest ploy — hoping that the public outcry over her absence will eventually make Fox cave to her demands. Whether this works or not, well, who knows? But Paula and her weekly injection of crazy into America's No. 1 show will be missed. Her sparring with Simon was usually more entertaining than the singing, and Randy and Kara have had a tendency toward redundancy, usually saying the same thing to contestants (although, to be fair, Randy uses the word "dawg," while Kara tends toward "sweetie.").

Of course, Fox isn't backing down. The network released a statement confirming her exit and noting that Paula "is a major talent and we wish her the best."

My opinion is that "Idol" needs Paula, but not as much as Paula needs "Idol." She wasn't exactly burning up the pop charts before she landed the Idol gig, and her non-Idol projects over the years (remember her reality show? Oy vey) have gone nowhere.

I expect this will be sorted out eventualy, but in the meantime we can all sit back and enjoy the drama. Tomorrow is Fox's turn at the TCA press tour, and I expect this will be a major topic of interrogation during Fox's executive session. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I'm about to head into today's sessions for NBC, which should feature plenty of talk about the net's unprecedented move of airing Jay Leno's non-Tonight talk show in primetime five nights a week.