The Spears announcement overshadowed the others. Despite weeks of rumors, it wasn’t official until she strode onto New York’s Beacon Theater stage wearing a white minidress, accompanied by show creator Simon Cowell and fellow judges Lovato and L.A. Reid.

“I’m so excited about the whole experience,” Spears said. “It’s going to be so much fun and different from anything I’ve ever done. I’m ready to find the true star.”

Lovato said she was “totally stoked” to join the cast.

They replace judges Paula Abdul and Nicole Scherzinger, who were dispatched along with host Steve Jones after last fall’s debut season of the competition didn’t meet the creator’s inflated expectations.

“Not to be negative about the people leaving, but we just felt the mix could be more effective and more entertaining,” said Peter Rice, entertainment chairman for the Fox Networks Group.

Fox’s entertainment president, Kevin Reilly, also promised work on “American Idol” next season but didn’t specify anything.

“This year was a bigger drop-off than we anticipated,” Reilly said.

He said “Idol” made no changes from the previous year and there was little “urgency to view” at the beginning of the season. He said there was still a lot of life left in the franchise.

“Glee,” once a sensation, saw its viewership drop by 21 percent this season. It will move to Thursday nights and a comfortable 9 p.m. Eastern time slot following “The X Factor” in the fall. Reilly said the show is “poised for a creative renaissance” and has Hudson and Parker lined up for multi-episode guest slots.

Part of the reason Fox moved “Glee” is to make Tuesday a four-sitcom night, with two new shows joining “New Girl” and “Raising Hope.” Mindy Kaling, actress, producer and writer for “The Office,” creates and stars in “The Mindy Project,” a romantic comedy about a doctor looking for love. The other new comedy, “Ben and Kate,” is about a pair of odd couple siblings.

“We’ve been building comedy momentum on Tuesday, and we finally have the shows that have exactly the tone that we are looking for,” Reilly said.

The fall’s only new drama is “The Mob Doctor,” on Monday night, about a young doctor who has to pay off her family’s lifelong debt to the Chicago mob.

Reilly said Bacon’s hiring for the midseason drama “The Following” was the casting coup of the year. Bacon plays a former FBI agent asked to come back to work to chase a serial killer he had caught once before. The killer escaped from prison and has resumed a series of grisly murders.

Another comedy focused on a family, “The Goodwin Games,” is due at midseason and stars actor Scott Foley, of “Felicity” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Fox’s long-running drama “House” is ending its run this spring, and the network is cancelling high-profile dramas “Terra Nova” and “Alcatraz.”

Fox also has made changes to its long-running Saturday night lineup, where “COPS” won’t return until midseason. In the fall, Fox will present live sports events such as college football, Major League baseball and NASCAR races that night.

“It is heavy on comedy,” said Robert Greenblatt, NBC entertainment president. “It was a conscious decision we made … at the beginning of the development season. The audience is really open to comedy right now.”

NBC is finding a new generation of fans discovering Perry’s Chandler character through “Friends” reruns, and that contributed to “Go On” having broad appeal in audience testing, Greenblatt said. NBC gave the comedy one of its few plum time slots, after the second night of “The Voice” on Tuesdays.

In an annual ritual, all the broadcast networks present their fall schedules to advertisers this week and ask them to commit to millions of dollars in commercial time.

Fourth place NBC is in a prolonged slump. Its prime-time viewership was up slightly this year, but only because NBC telecast the Super Bowl. Take that game out and viewership was down 3 percent, according to the Nielsen company. Sunday night football in the fall is the network’s most popular programming.

Among the shows canceled by NBC are “Harry’s Law,” ”Awake,” ”Are You There, Chelsea?” and “Bent.”

One show on the bubble was Brian Williams’ newsmagazine, “Rock Center,” but it is on the fall schedule for Thursday nights at 10 p.m. Greenblatt conceded the show’s ratings are not what NBC hoped for, but said such shows frequently take time to catch on.

