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In what I’m sure is the news EVERYBODY will be reporting today, Ellen DeGeneres has announced via her syndicated talk show that she will be Paula Abdul‘s replacement as permanent judge on American Idol this upcoming season.

About a month ago, Paula Abdul announced via her twitter account that she did not reach a deal with Idol producers to come back for the show’s 9th season, a reportedly $5 million a year contract. The show then went to a gimmick of having guest judges fill in for Abdul during the current tapings of the auditions, which include Victoria Beckham, Avril Lavigne, Neil Patrick Harris, Nick Jonas, and Katy Perry among others. FOX had gone on record that they would go out and get a new permanent judge for when the season’s semi-finals and finals actually start, circa March 2010.

DeGeneres said she has known for weeks now that she would potentially be the new judge, but it wasn’t until yesterday she got the final okay to announce it. The Ellen Show episode with the announcement was filmed yesterday and will air today in syndication.

It is not known when she’ll first start appearing on the show, but it could be when the Hollywood round begins and beyond.

The FOX network has announced that the episode titled “Partial Terms of Endearment” from Family Guy‘s upcoming season will not air on the network.

This episode was mentioned during the show’s Comic Con session this past weekend by series creator Seth McFarlane, and as always makes fun of a topical subject, this time, abortion. The network was quoted as saying they’re “scared to fucking death of this“. But they fully support the production and let the creators the freedom of doing it and distributing it as they will.

The episode will most probably be included in that season’s DVD, and be shown in international markets.

What was once to be a Mexican production has turned into an Australian spectacle. The third film in the Chronicles of Narnia series, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” has started production in Queensland, Australia, yesterday.

This production was set to start this year in Baja Studios in Mexico, where notable films like Titanic and Master and Commander were filmed. But when fights between Disney and Walden Media started after the disappointing run of “Prince Caspian“, the production stalled, FOX came in to buy the rights to the film series, and budget cuts ensued. The production had to be moved elsewhere.

Only the two youngest actors from the previous films return in this part of the story, along with Prince Caspian and Reepicheep from the previous film. Principal photography is scheduled to run until November 2009, and after a year of post-production, it will be released for the Holidays in 2010.