The return of AI”American Idol” is back! The 10th season of the hit show began the signup process today in Nashville. Crowds braved the near 90 degree heat and turned up 10,000 strong at the Bridgestone Arena. The signup process will continue till Saturday and the auditions will begin at a later date.This year is milestone for “Idol” in many ways. First of all it is the show’s 10th season and for any TV show to make it through 10 years is a big achievement indeed. Next, the show has dropped its minimum age limit to 15, so you can expect Justin Bieber lookalikes and tiny-teeny-boppers to swamp the show (or at least the auditions).
Last of all, the missing Cowell factor could be telling on the ratings of the show. Hated or loved, Simon Cowell was the backbone of “Idol”. His decision to leave the show, while prudent on his part, may be the worst thing that ever happened to the show. With ratings steadily sliding over the last few years, the exit of Cowell was the last thing “Idol” needed. For reasons unknown, his replacement is still not evident. Neither is news on the future of Randy Jackson; whether we will see the “Dawg” return for season 10 or not remains on how contract negotiations concluded.
Since FOX has kept mum on the subject, we could see a double replacement for the male judges in the coming days.”American Idol” is scheduled to make audition stops at - Milwaukee, New Orleans, East Rutherford, Austin, and San Francisco.
This year, Miley Cyrus will say goodbye to her alter ego “Hannah Montana” as the show draws to a close. It appears to be according to Miley’s wishes, as the star is eager to move on to bigger and better things.
Four years ago a relative nobody made her debut on the comedy series along with her (somewhat washed up) father. Since then Miley’s career in music has skyrocketed and the star has released three very successful albums. She has also starred in a movie, “The Last song”, and is looking forward to her role opposite Demi Moore in the indie flick “LOL”. Even Billy Ray Cyrus owes the revival of his career to the show. The Country Music star is getting ready for an album release later this year as well as a tour plan.
Neither is leaving the show with bad feelings; in fact their intention is to move on to bigger and better things. Miley stated that she can’t keep doing material for six year olds as her focus has shifted to a much (relatively) older audience. In fact “LOL” is as far from a “Hannah Montana” audience as it can get. But the star wanted to have some closure and felt that the fans deserved it too, hence the agreement to do a final season.
The final season of “Hannah Montana” will feature lots of surprises and guests. New cast members include a horse and guests include Jay Leno, Dr. Phil McGraw, Sheryl Crowe, Christine Taylor and Kelly Ripa.
Actor Charlie Sheen has put an end to months of speculation by releasing a statement saying “I’m looking forward to returning to my CBS home on Monday nights”. The 44 year old star of the hit sitcom “Two and a Half Men”, has signed a contract which will keep him on the show for a further two seasons.
The future of “Two and a Half Men” was in doubt due to two separate events. One was the due to the domestic violence charges brought against him. The actor pleaded “not guilty” to the charges that refer to the incident that took place on Christmas Day and involved his wife Brooke Mueller Sheen. The other issue was his desire to leave the show. After seven years, Sheen felt that the schedule and the demands of the sitcom were too much and wanted to refocus on his movie career. In that regard, he secured a role in the sequel to the hugely successful 1987 movie “Wall Street”, called “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”.
However, all those issues seem to be past him as he has now agreed to return to the show that CBS renewed for three years last year. The renewal came as a surprise to many as they knew that Sheen’s contract ended this year and he hadn’t committed to any furthered seasons. The reports that Sheen held out for a $2 million per episode payout have not been confirmed as yet.
Over the years the ratings have been steadily dropping for “American Idol” and the juggernaut is not what it used to be. But it still packs a solid punch when it comes to making money.
According to research by the Forbes Magazine, “American Idol” is the number one show when measured in ad revenue sales. For every half hour it broadcasts, the show makes $8.1 million purely out of ad sales. The research does not try to discover “which is the most profitable show?”, but rather which show has the most power in dictating ad prices.
The research broke the time slots into 30 minute segments so that sitcoms, dramas and reality shows could be compared with each other on an equal basis. It also disregarded all sports shows in its survey. The difference between the number one and two spots was a whopping $5 million. Sitting at number two was troubled actor Charlie Sheen’s “Two and a Half Men”. The sitcom is the only one from its genre to even make it to the top ten.
Taking the third spot with $3 million was “24″ the drama series from Fox. The show is in its final season, which probably accounts for the large ad revenue. The fourth spot is tied between an alien sci-fi and medical drama. ABC’s “V” and “Grey’s Anatomy” rake in $2.8 million each. The ad revenue ratings could play a great part in the future of certain shows. “V” is close to its season finale and so far no confirmation has been made of a second season.
