Last week ABC announced that were bringing American Idol back for a 16th season after it only being off the airwaves for just a season. Today, they announced their first judge and it is Katy Perry. She needs them more than they need her because her career is tanking. Her last few songs have been failures and now she is going on a World tour. It used to be if you did Idol, it helped your sales, but I don’t think people will tune in for her. Yes, she is a name, but she is not well liked. In addition, she screams desperation. It is going to be all about her and she will talk over everyone. She is just so last Friday night.
And that is one of the problems Fox had with Freemantle and the show. Fox wanted a new panel for season 15, but Chairmen & CEOs, Fox Television Group, Dana Walden said they wouldn’t do it. Then she elaborated why they wouldn’t do it and the consequences, “They felt it took a long time to find the chemistry that existed with Jen and Harry and Keith. They ultimately said to us they would rather rest the show after this season than make any changes and try out a different panel and we respected that. That’s when we decided to call it the Farewell Season.”
She was right, and Freemantle was wrong. The Voice knows how to pick they type of Coaches that people like and will tune in for, while Idol did not and seems does not. I mean Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban was so turn of the Century and Harry Connick Jr was so last Century. And that is why their ratings plummeted 70% in the last 4 years. Because of the declining ratings, Fox asked them to make some trims and they wouldn’t.
Fox also feels that it is too early to bring back the show per their research and fan boards. Fox wanted to wait until 2020, but on the conference call Walden said that Freemantle wanted to bring it back now. Walden’s theory on why they might have rushed to get it back on the air so quickly is because as she explained, “Then I think probably all of you saw RTL’s earnings call last week. They lost revenue from not having this show on in the U.S. That’s meaningful, when you’re running a public company.”
All in all Walden felt during their initial meetings that, “…it would be extremely fraudulent to bring the show back quickly, that our fans would not appreciate being told one thing and then have the show brought back right away. We and Fremantle just had very different points of view.” Come Spring of 2018, I am sure ABC is going to feel the same way as Fox.
How do you feel about American Idol coming back in 2018? How do you feel about Katy Perry as a judge?
[ # 1260219 ] Comment from D’Fwan [May 17, 2017, 5:09 pm]
They need someone else. Harry was amazing. I hope they make him a deal.