LONDON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Simon Cowell, "American Idol's" acerbic British judge, says the show's upcoming season will be "much, much better than its last."
"We're completely and utterly reliant on who walks in the door in terms of the quality of the contestants," Cowell said in a conference call with reporters Wednesday. "Most of our focus this year was to make sure we got a better top 12 and a more interesting top 12 than what we got last year, and I am pretty certain that we've got that this year."