'American Idol': Can Show Go On Without Simon Cowell?

Jan. 12, 2010— -- "American Idol" starts its ninth season tonight, and everything is up for grabs.

Simon Cowell is leaving after this year. Paula Abdul already left, to be replaced by comedian Ellen DeGeneres.

Cowell announced Monday that this season of "Idol" will be his last, so that he can focus on launching the American version of "The X Factor," which Fox has picked up for the fall 2011 season when "Idol" is on hiatus. Cowell will serve as judge and executive producer for the show.

And, according to The Wall Street Journal's John Farley, just like "Idol," "X-Factor" will allow Cowell to act as nasty as he wants.

"If you've seen 'X-Factor,' it's almost exactly like 'Idol,'" Farley said today on "Good Morning America." "He's still there, judging people, putting people down, raising other people up. Simon Cowell is not leaving the format. He will be front and center in American pop culture."

But still, how will "Idol" viewers take to the musical chairs game going on with the judges? Losing Abdul was one thing -- but now Cowell? He is arguably the dominant presence at the judges' table. Does this mean that DeGeneres -- who, incidentally, won't appear on the show until the "Hollywood Round" in early February, has to be the mean one next year? Someone needs to fill the void.

And there are other questions. "American Idol" is supposed to be a musical contest, but viewers and former contestants complain that it doesn't always work as one. Many of them say the often-controversial voting process that decides the winner needs to be updated.

"I'd be very surprised if they altered anything," MJ Santilli, who writes about "Idol" on her blog MJsBigBlog.com, told ABCNews.com. "The more people vote, the more money they make for their sponsor. As far as cutting down how many times people can vote or text vote, I don't see that happening."

Santilli does think last season's controversial voting parties for winner Kris Allen could result in "a set of rules that weren't there before."

Fox did not respond to ABCNews.com's request for comment.

Last May, fans of runner-up Adam Lambert complained that rules were broken when representatives of "Idol" sponsor AT&T provided free phones and texting lessons at two watch parties organized in Allen's hometown in Arkansas. "Idol" stood by the final result, saying no individuals unfairly influenced the total, but refused to make vote totals public.

Santilli does not foresee "Idol" ever releasing vote tallies. The British version of Cowell's "X Factor" does.

"They don't want to show you the wizard of Oz," Santilli said about the "Idol" vote totals. "It would show their manipulation. It they had shown the voter breakdown at the end of season five, you would have seen that Chris Daughtry was not in front, even if they were trying to give you the impression that he was winning every week."