Though there is some possibility that it’s all falsified, new, inside information regarding American Idol has suddenly surfaced. What is allegedly an interoffice memo from inside the walls of FOX has given clues about what fans can potentially expect from Season 8.

The following information might be spoilers…or simply rumors used to guarantee that the show gets a solid first week.

Instead of the usual 24 semifinal Hollywood Week contestants, this season will feature 36. The “wild card” round, left behind in previous seasons, could also make a triumphant return to the show. This round allows a previously-eliminated contestant to return and become part of the Top 12 - sort of a “get out of jail free” card.

Other rumored changes could make a dramatic difference in the show we’ve all come to obsess over. The purported memo further states that the poorer vocalists won’t be so heavily featured (thus killing the main entertainment value of the show’s first few weeks). It also suggests that Idol Gives Back, the mid-season charity extravaganza, will not air at all. Last year’s Gives Back was down in ratings from the year before.

Most surprising of all, the memo says that no Thursday episodes will air - at all. Oddly, however, Idol will still air for the same amount of hours as in previous years.

Are any of these rumors true? Are all of them true? Every year, despite the show’s success, American Idol makes changes in an ongoing effort to rake in more money and remain popular among the public. The formula has been tweaked before and it will be tweaked again before all is said and done…but will it be changed in the ways suggested above?

The show will begin to air on January 13…and we’ll just have to wait until then.

(You can find all the American Idol 8 posts here.)