‘American Idol XIV,’ ‘Empire’ premiere dates set at Fox

Want to know when the original singing-show phenomenon (or at least the one of this era) is coming back? Well, we know when “American Idol XIV” is going to be coming back on the air now on Fox: Wednesday, January 7.

There is an interesting schedule tweak for the show this season, compared at least to what they have done in the past. The premiere episode of the show is only going to run for an hour, and the reason for that is simply so that they can use the 9:00 p.m. Eastern time in order to launch the new drama “Empire.” This show stars Terence Howard and Taraji P. Henson, and revolves around a family working to keep control of a hip-hop titan. It does make some sense to follow up a music show with a drama themed around music, even if we see the two having at least somewhat different audiences.

It was only around a year or so ago that we started to wonder whether or not the end was near when it comes to “American Idol,” but we have changed our mind on that mostly for one pretty-simple reason: Fox is in a downward spiral at the moment. The ratings for the vast majority of their shows are not good, and that makes us think above all else that there is not a whole lot of reason to think they they will get rid of one of the surest things that they have. Even if the ratings now are just around a 2.0 in the 18-49 demographic, that will still make this one of the biggest successes the network has.

As for “Empire,” the expectations right now are probably low. Just remember here that “Red Band Society” is a disappointment, “Gracepoint” is an enormous flop, “Utopia” is already gone, and the comedies are out of steam.

As always, you can read up on all things “American Idol” now by going over to the link here. Stay tuned for more! Also, sign up to get further news worth singing about via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo via Fox.)