Simon Cowell to Quit as American Idol's Prince of Darkness

Simon Cowell, often mean, but rarely wrong, is calling it quits from Fox's American Idol after this season, he told the Television Critics Association on Monday. Cowell says he plans to focus on developing a U.S. version of the U.K. program The X Factor, in which he has an ownership interest. Logistically, Cowell could not do both programs, according to OK, a British celebrity magazine.