Report: American Idol Revival Not Moving Forward at NBC or Fox
Seacrest out… indefinitely?
According to TMZ, the proposed American Idol revival has been shelved amid a dispute between producers Fremantle Media and Core Media Group.
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It was first reported back in February that Fremantle pitched NBC execs a revival of the long-running singing competition. NBC was said to be seriously considering the idea, giving them the leeway to cut The Voice down to once a year while still maintaining a year-round reality line-up, where The Voice would air in the fall, followed by Idol in spring and America’s Got Talent in summer.
On March 28, TMZ reported that the Peacock network and Fox, Idol‘s former network, had both made pitches to Fremantle with an interest in bringing the show back. Fremantle, which also produces AGT, was said to be pushing Core to agree to NBC’s offer, which Core construed as a potential conflict of interest, with Fremantle hoping Idol would help make AGT “the cornerstone of a year-round” reality-TV cycle on NBC. Core feared this would diminish Idol‘s value as a brand.
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Following a Summer 2002 debut season that averaged 12 million total viewers, Idol at its peak (Season 5) was pulling north of 30 million viewers and a 12.0+ demo rating. Its farewell run on Fox averaged 9.1 million viewers and a 2.2 rating.
Interestingly enough, TMZ states that Fremantle and Core never countered NBC or Fox’s offers, indicating that talks never got that far. Had an Idol revival moved forward, it was expected back on the air by 2018.
Are you disappointed Idol isn’t likely to return (at least anytime soon), or is this ultimately for the best?
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