Abdul Joining So You Think You Can Dance?

Yesterday Paula Abdul announced via Twitter that she would not be returning to American Idol next season. Word is, she’s on her way to Vegas to talk about possibly joining So You Think You Can Dance.

E! Online’s Kristin Dos Santos posted in her blog that Abdul is set to meet with So You Think You Can Dance judge and producer Nigel Lythgoe about joining the show. Dos Santos doesn’t specify whether it would be a permanent spot at the judges table, a guest-judge gig or a spot as one of the choreographers. At present, the judges table on So You Think You Can Dance consists of Lythgoe, along with Mary Murphy. Each week, one of the choreographers serves as a guest-judge. As Abdul has a long career history as a dancer and choreographer, I think she might actually fit in better on SYTYCD than she ever did on Idol. If they were to bring Paula on full time as a judge, that would mean changing the judging format a little, either by eliminating the guest-judge or else cluttering up the table with four judges each week as they did with Idol last season.

Interestingly enough, Dos Santos went on to say that Nigel Lythgoe isn’t entirely convinced we won’t be seeing Abdul returning to American Idol come next season. Whether he knows something we don’t (he was once a producer on Idol) or it’s just a hunch, who knows?