American Idol judges Luke Bryan, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie will all be returning for Season 17, ABC announced Friday. (ABC Photo)
If there was ever any doubt, ABC and Disney ended it Friday.
American Idol will be back next spring for its second season on ABC and its 17th overall.
And remember all the rumors of judges coming and going when the show was on FOX?
There shouldn’t be any this off-season.
ABC and Disney also announced that host Ryan Seacrest and judges Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie will also be returning.
The fact that the show is coming back shouldn’t come as a big surprise. American Idol has typically drawn between 7 and 8 million viewers per episode and placed ABC atop the ratings most Sundays this season.
And the renewel news follows one of its most successful show’s yet. Sunday’s Top 10 Disney Week show, featuring live voting, scored a 1.9 rating in the 18-49 age group and drew an estimated 8.77 million fans, the most since the Season 16 premiere.
The ABC press release doesn’t mention format changes for next spring. I’d personally hope for a longer run of live shows.
In the show’s heyday, the Idol finals lasted 10-11 weeks and we got to see singers blossom before our very eyes.
In ABC’s first season with Idol, the show will go from a Top 14 to a winner in a span of five live shows.
That format seems much more suitable to a contestant who arrives ready for prime time (say Gabby Barrett), than one with more limited performance experience (a Jurnee, for instance).
What would you like to see change in Season 17? Let me know by commenting below.
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1 Comment
Boo!
The ratings are terrible for “Idol.” Apparently, since ABC has had weak shows on Sunday night that’s the guideline.
The only reason the ratings for “Idol” improved this past week was because of the hype of “Disney Week.” Even then, the viewership has fallen dramatically.
The judges were all panned after the premiere weeks.
Now, we’re doomed for another season of “The Katy Perry Show.”
The voting system stinks, the judges and Seacrest are only in it for the money, the contestants are caricatures, and EP Trish Kinane only knows how to generate controversy and cruelty, not excitement or cultivation of talent.