UPDATE: ABC says it will revive American Idol after it has spent only one year off the air.
The network announced Tuesday that the music competition show, that dominated television in the 2000s, will begin sometime in the next TV season. That season starts in September.
The series originally aired on Fox and was cancelled due to fading ratings. But ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey called it a “pop culture staple that left the air too soon.”
ABC left plenty of questions unanswered, including who will be the host and judges. ABC recently hired the show’s old host, Ryan Seacrest, to be co-host with Kelly Ripa on the daytime talk show Live.
ORIGINAL STORY: An American Idol revival may be in the works with ABC reportedly offering a deal to bring back the beloved long-running singing competition.
Core Media Group and FreemantleMedia, the production companies behind American Idol, have settled on a “framework for an agreement” to put the show back on the air, Variety reported on Friday.
The show will reportedly see a March 2018 premiere and would potentially air on Sunday nights.
READ MORE: Mariah Carey talks ‘Mariah’s World’; slams ‘American Idol’ as ‘most abusive experience’
There is no confirmation on who will host the show or serve as the show’s judges.
On Sunday, the official American Idol Twitter account tweeted, “Happy #Sunday. Heard any interesting news lately?”
Last week, longtime host Ryan Seacrest announced that he’s the new co-host for Live! with Kelly Ripa. He is relocating to New York for the role which could potentially be a problem for hosting duties as American Idol has always taped in Los Angeles.
While speaking with his new co-host on Live With Kelly And Ryan on Monday, Seacrest discussed ABC’s potential deal to bring back the competition.
READ MORE: Kelly Ripa announces Ryan Seacrest as new co-host for ‘Live!’
When asked if he would host the show again Seacrest said, “I don’t know about that part yet. We haven’t gotten that far. This was news to me last week. I had said at the end of the series ‘Goodbye for now,’ hoping somewhere it would come back and it was rumoured to be going back to other networks. I had no idea it was being talked about coming here.”
Seacrest added, “It’s unofficial. But very close to being said it will be here.”
In 2016, Seacrest remained optimistic about the singing competition. “I just don’t see a world where Idol doesn’t resurface,” he said. “We look at formats. We try to create shows. It’s hard to believe that franchise doesn’t resurface in some capacity, in some form, soon.”
After a 15-year run, American Idol went off the air in April 2016. The show premiered in June 2002 but was cancelled because of ratings drops in later seasons.
The singing show produced stars like Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson, as well as many other musicians who continue to produce records.
The show has also had a revolving door of judges including Paula Abdul, Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, Kara DioGuardi, Ellen DeGeneres, Jennifer Lopez, Steven Tyler, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr.
ABC is expected to announce the return of American Idol this month at its upfront presentation in New York, reported by Variety.
—With files from The Associated Press
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