PASADENA, CA -- It seems not everyone associated with Fox’s American Idol thought it was time for the show to be sent home.
The most popular and influential unscripted television show of the 21st century just launched its 15th season, which will be the last.
When Fox executives announced its cancellation in May, they said it was a consensus decision.
“We spent a lot of time talking with producers about the future of American Idol,” said Entertainment Co-CEO Gary Newman, “Collectively, we all arrived at the conclusion that it was time to bring the show to an end."
But this Friday, a couple of key players on an American Idol panel at the semi-annual Television Critics Association press tour suggested that since its ratings remain competitive in the prime-time network TV world, perhaps it could have kept going.
Asked if it was time to end the show, new executive producer Trish Kahane said, “Look, it’s been 15 seasons. So it wasn’t entirely a shock that we were talking about it ending because, after 15 seasons, I think it’s something you think about.”
She also said, “It’s still healthy. Look at the ratings. It’s still a healthy show.”
Okay, then, she was asked, “If the show is still vital and strong, why end it now?”
“That’s a question you’d have to ask Fox,” she said.
Host Ryan Seacrest, the last member of the original on-air team and an ascendant force in the TV business, said, “The network has been extremely supportive of this brand and franchise throughout the years. I was just speaking to Gary and [co-CEO] Dana [Walden] before this session. The numbers look great this season. They look really good.
“So when you’ve got a franchise that has this kind of heritage and generates X amount of millions, does that mean it’s the end? I’m not so sure.”
Judge Keith Urban jokingly raised the specter of reviving the show down the road.
“I think the Eagles have had at least three farewell tours,” he said.
Judge Jennifer Lopez, asked if she could imagine a reboot, clearly hadn’t prepared an answer.
“I think you never know with a format like this that can work at any time,” she said. “It’s possible, you know. Whether they are making a mistake or not, I mean, I think everything everybody just goes with a feeling at the time, in the moment, and if that’s their feeling right now, then that’s their feeling, you know. We don’t know all of the different things that go into their decision-making. We know some. We don’t know all. And at the end of the day, you know, you never know.”
Lopez, who noted that she originally planned to judge for just one year and then kept returning, said that if a reboot were proposed down the line, “I’d definitely consider it.”
Urban said he’d be in. The third judge, Harry Connick Jr., said he was too focused on this season to think about it.
Mentor Scott Borchetta said he was okay with things as they currently stand. “Why not go out on top?” he said.
As Idol ratings plunged the last few years from the dizzying heights of the show’s prime, Fox executives wrestled with whether to downsize it, change it, move it to the summer or just end it.
When Kevin Reilly was Fox entertainment chief, he said several times that he anticipated a long and profitable twilight life for Idol.
But last week, he told TV writers that he had considered canceling it because it took up so many hours for ratings that were dropping. Reilly left in early 2014 and his successors, Newman and Walden, announced Idol’s termination about a year later.