American Idol is back for its 14th season Wednesday on Fox, and despite sagging ratings and lost sponsors, the competition show is determined to stay relevant and this season especially, a bit more pared down.

The judges - Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick, Jr. - are back, and so is Ryan Seacrest, but the show has dropped mentor Randy Jackson in favor of a combination mentor/prize sponsor Scott Borchetta, who was once mentor to Taylor Swift. Borchetta’s Big Machine Records will also sign the winner of this season of American Idol.

Idol, which premieres with episodes Wednesday, Jan. 7 and Thursday, Jan. 8, will start its live shows soon, but this year is scaling back a bit, cutting the second show in favor of one two-hour show per week. The effort may work to concentrate its ratings in one place, instead of spreading out the episodes to several hours over two days every week.

Executive Producer Trish Kinane says that the new schedule will be better for viewers to focus in on the show all at once, and that this season will see a “more dramatic” elimination technique instead of the entire results show, though any more details on that are still hush hush.

Read more at Yahoo.

Brief Take: Can the show that was once TV’s biggest brand remain at the top for a few years before fizzling out, or is it time to say goodbye?

[Image courtesy of Fox]

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