Randy Jackson And New 'American Idol' Judges Get To Work This Weekend

For the newly official "American Idol" judges panel, it was largely away from the bargaining table and into the fire yesterday.

It hadn't been much more than hours earlier that Australian country hit-maker Keith Urban and charismatic rapper Nicki Minaj were officially announced as joining the show, TMZ reports, than the two were put to work auditioning season-twelve hopefuls in New York City Sunday, joined by host Ryan Seacrest.

NBC officially announced the new judges signings following some extensive, ever-shifting negotiations. Minaj in particular was tricky; FOX executives and "Idol" producers had to work around the show's Coca-Cola sponsorship and Minaj's own Pepsi-endorsement deal. At one point, fellow brand-new judge Mariah Carey was rumored to bristle at news producers wanted Minaj, though Carey has since denied such reports.

Randy Jackson, the only judge who's remained on "Idol" throughout all 11 previous seasons, had been set for an off-camera contestant mentorship role. When an undisclosed something fell through with judge candidate Enrique Iglesias last week, producers quickly brokered a deal to get Jackson back behind the table. Urban himself had reportedly also been reluctant to sign, though he'd been rumored for several weeks to be a virtual lock.

Jackson and Seacrest are now the only two original on-camera personalities remaining from the first "Idol" season of 2000. The new panelists replace Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler, who announced their respective departures within a week of one another this past summer.

This year's group marks the first four-person panel since 2010, when Jackson, Simon Cowell, Ellen DeGeneres and Kara DioGuardi sat at FOX's table.

"Idol" finds itself in somewhat of an underdog position. The longtime hit is coming off a season of declining viewership and ad revenue, and the first since the series' debut in which it hasn't received a Prime Time Emmy nomination for Best Competition Reality Series. It's squaring off this 2012-2013 network season against network rival "The X Factor" with its own retooled format led by new judges Britney Spears and Demi Lovato, and NBC's "The Voice" beginning its third season about four months after wrapping its second.

The 12th season debuts in January 2013, the first season in which it will be paired with FOX's musical-comedy hit "Glee."