Last week, ABC announced upcoming auditions for the “American Idol” reboot, tentatively scheduled to launch early next year. But if that gave you the impression that everything is going swimmingly, the Hollywood Reporter just published a big Ryan Seacrest profile, packed with details about his disastrous negotiation to return as “Idol” host after 15 seasons on the Fox series.
It’s one of several signs that don’t look promising for the return of the hit singing competition show. Here’s what has happened since ABC officially confirmed that “Idol” will be back.
• The Seacrest situation.
After ABC won the rights to reboot “Idol,” the network was going to make a splashy announcement at its upfront presentation in May to confirm Seacrest as host, according to THR. Except executives actually used the occasion to declare that pop star Katy Perry had just signed on as a new judge.
As it turns out, producers from Fremantle North America had offered Perry an absurd $25 million salary — and then returned to Seacrest with an offer that was lower than what he made on the show the first time. As THR put it, “Shock quickly turned to anger: Was this what 15 years of service got him?” and Seacrest’s reps said he was no longer interested.