Next Tuesday, ABC is going to announce its 2017-2018 season. We know that American Idol is going to be on it, but what about Modern Family? Wait, what? You thought that show was renewed for a season 9 already. Nope, in fact it hasn’t been because the actors have yet to sign their contracts.
Last week, the producers were confident that they would be back. The other day when Eric Stonestreet taped an appearance with Larry King Now, he too was optimistic. But then…ABC announced today that they picked up American Idol and you know that wasn’t cheap. Did Idol’s price tag cost Modern Family its renewal? We don’t know. But I wouldn’t be surprised if that is causing problems with their negotiations.
Here’s what Stonestreet said about them (before Idol was official) on the Ora TV show, “I don’t know what the future holds but everyone’s hopeful and pretty confident we will be back for a 9th season and hopefully a 10th season.”
Then King wanted to know if they all get the paid the same. The 6 adult actors all get paid the same, while the under 30’s make a different salary than them. Which in a way is weird because I think Sarah Hyland and Ariel Winter are more bankable than some of the big 6. Since the over 30’s get same amount in their paycheck, does that mean that they negotiate together. Cam said, “In a sense…We all have individual agents, but we all, kind of, agree that none of us are going back to work for anything less than the rest of everybody.”
Back in 2012, the actors went on strike over their previous contract. Will they do the same now? Can they afford to? Back then the show was getting much better numbers and award nominations. Now, even though they are still a top-rated sitcom, but the other comedies on Wednesday night are catching up in the ratings.
That is something for ABC to decide and they don’t have a lot of time to do so. They could announce next week that the comedy will be back for another season without the contracts being signed and still work on getting their names on the dotted line. Then what happens if they don’t. They could replace it with a new show because there are always backups.
When it comes to the actors, I think American Idol just hurt their chances of getting a much bigger raise. I still think they will get one, just not as big.
How do I feel about the show coming back? I can take it or leave it. What do you think?
