TMZ claims "Idol," with its drooping ratings and high costs ($15 million each for Ryan Seacrest and Jennifer Lopez, for instance), may lose money this year for the first time.

Obviously, it's not a cheap show to produce and they haven't made any blatant budget-cutting moves. In fact, they clearly spent a lot just re-doing the set.

Although the handful of regulars left on this blog who still follow the show are generally upbeat about how the season is going, ratings overall are down about one quarter and dipped below 10 million last week against the Olympics. To add insult to injury, a repeat of "The Big Bang Theory" was more popular last Thursday.

This is a show that generated more than $1 billion in profits for Fox over the years, probably multiple billions. So it's quite a fall to say the least.

But the story said Fox is committed to at least one more season.

***

Ryan Seacrest has created his first scripted drama, which will feature his buddy Jennifer Lopez. Details here.

***

Twitter's most popular show last week was 'The Walking Dead.' "American Idol" just snuck into the top 10 - barely.

***

"The Voice" is back, too, to kick some more dirt in the face of "Idol."

Question: when will "The Voice" create a big star? They are well overdue...

I don't have the time or energy to follow the show closely, but having the the judges sing each other's songs is great. Blake Shelton singing 'Whenever, Whereever," Shakira crooning Blake's "Boys Round Here," Usher doing "Love Somebody" and Adam Levine crooning Usher's 'Without You."

I also watched the first Christina Grimmie doing "Wrecking Ball." Very impressive! She could win this.

And these guys are incredibly charming in a yacht rock sort of way:

This Bria Kelly may be going places,too, even if this is a bit overbaked to me:

About the Author

Keep Reading

Valerie Hoff discussing expired food during a 2015 11Alive segment. (Courtesy of 11Alive)

Credit: 11ALIVE

Featured

Austin Walters died from an overdose in 2021 after taking a Xanax pill laced with fentanyl, his father said. A new law named after Austin and aimed at preventing deaths from fentanyl has resulted in its first convictions in Georgia, prosecutors said. (Family photo)

Credit: Family photo