PASADENA, Calif. -- The upcoming 2009-10 TV season will be notable for two big changes: Jay Leno in prime-time this fall and "American Idol" minus Paula Abdul in January.

Earlier this week Abdul announced on Twitter that she won't return to "Idol," and yesterday Fox executives expressed their disappointment.

"We very much wanted her to return," said Peter Rice, newly-appointed chairman of Fox Broadcasting. He noted Abdul was the only "Idol" cast member whose contract was up this season. "We made an offer we felt is very fair to Paula, a substantial raise to the money she made in the past, and Paula decided not to return. This is not something we wanted to happen."

Not everyone thinks Abdul is gone for good, including Nigel Lythgoe, a "So You Think You Can Dance" judge and former "Idol" executive producer.

"I still don't know that she's going to leave 'Idol,'" he said. "Until 'Idol' goes on the air, there's always opportunity for renegotiation."

Rice downplayed that possibility: "Our understanding is we've concluded a negotiation and Paula has determined she is not coming back."

Between now and January, "Idol" producers and network executives will contemplate hiring an Abdul replacement to serve as a fourth judge alongside Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi, Rice said. "There's going to be a different, dynamic change this year, and there's also something exciting about that."

Production begins this week, and "Idol" will use guest judges including Katy Perry and Victoria Beckham for its audition segments.

"Dance" judge Lythgoe said he's had conversations with Abdul.

"I said we're going to Vegas for season six this weekend, what are you doing?" Lythgoe said. "She's coming out to meet me, and we're going to talk about what opportunities there are out there."

"Dance" will air a new season this fall to help support the launch of Fox's "Glee," and getting Abdul onboard might give the competition series a boost. Lythgoe said he envisions Abdul as more of a guest judge than a permanent cast member.

Regardless of what happens with Abdul and "Idol," "The Jay Leno Show" is the biggest unknown variable this fall.

Conventional wisdom suggests a potential ratings disaster. But there's also the possibility it will offer viewers a welcome change -- comedy at 10 p.m. weeknights starting Sept. 14. Whatever happens, Leno said he's unconcerned.

"If it doesn't work, well, show business pays a lot of money so when they screw you, you have something left," Leno said. "I realize at this point I'm doing it now because I like it."

Until now, it hasn't been clear how Leno's new show will differ from his version of "The Tonight Show," which is now hosted by Conan O'Brien. But details of "The Jay Leno Show" are beginning to emerge:

• He won't sit behind a desk, except maybe as a place to read headlines from.

• More comedy, less music. Leno said there will be greater emphasis on pre-taped comedy segments and less on music because music, while energizing for the studio audience, is less likely to draw viewers at home. Expect music performances just twice a week, although the first episode will kick off with Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West, which seems like a calculated effort to draw young viewers (and, perhaps inadvertently, to scare off longtime Leno fans).

• Packaged segments will be reported by correspondents, including D.L. Hughley (doing politics in "D.L. from D.C."), Mikey Day, Rachael Harris, Jim Norton and The Dan Band. In addition "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams, who has a sharp sense of humor never seen on the evening news, will contribute segments.

• A race track has been built near Leno's studio, where celebrities will be encouraged to drive electric vehicles in competition with one another.

• Signature Leno comedy bits -- headlines, Jaywalking -- will air late in the broadcast, and Leno will toss to 11 p.m. newscasts with no commercial break in between.

• Just one guest per night, maybe two.

Leno said he has no expectation or particular desire to save NBC, which has foundered in the ratings in recent years. He said he didn't go to ABC because the public would see him as greedy.

"I've been with NBC my whole life. There are things I like and things I don't like, but much like a marriage, you work it out," Leno said, adding that he understood NBC's desire to manage the succession of hosts at "The Tonight Show," sending him packing while the show was still No. 1.

"You feel a little twinge. That's OK, you're a grown-up and you've had your chance," Leno said. "There's only so much pie you can eat."

Now he and NBC are ready for his new prime-time series.

"They've really thrown their support behind this," Leno said. "I was getting a little complacent on 'The Tonight Show.' I'm excited about this. I think it will be fun and if we go down in flames, we'll be laughing on the way. At least it will shake up the landscape a little bit."

USA, an NBC-Universal network, has been far more successful in recent years than broadcaster NBC. And in a weird reversal, USA's shows often have more broad appeal than programs on NBC. The strategy works for USA with hits like "Burn Notice" and "Royal Pains" and even the retiring series "Monk," which returns with a new episode tonight at 10.

Coming to the lineup Oct. 23: "White Collar," which stars 2000 Carnegie Mellon University grad Matt Bomer as a con artist who teams with an FBI agent (Tim DeKay, "Carnivale") to track down elusive criminals.

"One of the things that humanizes the character is that he comes from a quixotic place," Bomer said. "He's kind of like a 4-year-old. He doesn't have a lot of impuls e control. He's always testing boundaries."

Executive producer Jeff Eastin acknowledged that odd-couple action comedies are not new.

"When I looked at a lot of stuff, it was how in the world do you pull it off," Eastin said. "They always end up in the same place. At the end, they're buddies. That works great for a movie, but for TV these are guys you want to hang out with. The idea was, let's spend a little time putting them at odds but these two guys really respect one another."

WTAE weekend anchor Janelle Hall and husband Casey welcomed Austin Joseph Ellis Sunday morning. He weighed in at 9 pounds, 2 ounces. ... WTAE assistant news director Roberta Petterson has been hired to take the same position at WEWS in Cleveland. ... Fox will air "Gordon Ramsay: Cookalong Live," a one-hour special airing Dec. 15 featuring Ramsay offering live cooking demonstrations. ... Disney XD has ordered a second season of "Zeke and Luther." ... Although they're sitting on a shelf collecting dust, Fox has no plans to air remaining episodes of "King of the Hill" or "Moment of Truth."

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TV Q&A responds to questions about "The Apprentice," "Meerkat Manor" and a call from Comcast. Read it at post-gazette.com/tv.

In this week's Tuned In podcast, I discuss the new fall TV season with Candy Havens of FYI Television, Mars native Jeff Hidek of the Wilmington (N.C.) StarNews and Scott Pierce of the Salt Lake City Desert News. Listen or subscribe at post-gazette.com/podcast.