American Idol Reboot Update: ABC Planning March 2018 Premier Date with Ryan Seacrest
After only a short one year hiatus, TMZ is reporting that American Idol is making a comeback on ABC.
In a post shared on Saturday, TMZ broke the news that after a long stream of offers from various networks, ABC emerged the victor. Towards the end of the bidding, Fox reportedly came on strong with a great offer to bring the acclaimed singing show back to its original network, but the deal was already signed with ABC on Friday.
The TMZ post goes on to say that previous host, Ryan Seacrest, is the favorite to return and continue his previous role at the show's forefront. However, with Seacrest recently taking up another position at ABC as the new co-host of Live With Kelly, hosting Idol will have him taking two roundtrip flights from New York City to Los Angeles. In an interview with TMZ though, the radio host seemed optimistic, saying that "I love that show. I think it's fantastic that it's going to get a chance for a bunch of young people to possibly be stars. It's awesome. It's ABC."
American Idol rose to fame in 2002, after crowning Kelly Clarkson as the winner of the first season. Since then the show has become a staple of reality singing competitions by producing stars such as Carrie Underwood, Adam Lambert and David Cook. Spawning multiple reality singing shows with similar goals of producing superstars, "American Idol" is the only one that has produced stars with chart-topping longevity.
The final winner before the show's cancellation was Trent Harmon, a soul singer from Mississippi, who bested soul singer La'Porsha Renae in a final showdown. The show's viewership had been seeing a steady decline in ratings, which was what resulted in the show's cancellation.
ABC is reportedly planning a March 2018 premier date for the show.
