The American Idol 16 judges’ crisis just got worse
According to a report coming in right now courtesy of TMZ, the reboot coming onto ABC is facing some roadblocks thanks to the fact that auditions are weeks away, and they still don’t have any judges beyond just Katy Perry. There have been struggles when it comes to signing other judges. The latest big-ticket name discussed is Luke Bryan, but the network/producers and the country star have yet to come up with a contract that works for the two of them. We said long ago that Perry’s $25 million salary would be a problem. As great as it may be that the show officially has her, at the same time this also does raise the price tag for other people. Katy’s obviously going to be the biggest star and command the biggest salary on the panel, but can you really offer $10 million to another singer and tell them that they are only worth 40% of what Katy is?
With someone like Luke Bryan in general, we also think that the holds tremendous value when it comes to the show’s core base. Remember that there are a ton of viewers for this show in the Heartland, and beyond that there are often country singers who often show up in droves for this show.
One of the biggest issues with the American Idol 16 judges not being signed is that if there is not a panel set upon soon, filming in front of the judges may need to be delayed. If that happens, it’s a disaster since it would collide with some of Perry’s other commitments — to be specific, you could go from having one judge to no judge around if there are suddenly some issues that arise due to scheduling.
The good news is that we at CarterMatt personally don’t foresee things coming to that, mostly because ABC will want the show to eventually make it on the air and with Perry and some other great judges on board. We do think that they will hire people right in the nick of time, but they will probably either be a) people who were not previously at the top of their wishlist or b) people who they ended up paying more to get than they initially wanted to. Either way, this is just a part of what happens when you set yourself up in this position. American Idol is an expensive show to put on, and the powers that be over at the network have found a way to make it all the pricier — intentional or not.
Do you think that we will have American Idol 16 judges before long?
Share now in the comments below! Meanwhile, be sure to click here in the event you want some additional news when it comes to the show and its complicated future. (Photo: ABC.)