Ellen DeGeneres has just announced that she’ll be leaving her judge position on American Idol, citing discomfort with the show’s harsh criticism aspect. With Simon Cowell’s departure and no replacement yet named, could Randy and Kara be far behind, and with them either a drastic reworking of the show or shuttering it entirely?

We can only hope.

A novelty in its first couple of years, the Idol formula has become stale and predictable, and each successive crop of star wannabes less and less interesting. The competition’s runners-up have often been the more talented and successful in their post-show careers, which begs the question of whether the show’s formula for selecting and voting for contestants is really dovetailing with what the public really wants from its stars. Intense voting campaigns from organized church groups and others who seem to be the most impressed by the blandest, least challenging contestants have been pushing those performers far beyond what their actual marketability is once the phone lines go dead, and that skewing of audience input is slowly chipping away at the show’s ability to be culturally relevant.

In the show’s history, it’s certainly produced some fine artists, as rather generic pop singers go. Early favorites Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood have gained considerable professional respect, and a few of the show’s subsequent contestants, notably Clay Aiken and Adam Lambert, have also continued to grow beyond their prefab talent show roots.

But as each new crop of hopefuls has arrived, a numbing sameness is coming up, making the show seem almost as if it’s entirely scripted, rather than a true culling of the nation’s best young talent. Every season, we get the rockers, the country singers, the folks with gospel backgrounds, the pop tarts and the wispy teen idols of ambiguous sexuality–all equally bland and interchangeable with their counterparts from previous seasons. It’s as if the show isn’t conducting group auditions but sending out casting calls for stock characters.

Not, of course, that the country will ever truly tire of generating an ongoing stream of bland young things who can sort of carry a tune, but the public’s fascination with the process of creating these stars, with all their short shelf life and lack of true sustainable musical gifts, is rapidly waning. Last season’s ratings were among the lowest in the show’s history.

TV audiences are undoubtedly still interested in reality competition shows, including those on the showbiz angle, but it may be time to pack this one in, and instead develop something else that might have broader appeal and thus discover real talent that won’t be yesterday’s news in two years.