If television tattles know their stuff, Jennifer Lopez will be at least one of the new faces joining American Idol old-timer Randy Jackson at the judges’ table when TV’s most-watched talent show returns for its 10th season in January.

However, producers aren’t exactly doing cartwheels after landing J.Lo as an A.I. pundit. In fact, insiders close to the negotiations say Lopez was the FOX series’ last resort. Burn! We hear that once producers realized it would be next to impossible to convince an artist who’s still selling millions of concert tickets and CDs to join the show, they settled for celebs whose careers are headed for the D-list.

Here’s what PopEater Gossip Guy Rob Shuter had to say:

“’J.Lo was definitely not the first choice,’ an ‘Idol’ insider tells me. ‘In fact, she wasn’t even the second or third choice.’ My source tells me that before they approached Lopez, producers first asked Elton John and Barry Manilow to join the hit — but starting to struggle — show.”

Another mole chimes in: “Jessica Simpson and Jennifer Lopez’s careers are in a slump. They are still big names, but haven’t sold out solo shows or had hit CDs in a long time. I think we can all agree that both ladies’ movie careers are dead and the offers are not pouring in.”

Convinced that Idol could be the ticket back to the days of “Jenny from the Block” and On the 6, Jennifer inked a contract with Idol and jumped at the opportunity to serve as a judge on the series.

Reportedly out of contract discussions is ditzy blonde Jessica Simpson. Talks with the Dukes of Hazzard hottie reportedly fell through after her notoriously overbearing father Joe kept interfering with the discussions: “This was definitely Jessica’s to lose and that’s exactly what her dad-manager did. Once it became clear it was going to be impossible to negotiate a deal with papa Joe, J.Lo was snapped up. Convinced being on the show would relaunch her performing career, she accepted the new job right away.”