American Idol chaos: no deal for Jennifer Lopez, yet

No deal for J-Lo, yet 

American Idol's still in a state of chaotic flux. Last week it was reported that Jennifer Lopez was in as a judge while Kara DioGuardi was fired and Ellen DeGeneres quit. Randy Jackson was the only American Idol judge to be retained, although TMZ.com reported that he too almost got the axe.

Hold everything.

Broadcast & Cable reports that there is no deal with any American Idol judge "who was not on last year" which means that Jennifer Lopez is not set as an American Idol judge and the show is still in a chaotic PR mess.

According to Fox Networks Group Chairman Peter Rice, "The only thing I can tell you with any certainty right now is no one has signed a deal yet to be on American Idol who was not on last year."

Rice said that at the top of Fox' executive session at the Television Critics Association press tour, Monday. Rice said he tried to get Ellen DeGeneres to stay and would not confirm reports that judge Kara DioGuardi was fired.

Rice, as he said to reporters, has a hard job of negotiating a contract in a public forum. A rumor about a deal going in a certain direction can either help or hurt discussions. Reading between the lines, it appears that's what's happened with Fox and American idol.

Rice said:

"When we have deals, we'll tell you. I'm not going to get into the ins and outs of how we're trying to make this decision. You guys are really really good at this. You get information from all sorts of places. As I said, some of it is correct and some of it is wildly incorrect and I'm not going to tell you which is which."

Stay tuned.