More on the American Idol shake up from today’s FOX Executive TCA panel in Los Angeles. Via The Hollywood Reporter, The Hollywood Reporter
FOX Entertainment honcho, Kevin Reilly told reporters the network will fill out the rest of the panel in the next couple of weeks. Reilly would not confirm the return of veteran, Randy Jackson, although he noted that Randy’s involvement was instrumental in securing Mariah Carey for the panel. The FOX chief conceded that the table could be full of fresh faces for the first time since Season 1.
Additional judges are expected to be announced shortly, with Reilly noting that in a nod to the first season of Idol, they could be fresh faces. “There are some ‘nobodys’ in the mix, there are some people who are not a household name,” he said, citing Jimmy Iovine who wasn’t a household name when he boarded the series.
Hopefully those nobodies are industry peeps with nothing to lose if they shoot straight with the contestants.
Reilly insists that newly hired judge, Mariah Carey, wasn’t necessarily a “replacement” for the departing Jennifer Lopez.
“It was never the goal to replace her [Jennifer Lopez]. I think they’re very different personalities. Once Jennifer declared that she in fact was comfortable moving on, we made the decision: You can call it a replacement, we never went in to say, ‘Who’s going to be the Jennifer replacement,’ ” he said, adding that there was “a scenario where maybe [Lopez] would have stayed.”
In fact, Reilly insists nobody was fired. But on the other hand, unlike Nigel Lythgoe, Reilly doesn’t seem unhappy with the change.
“I think I can confirm that it’s 100 percent that Jennifer will not be back with the show,” he said, adding that the process of letting Tyler and Lopez go was “transparent” and “mutual.”“We had a great experience with both of them; creatively we were all happy. But we decided it was time for a change.”
Reilly seems to like Nigel’s idea of a constantly revolving judges’ panel. Also, as far as hiring talent for the table, he doesn’t intend on going cheap.
“I’m afraid we will, if not every year, I think change is going to be part of the show going forward. We’re 12 years old, I think we’ve got to keep it fresh,” he told a smaller group of reporters following the panel, noting that spending big money on name talent is “smart investment” because they generate the kind of industry such a show demands. “Idol has always been about the discovery of talent and we’ve done that every year and that’s really the most important thing. The audience wants to see some discovery of something new on the bench, so we’re going to keep playing with the formula.”
So. Expect American Idol to undergo a transformation every season. Remember the days when all we talked about during the summer was the tour, the upcoming alum albums and spoilers? Ah. The good old days.