“Smash” was renewed, although the series about putting on a Broadway production will not be back until midseason. “The Voice” currently airs two nights a week toward the end of the singing competition; starting in fall it will air two nights throughout each run.

Two of the current Thursday comedies, “30 Rock” and “Community,” have orders of only 13 episodes next season, often a sign that executives are hedging their bets. “The Office” and “Parks & Recreation” have full-season orders. Despite reports that some of those shows have been told it will be their last season, Greenblatt said that wasn’t true and they could have longer lives if ratings improve.

“The audience gets a vote,” said Ted Harbert, who oversees NBC for corporate parent Comcast Corp.

NBC’s challenge is getting audiences to sample some of the four new comedies and two new dramas it will introduce this fall, when they are out of the habit of watching NBC. Three new comedies, three new dramas and four new alternative series were ordered and will join the lineup sometime in midseason.

Betty White’s “Off Their Rockers” candid camera show will also return midseason.

Between the Olympics and “America’s Got Talent,” NBC has more original programming on during the summer than its rivals, and Greenblatt said that the network hopes viewers are enticed by promotions for the new shows.

Besides “Go On,” the new NBC shows on in the fall are:

—”The New Normal,” about a gay couple that invites a surrogate mother into their home as they try to have a baby. Ellen Barkin is featured as the prospective mom’s grandmother.

—”Animal Practice,” a comedy about a veterinarian who learns his ex-lover is taking over his business.

—”Guys With Kids,” a comedy executive produced by Jimmy Fallon. The show is what it sounds like: three guys in their 30s trying to hold onto their youth despite being new fathers. Jamie Lynn Sigler of “The Sopranos” and Tempestt Bledsoe of “The Cosby Show,” are featured.

—”Revolution,” a J.J. Abrams action series where the world is plunged back into a time when electricity doesn’t work.

—”Chicago Fire,” a drama about a fire rescue unit from “Law & Order” executive producer Dick Wolf.

Midseason shows include a comedy about a president and first lady played by Bill Pullman and Jenna Elfman, a comedy with Dane Cook as a foulmouthed DJ forced to share his microphone with a feminist and a drama about Hannibal Lecter.

“The real travesty is ‘One Life to Live’ not getting nominated in the best show or writing category,” Hinsey said. “It was by far the best soap in 2011.”

Veteran game show hosts Alex Trebek of “Jeopardy!” and Pat Sajak of “Wheel of Fortune” won lifetime achievement awards at last year’s Daytime Emmys but got little love in 2012. Neither was nominated for best game show host. Multiple winner Ben Bailey of “Cash Cab,” Wayne Brady of “Let’s Make a Deal,” Meredith Vieira of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and Todd Newton of “Family Game Night” on The Hub were nominated.

“Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” were nominated as best game show.

Regis Philbin, who quit “Live with Regis and Kelly” last year, has one last chance to win best talk show host with partner Kelly Ripa. Philbin has won the award only once, sharing it with Rosie O’Donnell. First-time host Anderson Cooper, last year’s winner Dr. Mehmet Oz, Rachael Ray and the six co-hosts of “The Doctors” were also nominated in this category.

Cooper’s “Anderson” has had middling ratings in its debut year, but was nominated for best informative talk show along with “The Doctors” and “The Doctor Oz Show.”

“The Ellen DeGeneres Show” has a chance to repeat as best entertainment talk show, with the competition including “Live with Regis and Kelly,” ”The View” and “The Talk.”

Veteran producer Bill Geddie, executive producer of “The View,” will get a Daytime Emmy lifetime achievement award.

“Sesame Street” and “The Young and the Restless” tied for second most nominations, with 16 apiece. ABC was the most honored network with 56 nominations. The ceremony will be held in Beverly Hills, Calif., on June 23. It’s still not clear who will televise the event.

Nominees for lead actress in a soap are Crystal Chappell of “Days of Our Lives,” Debbie Morgan of “All My Children,” Erika Slezak of “One Life to Live,” Heather Tom of “The Bold and the Beautiful” and Laura Wright of “General Hospital.”