Conan O’Brien is back on the air, but this time he’s on cable. The funnyman signed an unexpected deal with TBS and is expected to be on the cable station later this fall. The move is surprising as the general expectation was that he would go to network giant FOX.
Although the move made news almost everywhere, it did not make it onto David Letterman’s show and neither was it mentioned on “The Tonight Show” which was Conan’s former home. The reasons for this are unclear but it widely considered to be a gag order by upper management. Jay Leno did talk about it later though, when he was interviewed by Access Hollywood.
Leno said that he knew Conan would always land on his feet and that the time slot he would be on would make things fun for everyone as they would all (Leno, Letterman, O’Brien) be competing against each other. He also expressed his confidence in Conan’s ability to keep audiences entertained.
TBS seems to be pulling out all the stops to make sure that the show is a success. It is rumored that George Lopez was told to either move into a new time slot to make way for Conan or to get out of the company altogether. TBS has denied that such a threat was ever made and that both parties support each other shows. Whatever happened, the end result is that Conan will take over the 11 PM slot while Lopez slides down to the Midnight slot.
Two networks irked their viewers this week as certain product placements did not go according to plan.
Fox’s rating juggernaut “American Idol” opened its Thursday show with a stunt promoting “The Clash of the Titans”. Actors on a screen via a live hookup from the London premiere of the movie and clips of the movie mashed with clips of “Idol” were also played. This was considered to be worse than the show where Mike Myers appeared to promote the disastrous “Love Guru”.
ABC, on the other hand, used two of its shows in a failed attempt to promote products, the first being the Apple iPad on “Modern Family”. The story was about Phil, who loves gadgets, and in wanting an iPad for his birthday the show is about the struggles that his family goes through to get him one. The storyline and presentation has not well received by viewers; they simply considered it to be a story that the company had sold to Apple. Although ABC denied it, nothing so far has changed public perception. But the worst offence ABC committed was using “Lost” to promote the mid-season return of the “V”.
An almost ever present countdown plastered on the episode had “Lost” fans disgusted and complaining. It was even mocked by late nighters’ Letterman and Colbert on their shows. Though it could be unrelated, the alien invasion show returned to a lukewarm reception resulting in moderate ratings. The alphabet now regrets using such an annoying tactic on a show that was powerful enough to shift the Presidents’ State of the Union address and said that it will not use any such tactics again.
The star of “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” is planning to a comeback to daytime TV and this time she’s bringing some friends. O’Donnell will team up with Dick Robertson and Scott Carlin who are syndication veterans for what is expected to be a talk show premiering in fall 2011.
That is “coincidentally” the time when “The Oprah Show” makes its final exit bringing about the question as to whether the new show will be the replacement. Insiders have refuted these claims and said that most ABC stations have already planned to replace the “Big O” void with local or news programming. They also pointed out that most of the stations were also not very comfortable with O’Donnell’s style of controversy.
O’Donnell started off “Rosie” as the “queen of nice” but later in its six-year run she became quite controversial and political. She carried this trait on into “The View” where it got her into more hot water. Robertson functioned as president of Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution (WBDTD) for seventeen years before moving into an advisory role in 2006. He was instrumental in the sales of “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” which won five consecutive awards at the Emmy’s for “best talk show”. Scott Carlin worked under Robertson for almost two decades at WBDTD and was part of the sales team of the “Rosie” show as well. His most recent role was as head of HBO Domestic Distribution.
The new show, which is expected to run on cable, will be produced by a company formed by O’Donnell, Robertson and Carlin. Given that the show will be produced outside the studio system, it is almost certain that the controversy will rage on when the show hits the small screen. As yet, the show remains unnamed.
Conan on Fox is the rumor that is gathering speed day by day. They initially began when he quit NBC in January and have since grown. Last month News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch said “We’re giving it a lot of thought and a lot of examination” with regards to the rumors that Conan would take the top slot in the late night segment.
While Fox seems to be the most likely place to go to, Conan’s representative Leslee Dart stated that it was not the only place they were looking at. Cable networks are one such place and even a syndicated show is being looked at. If the syndication gig works out, it would be the first foray out of the late night slot and into an early slot, namely the 4.30P.M to 7.30 P.M, for Conan.
Currently, Conan is preparing for a cross country comedy tour titled “The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour”. The title itself takes a swing at NBC and the provision in his severance agreement which prohibits him from appearing on air till the month of September. NBC was unhappy with Conan’s ratings on the “Tonight Show” and its suggestion that his show be moved a later slot caused the acrimonious split between the comic host and the network. Since then Jay Leno has been brought back to host the show and seems to have regained the lost ratings.
Meanwhile, negotiations between Conan and Fox will probably have a deadline of early May for the network’s upfront presentation.
