‘American Idol’ season 13: Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, and Keith Urban not out yet

Based on everything that we heard from “American Idol” sources over the weekend (which we figured to be pretty reliable given that they were from the same network in E! that has Ryan Seacrest on the payroll), the easy assumption to make here in regards to the future of the show was that we would be seeing the likes of Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, and Keith Urban walking away from the studio slowly while sad music played in the background following Thursday’s finale.

Is that happening? Maybe, but Fox’s Kevin Reilly did not confirm it one way or the other during the network’s upfront presentation on Monday. Instead, he only confirmed that Randy Jackson, who announced his exit in a typical “yo yo yo” speech on Twitter, would be saying goodbye.

While this means that there is technically still a chance that Mariah, Keith, and Nicki could be back for more on the show, we put the chance around the same that Randy actually turns into the dog that he has been talking about on the show for so long. (He is talking about a real dog, right?) Fox knows better than to keep a trio of people who are not bringing anything to the show and have terrible chemistry, and this move reads “we want to save you the embarrassment.” However, this move also reads “we’re throwing the contestants under the bus since now the media will hound them with questions.” It seems sad and appropriate that a season all about the judges would end up being that way, as well, with the contestants being asked a plethora of questions about their future rather than their own.

Let’s end this article by talking about the actual contestants on the show. Candice Glover and Kree Harrison will be singing three songs each on Wednesday night, and be sure to vote for your favorite / see our analysis in the article here.

Photo: Fox