American Idol

Executive Producer Nigel Lythgoe, who helped translate Britain’s Pop Idol into the Fox version that debuted in 2002, said the April 6 farewell episode will be memorable. “It’s going to be a rather spectacular show,” Lythgoe promised, with all the former winners on hand along with past contestants and “other surprises” in the two-hour finale.

Fox’s singing contest, which begins its 15th and final season Wednesday, was a blockbuster that invigorated its network. It made stars of Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson and others, and resurrected the TV talent show as a boom industry that includes NBC’s The Voice and ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.

The network announced Monday that American Idol will go off the air after its 15th season next spring. The cast from the past seasons, with Ryan Seacrest as host and Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr. as judges, will return for a season-long celebration of the show’s history.

The two shows air back-to-back on Wednesday nights. Empire has been a success out of the box, already earning an order for a second season, while age has cost American Idol its long-time status of television’s biggest show.

Longtime judge, short-time mentor Randy Jackson is gone. Music executive Scott Borchetta, whose impressive credentials include acting as mentor to Taylor Swift, will play that role for contestants and the winner will be signed to Borchetta’s Big Machine Records. There’s another shake up ahead for the Fox series, which returns for its 14th season with an hour-long episode Wednesday and a two-hour episode Thursday: Starting with the live shows in mid-March, American Idol will cut back to a two-hour show once a week, on Wednesday.

If American Idol was in rough shape before (which it was), it’s looking at an even bleaker future now that Coca-Cola has publicly said it won’t be running ads in the reality show’s 14th season. Coke’s unstated statement is pretty blunt: Young people who like music aren’t watching broadcast anymore. They’re watching YouTube, living on mobile, playing video games and tuning into a select few traditional TV networks.

Fox is letting the music play this January, with the return of American Idol and the debut of drama Empire slated for Wednesday, Jan. 7. Idol is kicking off its 14th season a week earlier than usual, and Empire, a family drama set in the music industry starring Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson, will follow with a premiere that Fox says will include limited commercial interruption.

Randy Jackson, who has been with American Idol from the start, first as a judge and then as a mentor, has notified the producers of the veteran Fox reality singing competition that he won’t be returning for the upcoming 14th season.

Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr. will be judging singers again in 2015, and Ryan Seacrest will remain the host of the Fox talent competition.

American Idol, just renewed for a 14th cycle, will return with its original host. Ryan Seacrest has closed a new deal to continue on the Fox reality series, which launched his TV career.

Big audiences for CBS’s Survivor and the second half of Fox’s American Idol lead to a ratings tie between the networks Wednesday night.

After a few weeks of struggling ratings on Thursday nights, Fox is moving Rake to Fridays. The Greg Kinnear starrer moves to the 8 p.m. hour March 14, after Bones moves back to Monday. American Idol gets Thursday’s 9 p.m. hour in its stead.

Fox’s American Idol XIII has come up with a novel way to prevent viewers from ad-skipping via DVR or wandering out of the room during commercials. Suppose they kept the cameras rolling backstage during the commercials, then let viewers see the goings on, live, on a split-screen during “select commercial breaks”?

Fox’s American Idol took a smaller week-to-week hit on Thursday up against the Olympics than it did on Wednesday. The reality show posted a 2.9 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., off 6% from a 3.1 the previous week. On Wednesday, Idol slid 13% from the previous week, to a 3.4, airing against NBC’s Winter Games coverage. NBC easily won the night, but Idol was the top non-sports show. Actually, just a handful of original programs aired on broadcast, and Fox had the bulk of them.

As Fox’s American Idol suits up for its 13th season, football fans should brace themselves for a full-on charm offensive. While a rash of promos featuring Idol hopefuls and a kinder, gentler judges’ panel (Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr.) started rolling out before the holidays, the spots made their biggest mark during last Sunday’s NFC Wild Card Game. Fox packed a handful of Idol teasers into its coverage of the 49ers-Packers nail-biter, which delivered a staggering 47.1 million viewers.

Fox slices its Thursday episode from an hour to 30 minutes, reflecting the ratings declines for the onetime ratings behemoth. The network slates midseason premieres too.

Producers consider Harry Connick Jr. for the slot left open by Dr. Luke after the veteran producer offered Sony Music half his $12 million fee in an unsuccessful plea to let him take a judge’s chair, sources say.

NEW YORK (AP) — A person familiar with negotiations to bring Jennifer Lopez back as an “American Idol” judge says her return will be announced this week. The person said […]

Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick are exiting the singing contest. Its 12th season ended in May with a record low-rated finale.The producers follow judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Randy Jackson out the door.

Fox is turning to a trusted News Corp. hand to oversee the overhauls of American Idol and The X Factor while the network searches for a replacement for outgoing alternative topper Mike Darnell.

Keith Urban is the only judge remaining after Randy Jackson left the Fox show earlier this month.

None of the four judges on the singing competition will be asked to return next season, an individual with knowledge of Fox’s plans says. Longtime producer Nigel Lythgoe is expected to get the boot. And despite reports to the contrary, Fox isn’t even considering bringing former judge Jennifer Lopez back as a lifesaver for next season.

The legal battle between American Idol creator Simon Fuller and Fox over The X-Factor is over. Sources confirm that the two sides have reached a confidential settlement and are moving to have the case dismissed with prejudice. Fuller filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against the network and the production company Freemantle Media over The X-Factor just before it was set to debut in America.

In a harsher blow to a blockbuster that once ruled the advertiser-adored young adult segment, Fox’s American Idol has been overtaken this season by AMC’s The Walking Dead, despite the addition of glossy new Idol judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban. But in its 12th season, American Idol is managing to hit the right notes with sponsors if not always with fickle viewers: It has retained its status as TV’s advertising leader among series and the loyalty of its biggest backers, including Ford and Coca-Cola.

This will be the year that American Idol finally loses its crown. Fox’s mega-hit singing show, which has been the top entertainment program among adults 18-49 for eight years running, will surrender its title this spring. That’s the prediction of media buyers and planners in a survey taken prior to the show’s 12th-season return on Wednesday.

Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj kick off their American Idol season Jan. 16, while Kevin Bacon’s The Following slips into the Mob Doctor slot Jan. 21.

Ad Age‘s annual roundup of what advertisers are paying for primetime spots this season found that 30 seconds on NBC’s Sunday Night Football is a budget-busting $545,142, up from $512,367 last season. That catapults SNF way past Fox’s American Idol, last season’s most expensive show, whose average spot plummeted from $502,900 to $340,825.

NEW YORK (AP) — Is this “Idol” threat an idle threat? Mariah Carey told Barbara Walters her fellow “American Idol” judge Nicki Minaj threatened to shoot her, Walters reported on […]