NBC bosses on Timeless season 2 renewal, Kelly Clarkson on The Voice

Earlier today NBC announced many hot topics related to the 2017-18 season, including Kelly Clarkson on The Voice. Specifically, what Paul Telegdy (the head of alternative programming) and Robert Greenblatt (the head of all programming) want you to know is that they didn’t make the move because of American Idol coming back. Telegdy told reporters that they were talking with Clarkson and Jennifer Hudson about being coaches on The Voice long before their former show in Idol was announced as much back.

As for why NBC didn’t pick up American Idol after some initial conversations, Greenblatt offered up the following there (via Entertainment Weekly):

“We didn’t need Idol … We did have conversations with them about Idol. We recognize the franchise is great. … We just decided we have The Voice, [and] a couple of music competition shows that we’re down the road developing that you may see coming to the schedule as early as next summer. We thought we’re going to stick with our hand.”

Hudson will appear on The Voice this fall; meanwhile, Clarkson will be there in the new year, around the same time the American Idol revival could come to ABC.

About the Timeless renewal – Another big highlight from the past few days was the shocking decision to cancel and then un-cancel Timeless over a span of a few days. Greenblatt assured reporters that this wasn’t a publicity stunt, and explained (per TVLine) that much of it had to do with the show’s fans rallying to support the show and get it back:

“We all love the show creatively, [but because of the ratings, we] decided to move on from it … And then we woke up the next morning, heard [about] the [fan] outcry and went back to the drawing board with our partners at [producing studio] Sony. And I’m happy to say we were able to figure out a way to bring it back. It’s extraordinarily well produced and it deserved to come back.”

There is no firm premiere date still for Timeless season 2, but the plan still remains that it will be coming back to the air at some point in 2018. It could be as early as midseason, or as late as the summer. More will be revealed in time.

For now, what do you think about these assorted news items? Sound off now in the attached comments!

Meanwhile, head over here for some further news on The Voice. (Photo: NBC.)