{"id":110768,"date":"2017-08-09T01:39:37","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T05:39:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=110768"},"modified":"2017-08-09T02:06:04","modified_gmt":"2017-08-09T06:06:04","slug":"fox-to-counter-abcs-american-idol-with-new-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/08\/09\/fox-to-counter-abcs-american-idol-with-new-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"Fox to counter ABC’s ‘American Idol’ with new contest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Fox<\/a>
Fox TV (Photo: Fox Broadcasting Company, Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. <\/span>\u2014<\/span> Fox will counter its onetime powerhouse \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d with a new singing contest, \u201cThe Four.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The network cancelled its long-running \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d last year because of dwindling ratings and rising costs, only to see it snapped up by ABC for an early 2018 debut.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fox Television Group CEO Dana Walden, announcing the new series Tuesday, said there’s room for a \u201cfresh\u201d take on the contest format as she defended the axing of \u201cAmerican Idol.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While other shows are \u201cmore about celebrity panels and less about star-making,\u201d Walden told a TV critics’ meeting, \u201cThe Four\u201d will be the opposite.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur show begins where the others end,\u201d she said, with four finalists pre-selected from auditions by a panel of industry experts. The singers will have to fend off weekly challenges from newcomers trying to replace them. Viewers who believe they \u201chave the goods\u201d can upload an audition video and possibly go from sitting on their couch one week to competing the next, Walden said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The show’s prize: a career guided by the show’s panel, which Fox indicated is likely to be drawn from music producers, songwriters and perhaps a pop star-mentor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like \u201cAmerican Idol,\u201d which transferred a format tested in another country (Britain’s \u201cPop Idol\u201d), \u201cThe Four\u201d is based on an Israeli show.<\/span><\/p>\n

Walden struck a confident tone about chances for \u201cThe Four\u201d in a field that will include the \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d reboot and current singing contest champ \u201cThe Voice,\u201d which airs on NBC.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t anticipate that we’ll put it up against ‘Voice’ or ‘American Idol’ because we really believe in this show. We’re not developing it to just try to create some noise in the same space,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Four\u201d will have a shorter season than other singing contests, part of the plan to make it an \u201cevent,\u201d said Rob Wade, president of alternative programming for the Fox network.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wade said the moment when a challenger auditions against a finalist is \u201cbrilliantly dramatic\u201d and exciting. \u201cIt’s like ‘Game of Thrones,’ with better singing and less nudity,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

There were no second thoughts expressed by Walden about calling it quits on \u201cIdol,\u201d although she said Fox was \u201ctaken aback\u201d when producer FremantleMedia decided to bring it back so quickly after its much-hyped farewell season.<\/span><\/p>\n

The series had become very expensive and its ratings had dropped to a fraction of what they were, creating \u201cterrible\u201d economics, she said. Fox tried and failed to work out a new format with the producer, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Fremantle put it back in the marketplace, ABC was more aggressive in picking it up, Walden said. Katy Perry was announced as a judge for the new \u201cIdol,\u201d with Ryan Seacrest returning as host.<\/span><\/p>\n

Specifics on the air date, panelists and host for \u201cThe Four\u201d will be coming later, Fox said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. \u2014 Fox will counter its onetime powerhouse \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d with a new singing contest, \u201cThe Four.\u201d The …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":110799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[20812],"class_list":["post-110768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-fox-television-group","mauthors-lynn-elber","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}