By David Bauder, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --ABC announced a deal Tuesday to revive "American Idol," only a year after the powerhouse music competition aired its 15th and last season on Fox.
The show that dominated television in the 2000s and minted stars like Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Clarkson will be back sometime during the next TV season. That season starts in September, but the return of "Idol" will likely come later. Fox generally premiered each new season in January.
ABC, which agreed with producers FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment on the reboot, released few details, including whether longtime host Ryan Seacrest will return.
"American Idol" was television's No. 1 series for nine years, peaking with 30 million viewers an episode in 2006. By its last season the average audience had dipped to 11 million and skewed older, and NBC's "The Voice" surpassed it in popularity. Still, in today's television world, an audience of 11 million would rank it among TV's top 20 shows.
"'American Idol' is a pop-culture staple that left the air too soon," said Channing Dungey, ABC entertainment president. "ABC is the right home to re-ignite the fan base."
In "Dancing With the Stars," ABC already has a competition show that has remained popular while primarily attracting older viewers.
Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Lopez and Keith Urban were the judges when "American Idol" went off the air. The show's iconic judges were the first: villain Simon Cowell, his sparring partner Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson.
ABC recently hired Seacrest to be co-host with Kelly Ripa on the daytime talk show "Live," so he's already in the corporate family – although "Live" is shot in New York and "Idol" is California-based. Seacrest, on the talk show Monday, said he had only learned of the revival last week when he read a news story about it and made a call.
"I said at the end of the series, 'goodbye for now,' hoping that somewhere it would come back," Seacrest said.
He played coy when Ripa encourage him to return as host.
"Whatever you want," he joked. "You're my work wife. I say 'yes' and bow to you."
Sean “Diddy” Combs seeks bail, citing changed circumstances and new evidence
Sean "Diddy" Combs filed a new request for bail on Friday, saying changed circumstances, along with new evidence, mean the hip-hop mogul should be allowed to prepare for a May trial from outside jail.
Lawyers for Combs filed the request in Manhattan federal court, where his previous requests for bail have been rejected by two judges since his September arrest on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
He has been awaiting a May 5 trial at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn.
In their new court filing, lawyers for Combs say they are proposing a "far more robust" bail package that would subject the entertainer to strict around-the-clock security monitoring and near-total restrictions on his ability to contact anyone but his lawyers. But the amount of money they attach to the package remains $50 million, as they proposed before.
They also cite new evidence that they say "makes clear that the government's case is thin." That evidence, the lawyers said, refutes the government's claim that a March 2016 video showing Combs physically assaulting his then-girlfriend occurred during a coerced "freak off," a sexually driven event described in the indictment against Combs.
They wrote that the encounter was instead "a minutes-long glimpse into a complex but decade-long consensual relationship" between Combs and his then-girlfriend.
The lawyers argued that the jail conditions Combs is experiencing at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn violate his constitutional... Read More