ABC officially gets American Idol revival; Ryan Seacrest mum on hosting
There is no reason to speculate anymore in regards to the future of American Idol and the proposed revival of the series — it’s officially happening.
In a statement today, ABC confirmed that they are bringing on board the singing competition for the 2017-18 season. While early rumors are that the show will air Sunday nights starting in March of 2018, that is not 100% confirmed as of yet. (Think of this as the network keeping their options open.)
In a statement, programming head Channing Dungey offered up the following comment, which seems to contain just the right amount of shade for Fox canceling it in the first place:
“American Idol is a pop-culture staple that left the air too soon … ABC is the right home to reignite the fan base. We are thrilled viewers will once again share in these inspiring stories of people realizing their dreams.”
As for whether or not Ryan Seacrest returns as host, he danced around the subject while on his new gig of Live! with Kelly and Ryan. We do think there is interest in bringing him back; the real discussion point is whether or not he wants to take on the Herculean task of doing both shows when they are set on two different coasts. When Ryan first took his new gig, we imagine he wanted to stay at least pretty firmly located in New York for the time being. That is also where he hosts New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, so he has some firm roots there as it is.
Fox ABC, the challenge now becomes trying to find a way to make a dated show relevant again. One of the biggest issues that American Idol had was that it became very insular, and often didn’t acknowledge that there were other ways to find stardom. They also pretended as though they were still a star-maker despite it being years since they had a legitimate star come out of the show. The last person we’d say came out of the show with an enormous hit was Phillip Phillips, and that was aided by promotion around the Olympics. The last person to come out of the show to be a superstar was probably Adam Lambert.
For now, what do you think about the American Idol revival actually happening, and on ABC no less? Share in the comments! (Photo: ABC.)