“American Idol” is firing longtime executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick in a continuing bid to win back viewers and shake up the show, an insider with knowledge of the show told TheWrap.
Fox declined to comment on this report.
TheWrap was the first to report in early May that there would be major changes next season, including the executive firings and a wipe-out of Season 12’s judging panel. (Since our report, Randy Jackson, Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey have announced their departures, leaving only, at this point, Keith Urban.)
Lythgoe and Warwick launched the show together during its inaugural season in 2002 and also worked on its predecessor, Britain’s “Pop Idol.” Lythgoe left “Idol” in 2008 then returned in 2010.
Their terminations from the show arrive amid flux for the talent competition after alternative programming chief Mike Darnell’s sudden Memorial Day weekend exit.
The new judging panel was aimed at assembling three former “Idol” contenders, including Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Clarkson, but that plan appears to be in a holding pattern since Darnell’s departure and a lack of someone at the top to make the final decisions, a senior executive with knowledge of the production told TheWrap.