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American Idol is back!

T

torre_avenue

Banned
This time on ABC.
ABC has a deal in place with FremantleMedia to revive ”American Idol."

The broadcast network and the production company have settled on a framework for an agreement to bring back the long-running singing-competition series. According to sources, the Alphabet is eyeing a March premiere for the show, which would potentially air on Sunday nights, where ABC has struggled in recent seasons against NBC's ”Sunday Night Football" and programming on Fox and CBS that benefits from a strong NFL lead-in. The Alphabet is the only broadcaster of the Big Four that does not have an NFL package.

ABC, which has yet to close the deal, had passed on ”Idol" after hearing a pitch for it earlier this year. At that time, as Variety reported exclusively, NBC had emerged as the lead network to pick up a revival being shopped by FremantleMedia, which has insisted on a minimum 25-hour order from any broadcast partner.

But the Peacock backed away from a deal, concerned that ”Idol" could negatively impact singing competition series ”The Voice," and turned off by a high asking price from the producer. The ABC deal would preclude the involvement of original judge Simon Cowell, who was rumored to be a possibility to rejoin the show at NBC, where he produces ”America's Got Talent" and has an exclusive agreement.

One potential name that has been floated to join the revived series is that of Kelly Clarkson, the singer who won the first season of ”Idol" and went on to achieve pop-star status with hits such as ”Since U Been Gone."

ABC, which works with FremantleMedia on ”Celebrity Family Feud" and ”Match Game," took another look at ”Idol" last month while mapping out contingency plans for a possible strike by the Writers Guild of America. Broadcast and cable networks in the weeks leading up to the strike devoted a significant amount of time and energy to exploring what unscripted programming could be greenlit or expanded in the event of a strike.To land the show, ABC had to outbid Fox, which moved aggressively in recent weeks to bring the series back to its air. ”Idol" ran on Fox for 15 seasons beginning in 2002. For eight consecutive seasons, beginning in 2003-04, it was the highest-rated show on television. At its peak in 2006, ”American Idol" averaged a 12.4 rating among in the 18-49 demographic and 36.4 million total viewers, according to Nielsen live-plus-same day numbers.

Ratings began to decline steeply in the show's later years, to the point that Fox decided that it no longer represented a worthwhile financial or scheduling commitment. (The series aired two nights a week, typically beginning in midseason.) The final season in 2016 averaged a 2.2 and 9.1 million viewers. Those numbers were far diminished from what the show drew in its heyday, but they remain respectable by contemporary standards, with delayed viewing and increased competition applying downward pressure on live ratings across television.

ABC is expected to announce the return of ”Idol" next week at its upfront presentation in New York.
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C

canoli2006

Member
Utogwyy.jpg
 
J

JCX

Member
I'm excited! Hopefully they find a balanced panel. Focus more on the contestants.

Watching on ABC is gonna be really weird though lol.
 
J

Jonnax

Member
All I want is a show of bad singers with loads of confidence auditioning to shocked looking judges.

The actual studio parts of the show were boring in comparison.
 
T

torre_avenue

Banned
Keyser Soze said:
What does spending a large amount of money of a live production mean for others shows on the network...


....namely SHIELD.
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Well, this is a midseason show, so it'll be aired during that deadzone of April to September where nothing else is on. It's a reality show too, so it's comparatively cheaper to any sort of scripted programming. It's not going to be as expensive as you think.
 
M

Mushroomer25

Member
It'd be interesting if they use this as an opportunity to soft-reboot the format a bit. Shorten up the season, maybe see if they can make live voting and elimination work in practice. I think if you can condense this down into a regular Sunday block of programming, there's potential for strong event television.

Or more likely, this dies in less than a season.
 
K

kirblar

Member
torre_avenue said:
Well, this is a midseason show, so it'll be aired during that deadzone of April to September where nothing else is on. It's a reality show too, so it's comparatively cheaper to any sort of scripted programming. It's not going to be as expensive as you think.
Click to expand...
ABC also had a lot of shows fail last season, it's the reason a lot of insiders think SHIELD is getting a 5th season- there's just only so many new shows you can launch at once.
 
Grizzlyjin

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
What is even the point of these singing competitions? I watch the first couple episodes of The Voice, during the Blind Auditions, but after that I drop it. When was the last time someone actually broke out from one of these shows? It's gotta be awhile back for American Idol, and maybe never (??) for The Voice. The premise just isn't fulfilled anymore

That being said, why not? This will probably do better than whatever other midseason show they had. And won't suddenly collapse like a revival.
 
T

torre_avenue

Banned
kirblar said:
ABC also had a lot of shows fail last season, it's the reason a lot of insiders think SHIELD is getting a 5th season- there's just only so many new shows you can launch at once.
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Truth.

And considering the abject desperation of all these networks to find anything that'll stick or get them good ratings, any show that has a devoted fanbase and the backing of the parent company like SHIELD will stick around for a bit.
 
M

MIMIC

Banned
Heh. I just read rumors of a deal being struck just a few hours ago (day-old story), took a nap, and BAM. Idol is back.

