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The American Idol season has been brought to a halt when it comes to live episodes because of the global coronavirus pandemic. Host Ryan Seacrest said they are working on putting out new episodes soon, though the format would be different than fans are used to.
Right now, American Idol will only be airing new episodes until Sunday, April 19, 2020, at which point they will reassess the live episodes and how they’ll be able to make that happen. The episodes airing on Sunday, April 12 and 19 are titled American Idol: This is Me, and they will spotlight the lives and unseen performances of this year’s top 21 contestants.
Right now, it’s unclear when or how the American Idol season will continue after the two episodes of American Idol: This is Me. Read on to learn more about what Idol’s 2020 season may look like.
Host Ryan Seacrest Shed Light on the Status of the Live Episodes
Long-time American Idol host Ryan Seacrest was able to shed a little bit of light on what’s happening behind the scenes to make Idol possible for the remainder of the season when he spoke with TMZ.
He explained that, though the show has shut down in-person production, it’s possible they will find another way to continue with new episodes and they are not planning on throwing the season away.
“We do want to deliver all of this season. We want to put on these performance episodes, we want to put on the episodes that allow America to vote for their favorites to get to an American Idol winner this season,” Seacrest said. “How are we going to do that? We haven’t fully decided, we’re looking at all the different options.”
‘Idol’ Will Likely Not Return to the Usual Format This Season
TMZ reported on March 30 that Idol had ditched their plans to try to make the show work in-studio, saying instead that the show may go on in other ways.
According to TMZ, an email was sent out to the crew saying “As we continue to monitor advice from federal and local agencies, it seems unlikely we are going to be able to make it back into the studio for this season of American Idol.”
One way the show may be able to go on is to telecast from home like shows like Saturday Night Live and other late-night shows and talk shows have been doing. Seacrest himself has been working on his other projects from his home.
This year, the top 20 contestants and judges on American Idol may have to pull together, separately, and find ways to perform and judge performances from home. It sounds like viewer voting will still play a huge role in the season, and it’s likely that Idol would like to move to a virtual format sooner rather than later so they can continue with their season.
This is especially important for the show since they only have new episodes to air on Sundays until Sunday, April 19. The schedule has already been stretched since the show stopped airing new episodes on Mondays in order to deliver those new episodes for as long as possible.
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