Fox has just confirmed that Paula Abdul isn’t coming back, and Paula made a bunch of weepy tweets about it. Bonnie Fuller called her a liar about 30 minutes later. Is this the final nail in the coffin or another publicity stunt? With Seacrest getting $45 million and Simon allegedly getting over $100 million (not confirmed), one would think that Fox could hold on to Paula. I suspect the network just doesn’t want her, especially after last season’s four judge panel proved to be a time wasting train wreck.

I can’t say that I care that much. Whenever Paula would talk I’d generally go grab a snack, send a text message, or do pretty much anything other than listen to her. She never has anything constructive to say; she’s like the over-bearing parent, and every contestant might as well be her child who can do no wrong. Kara DioGuardi is a better judge on almost every level (excluding “No Boundaries,” that was just awful).

Not everyone shares my opinion though. There was a giant online movement to save Paula, the most notable being the Twitter movement. Using the hashtag #keeppaula, fans have been tweeting non-stop to show their support. This is so out of control it even peaked at #2 on Twitter’s trending list.

despite the best and most noble efforts of Paula’s fans, they have ultimately failed. As I said, I think it was clear last season that four judges are too much for the competition, and Paula was without a doubt the weakest. Holding on to Paula would have been an expensive proposition, and I suspect that most Paula fans are also die-hard Idol fans, and will watch the show regardless. The marginal boost in viewers the program would receive probably isn’t worth the cost of her contract.

This doesn’t mean the end of Paula Abdul, not by any means. She can go back to dancing with animated cats. Frankly, I like her better that way.