Posted Monday, November 6, 2017 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
ABC announced Sunday, March 11 as its return date for "American Idol."
This will be the first time the show will air on a Sunday night. It will accommodate host Ryan Seacrest's schedule so he'll be able to host the show live on Sunday in Los Angeles and then fly back to New York overnight for "Live with Kelly and Ryan" on Monday morning.
"Idol" will also not compete directly against NBC's "The Voice," which typically airs on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Fox over its 15 years airing the show used to schedule episodes midweek. It also debuted each season in early January.
ABC has said the season will not be nearly as long as it used to be on Fox during its heyday, when it stretch out nearly five months. Given that the official broadcast season usually ends around May 20, the season will last no more than 11 weeks. That's a comparable length to "Dancing With the Stars," which will likely remain on Monday nights.
The network has not released how the schedule will shape up but given the limited weeks, the auditions, Hollywood and semifinal weeks will have to be significantly condensed. And the number of actual finalists may be reduced. If not, they could go "The Voice" route and eliminate more than one person at a time some weeks or finish with a top three or four instead of a top two.
Fox has not said when it will be scheduling its new music competition show "The Four."
Yes, we will now have three music competition shows on at the same time at a time when it seems like the public's appetite is limited to one.
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