— Senior Fox executives were hoping to unveil a new panel of judges for
“American Idol” on Monday at the semiannual television critics press
tour.
Instead, they spent a lot of time talking about what
they couldn’t talk about. While people close to the show confirm that
musicians
brass remained silent. The network also declined to comment on whether
former executive producer
“The only thing I can tell you with absolute certainty is no one has signed a deal,” said
He added, in the understatement of the year, that it is “not a fun
announcement.” Rice said the network expects to have its new panel in
place by September, when auditions for “American Idol” hit full steam.
Already gone from “American Idol,” the nation’s most-watched television show, are
Rice said he thought DeGeneres was “great on the
show” and would have liked her to have stayed. As for whether all the
media attention around the show helps or hinders the efforts to
revitalize it, he said, “doing this in a public fishbowl is very hard.”
Whether either Lopez or Tyler will try to take on Cowell’s role as a kingmaker on “American Idol” remains to be seen.
“We have to respect how much people love this
format, and yet we have to make sure that in its 10th season that it’s
engaging and fun and people enjoy it,” Rice said.
While Rice wouldn’t talk about any changes to the
show, he did promise that there would still be people singing and being
judged.
Later in the day, “Glee” creator
1. The show’s lifespan: “We obviously have to deal
with the cast and the show that we hope goes on for years. We’ve sort
of mapped out the first four years with this original cast,” he said.
“The thing about the show is you have set competitions that are true.
There are sectionals and nationals, (but we also) want to go to
2. Weekly themes are here to stay: All of the
episodes will have a central theme, much like they did in the first
season. Murphy confirmed the first episode in the upcoming season will
be called “Auditions,” based on the notion that everyday life —
particularly high school — is an audition. The third episode will be
about faith, with the kids talking about what God means to them.
3. “Britney, Britney, Britney”: Murphy said the
tribute episode to the pop star will be an unconventional one, compared
with the Madonna and Gaga fests. It won’t be the sole tribute episode
next season. Murphy is in negotiations with a “big” pop artist to be
featured in the highly coveted post-Super Bowl slot.
4. Sir Paul goes “Gleek”: Murphy got a bit of a surprise recently when a mix tape from
Ryan I’d hope you’d considered these songs for Glee,” he said of the
two-disc mix tape. “I’ve heard he’s a fan of the show. I was
gobsmacked, I love this guy. Of course we’re going to do something.”
5. About that merchandise — there is lots of it,
lots: With greeting cards, video games and a clothing line on the
horizon is there anything the gang would say no to? Apparently so. “I’m
very proud of the merchandise that we have. For every two things I
accept, I turn down 10,” Murphy said. “We’re going to have
6. No need to save up for soundtracks: After
releasing a whopping five soundtracks (three albums and two EPs),
Murphy promises they will scale it down.
“This year we will do less. We’re doing a Christmas episode with
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