One thing I don't get:

To land the show, ABC had to outbid Fox, which moved aggressively in recent weeks to bring the series back to its air.
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Like.....WHY? FOX just cancelled the show because it had low ratings. And now they want it back? It hasn't even been gone long enough to generate "reboot" interest, IMO.

But...ya know, I'll watch because it's Idol.
 
W

Wafflecakes

Member
I am fucking hyped for it. Loved Idol even if I mostly skipped the later seasons, but that was mostly because my fav contestants kept getting eliminated early :(

MIMIC said:
Like.....WHY? FOX just cancelled the show because it had low ratings. And now they want it back? It hasn't even been gone long enough to generate "reboot" interest, IMO.
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Meh, its bad ratings were still great for 90% of shows.

I imagine canceling it eliminated a huge chunk of the cost in salaries alone for entrenched talent.
 
T

torre_avenue

Banned
MIMIC said:
Like.....WHY? FOX just cancelled the show because it had low ratings. And now they want it back? It hasn't even been gone long enough to generate "reboot" interest, IMO.
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Fox is desperate?

I'm sure the numbers people they have looked at what ratings Idol was getting even at its lowest points and how even that was better than some of ratings of their current programs. If the past couple of years has shown us anything, it's that these networks severely underestimated Netflix and its ilk and are now paying the piper as a result by going back to anything with a respectable brand name to it. A poster above mentioned "Firefly", I genuinely wouldn't be surprised if we hear at Comic-Con that Fox green-lit a "Firefly" event series.
 
S

Septimus Prime

Member
Aside from Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, what did any of the winners end up doing? I guess similarly, where are the winners of The Voice?

I remember Clay Aiken had a career, despite placing second, but even the guy who beat him just up and disappeared.
 
W

Wafflecakes

Member
Septimus Prime said:
Aside from Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, what did any of the winners end up doing? I guess similarly, where are the winners of The Voice?

I remember Clay Aiken had a career, despite placing second, but even the guy who beat him just up and disappeared.
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Plenty had careers outside of the last couple seasons. Though the level of success is uneven.


Way better than the trash show that is the Voice, which is essentially a group masturbation session by the judges with no one even pretending to try to get contestants success after the show.
 
L

LilWayneSuckz

Member
Septimus Prime said:
Aside from Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, what did any of the winners end up doing? I guess similarly, where are the winners of The Voice?

I remember Clay Aiken had a career, despite placing second, but even the guy who beat him just up and disappeared.
Click to expand...

Ruben Studdard had some popular R&B albums. I haven't really heard from him in a while but I don't really listen to neo-soul R&B
 
Y

yanipheonu

Member
As far as reality shows go, at least singing contests are more reasonable than most. And American Idol was a crazy popular property. It was bound to come back.

Though it's sure to be that distinctly over produced American style that is the TV equivalent of processed cheese.
 
M

MIMIC

Banned
Septimus Prime said:
Aside from Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, what did any of the winners end up doing? I guess similarly, where are the winners of The Voice?

I remember Clay Aiken had a career, despite placing second, but even the guy who beat him just up and disappeared.
Click to expand...

I remember back when the show was still doing amazing, I would chart the album numbers of the contestants. I stopped because....they stopped releasing albums, lol (or they were delayed so much that I lost interest)

But the Ruben-Clay fan rivalry was pretty amazing. Fans would buy up their albums just to get them on the charts. Both of their debut albums (released within just a weak of one another, IIRC) debuted at the top of the charts. And both guys have still have biggest first-week sales of any contestant on the show

Clay: 612,859
Ruben: 416,589

Ruben was the one who went on to have some commercial success, though.

These days, it's sad because not only are the winners not debuting at the top of the charts anymore, but their albums get delayed and fans lose interest.

I just checked, and Nick Fradiani (season 14 winner) released his album and it only sold 5,000 copies!

Eek.

Also, the last winner (Trent Harmon) released his album (or rather, an EP) and it didn't even chart.
 
T

torre_avenue

Banned
TheSinkingKnight said:
TMZ said Fox just made them a much larger deal than abc offered
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Deadline says this:
UPDATE May 5: We reported yesterday that ABC was close to an agreement on an American Idol reboot. The two sides are indeed getting closer but there is no deal in place. I hear main deal points have been agreed upon though there is still work to be done. As we reported, a pact could close before the upfronts.
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But I'd imagine if TMZ is reporting it, it's likely true, so I guess we're back to a bidding war on "American Idol" of all things.
 
Rest

Rest

All these years later I still chuckle at what a fucking moron that guy is.
Septimus Prime said:
Aside from Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, what did any of the winners end up doing? I guess similarly, where are the winners of The Voice?

I remember Clay Aiken had a career, despite placing second, but even the guy who beat him just up and disappeared.
Click to expand...
They need to have a spin off where they follow the winner making their first album and then around the country on tour for the next year. It could run in the same timeslot as the main show before it starts, or run during the same season in the slot before. That would really help the winners I think.
 
J

jett

D-Member
giphy.gif


This show is a relic that overstayed its welcome by several years.

When's the last time Idol had a contestant that actually made something of themselves? Adam Lambert?
 
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