Nominees for top soap actor are Maurice Benard and Anthony Geary of “General Hospital,” John McCook of “The Bold and the Beautiful,” Darnell Williams of “All My Children,” and Robert S. Woods of “One Life to Live.”

It’s intriguing to hear King’s first take on the songs that became known through others, like “Pleasant Valley Sunday” (the Monkees), “Crying in the Rain” (Everly Brothers), “Take Good Care of My Baby” (Bobby Vee) and “You’ve Got a Friend” (James Taylor). The wiser artists didn’t fiddle much with her arrangements.

That’s only a sampling, because King’s pre-”Tapestry” hits also included “Up on the Roof” (Drifters), “Loco-Motion” (Little Eva), “Will You Love Me Tomorrow (Shirelles), “One Fine Day” (Chiffons) and “Chains” (Cookies, later covered by the Beatles).

She hasn’t released an album of new compositions since 2001, and on her website’s exhaustive list of songs she has written, the most recent are two from 2004.

“At this point I can look back at my life and career as a songwriter and say I’ve done everything I really wanted to do,” King said.

She’s not naive. She knows popular culture has long since moved elsewhere. As a teenage music prodigy she knew what young people were thinking about and wanted to hear in music, and she’s not there anymore.

“I suppose if I had a reason to, if someone said I want you to write a song for this movie, I could sit down and do that,” she said. “But to just write songs and to throw them out into the marketplace, I don’t think this is my time to do that.”

The decision to shut it down or keep creating is one that many members of an older musical generation face. Billy Joel announced in the early 1990s that he was through writing pop songs, and has stuck to that. But Bob Dylan has kept writing and releasing new music. Both surviving members of the Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, keep turning out new projects. The Beach Boys have an unlikely reunion with a new album as well.

Neil Sedaka, who grew up in the same New York City song publishing houses as King, was wistful when told her old friend was no longer writing.

“When you’ve written so many great ones like Carole King it’s difficult to top yourself,” the veteran singer said. “You have to keep reinventing, and she’s certainly one of the great pop writers of the last 50 years. It becomes a great challenge. People really want to hear her in concert doing those wonderful songs that they know.”

Those chances may be limited, too. King did a fair amount of touring during the past decade, but it took its toll. “I’m 70,” she said. “It would be lovely to retire.”

“The Legendary Demos,” a title that embarrasses her, was a project of her daughter and manager, Sherry Kondor.

“I supported it. But I had very little hand in it. I didn’t pick the songs. I saw the cover and said, ‘Yeah, that’s a nice picture,” King said.

But it doesn’t engage her nearly as much as the memoir. Learning it had made The New York Times best-sellers list excited King as much as learning that one of her songs was climbing the Billboard charts back in the day.

With her writing frequently interrupted by concert tours and activism (including work for environmental causes and Democratic politicians), the book took King 12 years to write. She was determined to do it herself without a ghost- or co-writer.

The strongest part of the book is also the most shocking. She talks of being physically and verbally abused by her third husband in the 1970s, the man who led her to the Idaho backcountry that she adores and still lives in. Even King found it hard to believe that despite fame, success and plenty of friends, she wouldn’t end the relationship the first time she was hit — and even several times thereafter. She finally did leave, and he died of a drug overdose shortly after that, according to her book.

“It was very difficult, too complicated to talk about in a small sound bite,” she said. “My editor said to just write about it, you don’t have to include it. But I decided to include it because I want other women in abusive relationships to know that it’s not their fault and that it can happen to anyone.”

With her first book is fresh on the market, she’s already thinking about the possibility of another one.

“Now that I’m 70, I have bits of wisdom I can offer to a younger generation,” she said. “It’s not ‘This is the way it has to be,’ but ‘This is my experience, I hope this helps you.’”

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Online:

http://www.caroleking.com/legendary_demos/