At the Fox upfront presentation Monday, shows such as “Sleepy Hollow” and “New Girl” were boasted about, but one high-profile returning show — “American Idol” — was glossed over, reports the Los Angeles Times’ Show Tracker.
Ryan Seacrest made a “perfunctory appearance in a clip” during the 75-minute presentation, the piece notes.
“Once the crown jewel of Fox's lineup and the highest-rated show in all of television, drawing as many as 30 million viewers a week, the aging singing competition has fallen on hard times in recent seasons. The average viewer of the show continues to age upward — a no-no for the young-skewing Fox — while its overall audience has declined precipitously, reaching a low of just 7 million viewers for an episode last week,” the story reports.
The network's 2014-15 schedule has scaled back the show’s presence, with just 37 hours of programming in the season. That’s down from more than 50 hours of programming. Meanwhile, the competition series “The X Factor” is completely gone from next season’s schedule.
On a conference call, entertainment chief Kevin Reilly acknowledged that “Idol” “is not going to come back as the ratings champion it once was.”
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