“American Idol” is set to start on ABC on Sunday, March 11 with a two-hour premiere that includes auditions in Los Angeles, Nashville and New York City. It will air every Sunday and Monday from then until the live shows begin on April 22. As with the version that ran on Fox for 15 seasons, the first few episodes of this reboot will be taped. These shows will include the auditions in various locales, Hollywood Week, the top 50 being culled to two dozen and those Top 24 in both solo performances and celebrity duets.
Returning to host this revival is Ryan Seacrest, who emceed all 15 seasons of “American Idol” on Fox. The three judges are pop princess Katy Perry, country superstar Luke Bryan and Oscar-winning singer/songwriter Lionel Richie.
We were worried that “American Idol” producer Fremantle wasn’t interested in having Seacrest return to this one-time ratings juggernaut after they rejected the idea of shifting “Idol” to New York City to accommodate Seacrest, who just joined Kelly Ripa as co-host of her morning talker “Live.”
The TV academy may well reward the hard-working Seacrest, who will be flying coast-to-coast every week, with that elusive Emmy for Best Reality Host. He lost that race seven times for the original show. First he was bested by Jeff Probst (“Survivor”) for four years running beginning in 2008, then Tom Bergeron (“Dancing with the Stars”) in 2012, Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn (“Project Runway”) in 2013 and RuPaul Charles (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”) in 2016.
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Below, the complete schedule of the two-hour episodes of “American Idol” on ABC this spring.
March 11 – Auditions: Los Angeles, Nashville, New York City,
March 12 – Auditions: New Orleans, Savannah
March 18 – Auditions: Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, Savannah
March 19 – Auditions: Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, Savannah
March 25 – Auditions: Los Angeles, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City, Savannah
March 26 – Hollywood Week (Part 1)
April 1: Hollywood Week (Part 2) Group 1 (12 contestants) solo performances
April 2 Top 50
April 8 – Top 24: Group 1 (12 contestants) solo performances
April 9 – Top 24: Group 1 (12 contestants) duets with celebrities
April 15 – Top 24: Group 2 (12 contestants) solo performances
April 16 – Top 24: Group 2 (12 contestants) duets with celebrities
Live shows
April 22 – Top 12
April 23 – Top 10
April 29 – Top 8
May 6 – Top 6
May 13 – Top 4
May 20 – Finale
May 21 – Finale Results
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