Fox: Abdul talks closed; Posh, Perry guest judges

Pasadena, Calif. — Fox nearly slammed the door on Paula Abdul’s return to “American Idol” — but not quite.

“We made an offer we feel is very fair to Paula” that included a substantial raise, Fox Entertainment Chairman Peter Rice told the Television Critics Association on Thursday.

But Abdul decided against returning for the singing contest’s ninth season, he said.

Female pop stars will serve as guest judges for the seven-week audition process set to begin Friday in Denver, with Victoria Beckham and Katy Perry the first to be announced by Fox.

Asked after the session what the network would do if Abdul sought to reopen negotiations, Rice replied: “I have no expectation that Paula’s going to do that. And in terms of the negotiations themselves, the negotiations have concluded.”

Aerosmith postpones concert after Tyler’s fall

Sturgis, S.D. — Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler suffered head, neck and shoulder injuries in a tumble from the stage at a South Dakota show, a concert spokesman said Thursday, and the audience thought it was part of his hip-shaking act until he didn’t get up.

Tyler, 61, fell several feet while entertaining the crowd by dancing around as the sound crew replaced a fuse that blew during the song “Love in an Elevator,” said Mike Sanborn, spokesman for the Buffalo Chip Campground, which hosted the Wednesday night concert. An amateur video showed him spinning around before falling off the stage.

A concertgoer said Tyler’s head was bleeding and he was holding his shoulder after the fall, but it wasn’t immediately clear how seriously he was hurt. The frontman was airlifted to Rapid City Regional Hospital, Sanborn said, the only major hospital in western South Dakota. A hospital spokeswoman would not confirm whether Tyler was there, and a representative for Aerosmith’s publicity firm said the company was gathering information about the accident.

The band’s next concert, scheduled for today in Winnipeg, Manitoba, was postponed.

Jeanine is viewers’ pick on dance competition

New York — Viewers said Jeanine Mason can dance best as they crowned her the winner of Fox network’s “So You Think You Can Dance.”

Jeanine beat out Evan, Kayla and Brandon on the dance competition’s fifth-season finale, which aired live with the results Thursday. More than 21 million votes from viewers had been submitted following the broadcast the night before.

Mason, an 18-year-old native of Pinecrest, Fla., wins $250,000 and the title of “America’s Favorite Dancer.”

Vampire tourism still strong in Washington

Forks, Wash. — The “Twilight” tourism bonanza shows no signs of abating in Forks, an old logging town on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula that’s won new fame as the setting for a teen vampire fantasy.

Marcia Bingham of the Forks Chamber of Commerce says more than 16,000 people passed through the town’s visitor center in July alone, doubling June’s number, and in one month nearly equaling 2008’s total of 18,485 people.

She notes that in the “old days” the Visitor Center focused mainly on teaching people about logging and coordinating tours of local natural resources. These days it’s all about vampires and werewolves. Logging tours have been cut back from three a week to one.

And the numerous visitors come armed with questions. Among them: Is it safe to go camping with the vampire problems in the area?