Will Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez enjoy the same rapport as Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul? (
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It started as a summer replacement show that became the biggest thing on TV. It was a fresh, it was spontaneous, and it was a totally different take on the world’s second oldest idea – amateur singing contests.

It was “American Idol,” America’s, and the universe’s favorite show.

But then, like all good ideas that catch on, the corporations wanted in – and everything in sight got branded. The format was compromised, homogenized and sterilized.

The rag tag bohemian singers who had the great good fortune of making it to the finals – usually charming, talented oddballs who’d previously sung for their suppers in coffeehouses — were made to dress-up like Liza Minnelli and perform in terrifying, group numbers that always involved walking down those horrible Vegas stairs.

Every song on the show seemed to be a 40-year old rock anthem to drugs, sex and rock and roll that had been dumbed-down into a cheesy “Kumbaya” sing-along.

The only finalist who actually thrived amid the Broadway schmaltz and sequins was Adam Lambert.

Did all the musical geniuses behind “Idol” stop listening to music in 1979? Watching it was like being trapped at a Club Med show during a blackout.

Yes, the phenomenon that had spawned Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, and Chris Daughtry had started to go bad, and if ratings and record sales of many of the winners are any indication, there hasn’t been an Idol really worth adoring since Daughtry got the boot in Season Five.

Worse, there hasn’t even been an episode worth getting excited about since Paula took a powder after Season 8.

In fact, last season was positively painful to watch. Kara DioGuardi hogged the camera and Ellen DeGeneres looked like a lost soul, while Simon Cowell sat back, smugly delighting in the carnage. And Randy Jackson? He just seemed oblivious to the pitchy sound of a train wreck going on around him, dawg.

The question on everyone’s mind as “American Idol” creeps up to its 10th season premiere is whether or not the series is in danger of becoming as obsolete as a Taylor Hicks’ album. How much of the show really hinged on Simon Cowell? When Paula left and there was no longer the crazy dysfunctional brother-and-sister act that was Simon and Paula, ratings slid. Without Simon altogether? Scary.

Can this pair of new judges, Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez, bring some of that magic back or will they be clearly faking it — pretending they are at odds with each other, which will ultimately be as transparent as a Lopez dress? Can new blood breathe new life into a show that’s lost two of the biggest reasons it was a big hit in the first place?

While it all remains to be seen (and heard), fans of Aerosmith, Tyler’s band-mate Joe Perry, and one former handler, all agree that the mega rock star should not stoop so low as to do TV. Others, of course, are astounded that a rocker would reach so high as to assume that a guy like him can be a TV star like that.

But can he be a mega TV star — something, I’m told, that has always been his dream? Maybe. But because unlike, say, Mick Jagger who wears his craggy face like a banner celebrating his decadent rocker’s life, Tyler, with his plastic-surgery-looking face and feathered Farrah ’do, looks more like an anorexic lady who lunches — at the mall — than a decadent rock star.

And those promotional photos and ads for the show? Wow. Seriously, Tyler’s got to stop mugging like he’s in a Gap ad. Rock gods do not not mug like desperate morons. He looks as comfortable making funny faces as Al Gore would dancing in leather pants.

Then there’s J-Lo, the woman who has changed her name as often as her shoes. She’s gorgeous, she’s charismatic, she’s got big, new lips, and she’s clever — when it comes to herself. Quirky and funny? Not that I’ve ever noticed. Will she be more concerned about looking like Jenny from the block than in being honest — and nasty — when necessary?

Both new judges need to remember too, that that this show isn’t about them or even about music — it’s about the intensity of the soap opera. (Got a drunken, convict parent? A disabled sibling? Are you an unwed teenage mother? Did you barely survive a horrific accident? Has someone died in your family while you were auditioning? You’re in!)

Aside from the new judges this season, the producers have a bunch of other new stuff in the works including an updated set (hopefully they detonated that Vegas staircase), theme week makeovers, and finalists living in an “Idol” house.

So far, all the changes that the producers have made, including changing the producer before Season 8, have been disastrous. Creator Nigel Lythgoe (who is blessedly back this season) should have tattooed “Don’t fix what ain’t broke” on replacement Ken Warwick’s forehead before he turned the show over to him.

Even though Lythgoe told Ryan Seacrest in an interview, “I hope they don’t tweak it too much because it’s a very simple format and that’s the beauty of it,” the first thing Warwick did was tweak it until it broke. He added a fourth judge, which was as necessary as legs on a fish, and then turned the show into dinner theater, which ruined the very simplicity Lythgoe was talking about.

Let’s hope that for Season 10, the, er, “fix” is in, and that the show — and J. Lo’s lips — are back to normal.

AMERICAN IDOL

Wednesday & Thursday, 8 p.m., Fox