American Idol

Kara DioGuardi is being welcomed to American Idol with open arms by a man known for his prickly demeanor.

Indeed, Simon Cowell sounded truly excited to have the songwriter aboard as a judge. He appeared alongside Kara - and Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson - in a public show of solidarity Tuesday afternoon as the quartet entered a Chelsea Piers building in Manhattan's for a round of season eight auditions.

Kara DioGuardi has passed the Simon Cowell test.

"It's like, you know, having dinner with three people for seven years, and getting quite bored of each other," Cowell told reporters at the scene. "So it's having a fourth person, new opinion, I think it's gonna be interesting."

He added:

"Kara has a good reputation of A, having hits; and B, having an opinion. And that's a good combination... and she's cute."