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Jackson foresees deep, balanced ‘Idol’

News flash: For the fourth year in a row, the talent level among “American Idol” hopefuls is miles above that of the previous season.

So says “Idol” judge Randy Jackson, echoing comments made by colleague Paula Abdul. Jackson will re-open his Dawg Pound when the show returns to Fox on Jan. 17.

“We say it every single season, but this year I think its really, 100,000 percent true – the talent is far better than any other season,” says Jackson, a music producer and former A&R man at a couple of major labels.

“There are some great boys, some great girls,” he says. “I think it’s gonna come down to the wire at the end.”

The balance is also reflected in the types of singers he and fellow judges Simon Cowell and Abdul saw at the auditions. Jackson thinks the success of last season’s two finalists, country girl Carrie Underwood and rock guy Bo Bice, broadened the pool of auditioners somewhat. He also gives props to CBS’ “Idol”-esque summer series “Rock Star,” which found a new singer for INXS.

“I think “Rock Star’ was good … just to show that there’s everything in America,” Jackson says. “And the kid who won it (J.D. Fortune) actually can really sing. I’m happy, just being a musician and producer, that whoever wins is really talented. But I loved having Bo – me being from the South and being a Southern rocker kid, I love that, and we got more of that this year.”

Once the public starts voting, beginning with the semifinal rounds in mid-February, Jackson believes something he calls “the Vonzell factor”-as in last year’s third-place finisher, Vonzell Solomon – will kick in.

“From when she auditioned to the end of the season, (Vonzell) grew by leaps and bounds,” he says. “I think whoever wins this year will definitely have the Vonzell factor. I don’t think there’s a clear favorite going into it – it’s gonna be someone who wows us week after week and just gets better throughout the competition.”

Of course, before we get to the good, there will be a healthy dose of the bad. The audition shows, which run for three-plus weeks at the start of the season, will once again showcase some truly horrendous vocalizing by people who don’t seem to realize how off-key they are. Which means once again, Jackson is asked whether “Idol” is cruel to shine a spotlight on those folks.

“We’re just showing a cross-section of what’s out there, because we can’t believe it as much as you can’t believe it,” he says. “And especially now – four seasons running, you’ve seen amazing people win this show. How do these people even dare show up? We’re just all in awe. That’s what it really is – we can’t believe it. You can’t believe it, and we can’t believe it.”

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“COLD CASE’ EPISODE BORN TO RUN WITH SPRINGSTEEN

For an episode about a murder case from the 1980s, the producers of “Cold Case” could have chosen the usual New Wave mish-mash as its musical backdrop. Instead, they took a trip down E Street.

The episode, titled “8 Years” and scheduled to air Jan. 8, will have a soundtrack by Bruce Springsteen. Nine of Springsteen’s songs, from four of his 1980s albums – “The River,” “Nebraska,” “Born in the USA” and “Tunnel of Love” – will be featured in the hour.

“Because there are such vivid stories and characters in Bruce Springsteen’s music, we decided to let the lyrics do a lot of the storytelling for us, instead of depending on dialogue,” says “Cold Case” creator Meredith Stiehm, who wrote the episode. “So in this case I chose the songs first and then designed the story around them.”

The episode sounds a bit like a condensed version of Fox’s now-canceled “Reunion”: In 1980, four friends graduate from high school and set out to pursue their dreams. Things don’t quite go as planned, however, and one of the four is murdered in 1988. Detective Lilly Rush (Kathryn Morris) picks up the unsolved case in the present day, unraveling what went wrong in the lives of the four friends on her way to solving the murder.

Among the Springsteen songs featured in the episode are “No Surrender,” “Bobby Jean,” “Glory Days” and “Atlantic City.”

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“O.C.’ STAYS UP LATER IN JANUARY

Fox has juggled its Thursday-night schedule for January, moving “The O.C.” back an hour and bringing “That “70s Show” over to the night earlier than originally planned.

The moves also mean that “Reunion,” which wasn’t going to be able to wrap up its plot anyway, is done for good after nine episodes.

Starting Jan. 12, “The O.C.” will move to 9 p.m. EST Thursdays, with an hour’s worth of “That “70s Show” preceding it (original episodes at 8 p.m. and repeats at 8:30). That’s a change from the network’s previously announced midseason plan, which kept “The O.C.” at 8 and moved “That “70s Show” and its current Wednesday companion, “Stacked,” to the 9 p.m. hour starting in March.

The moves will keep “The O.C.” from having to compete with “Dancing with the Stars” for an entire hour (the ABC show will run from 8 to 9:30 Thursdays), but it also moves the show into the path of CBS’ powerhouse “CSI” and NBC’s “My Name Is Earl” and “The Office,” which also move to Thursdays next month.

Help will arrive, at least for a few weeks, in February, when the semifinal-round results shows for “American Idol” take over the 8 p.m. Thursday time period. “Idol” provided a boost for “The O.C.” during the latter’s first season, and it’s likely to do the same this time.

“The O.C.” will return from the holidays with an episode that pays homage to the “Donna Martin graduates” episode of “Beverly Hills, 90210,” as Seth, Summer and Ryan (Adam Brody, Summer Bilson, Ben McKenzie) launch a campaign to allow Marissa (Mischa Barton) to re-enroll at the Harbor School.

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