Ryan Seacrest claims that he will never leave ‘American Idol’

How about this promise from Ryan Seacrest? Despite having a ton of judging turnover really ever since season 8, the master-of-all-things-entertainment claimed on “The Today Show” this week that not only is he not planning to ever leave “American Idol,” but he has never even considered it during some of the times that he had a decision to make when it came to his contract.

What is sort of interesting about this proclamation from Seacrest (which you can see a lot more of below) is that this is hardly the sort of negotiation tactic that you would expect for someone to make. Given that he is an employee rather than an owner of the franchise, you would typically expect him to utter the line of “maybe,” or do some of what Jennifer Lopez and some other judges have done publicly while hedging their bets and hoping for a sweeter deal down the line.

But when you really think about it, we don’t imagine that Ryan is going to ask for more money down the road, since he is already paid handsomely enough through his dozens of different ventures. Also, the show needs him, and he in some ways needs the show. Ryan is basically the host of this generation’s “American Bandstand,” and there is nothing about “American Idol” that feels like the original show other than him at this point. He’s also the best host of any of these singing shows by a mile, and it’s not even close. The only two live TV hosts who we feel are on the same level as him host dancing shows in Tom Bergeron (“Dancing with the Stars”) as well as Cat Deeley (“So You Think You Can Dance”).

Do you think that the show could survive without Seacrest on it, or are you just glad that you are never really going to have to think of that possibility? Share some of your thoughts below!