Fox Calls ABC's 'American Idol' Revival 'Extremely Fraudulent'
"They were determined to get this show back on the air as quickly as possible," Fox TV chairman Dana Walden said in a conference call with reporters. "We spent about 25 million dollars sending a clear message that it was the farewell season. It felt to us it would be extremely fraudulent to bring the show back that quickly. Our fans would not appreciate being told one thing and then having the show brought back right away." Although Fox also bid for the show's return, along with NBC and ABC, the network claims it would've waited until 2020 to revive the series. "We were made aware of conversations with ABC to bring the show back in '18 that would've put it off the air for one season," she explained. "And we felt like it was way too soon." "We tried to engage Freemantle in conversation about bringing it back in '20, which is when we thought would be an appropriate amount of time off the air and give the creators and the producers the opportunity to make some changes to present the next generation of Idol, and they just weren't interested in it." "Freemantle was definitely not interested in that," Walden said. "We really believed that over time, whatever Freemantle's issues were with us, or the fact that we didn't want to bring it back so early, would be resolved because they seemed committed as well to resting the show."
Fox executives aren't hiding their disappointment with ABC bringing back 'American Idol' a year after it ended.
May 16, 2017 | |
