If you thought it was absurd for Fox's "American Idol" to pit 16-year-olds like John Stevens against more experienced singers in their 20s, get ready for a real generation gap.

With "AI" tryouts about to get under way next month, beginning in Cleveland on Aug. 4, Fox entertainment president Gail Berman announced that next season's competition will be open to singers as old as 28.

Yes, 28.

Not only will some of them -- hopefully only the men -- have facial hair, but it's possible some contestants will be old enough to hire people like Stevens and Jasmine Trias as baby sitters.

Berman's not concerned about a generation gap, or even about the audience's apparent tendency last spring to shield some of the younger singers from the cold, hard truth of what they sounded like on TV.

"We like the idea of having young people able to participate in the contest," said Berman, who claimed the network never even considered raising the age to 18 and letting some of these kids finish high school in peace.

"We extended the age range in the upper end because we saw in the lines so many people who had such an extraordinary amount of talent that it was a shame that we couldn't also include them in the program," she said.

Which brings us to something that I, at least, didn't know about the 70,000 applicants "American Idol" claimed to have had last season: According to one Fox spokesman, that included all the people who lined up to audition, whether or not they were eligible for the contest.