For FremantleMedia CEO Cecile Frot-Coutaz, Groundhog Day arrives every July. At least it’s been that way for the last four years or so as the company’s flagship show
American Idol has seen a revolving door of judges come and go, starting with Paula Abdul’s exit after season 8, followed by Simon Cowell in 2010 and Kara DioGuardi and Ellen Degeneres not long after.
There’s rarely a summer off from the casting headache, either, because even in times when the Idol panel is set (like between seasons 10 and 11 when Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler signed on as judges),
the Fremantle executive has to deal with X Factor. Frot-Coutaz laughed off the pressure back in April, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “I think I'm getting used to it.”
But America’s patience is wearing thin. With Idol ratings down some 25 percent from last year (but still averaging an impressive 20 million viewers), resulting in lost ad revenue and the equally pressing problem of perception, it’s a call for dramatic action.
Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the show is looking to downsize significantly for season 12, cutting budgets, staff and, of course, salaries, the latter of which will make recruiting top pop talent (like a Fergie, Nicki Minaj, or Will.I.Am) to fill vacancies all the more challenging. In addition, reports that Lopez, who earned between $15 and $20 million on Idol, was angling for another raise (her third in as many years) are true, say insiders, while Tyler’s motivation to exit seems to be more music-focused: as a touring artist, he can make better money on the road with Aerosmith and promoting a new album than he would filibustering on a soundstage in Los Angeles.
Still, the rocker’s exit ultimately caught many in Idol’s extended family off-guard. By most accounts, his announcement wasn’t planned far in advance, but rather, like almost all things Idol, came together at the last-minute.
Lopez was more methodical in her selective teasing, spilling a hint of hesitation to NBC’s Today but ultimately giving the big news to her pal, Idol host Ryan Seacrest, who announced it Friday on his radio show.
As for Randy Jackson, his return is not guaranteed either, but the Idol staple has one ace up his sleeve: Mariah Carey, whom he manages. Us Weekly and other outlets have suggested that she would take a judge’s seat while he might move to more of a mentor role for the contestants. It would certainly ease what could be a harsh transition to have the reassuring Randy stick around. A
nd he’d be making out nicely, too -- receiving pay for his role on the show and a percentage of Carey’s earnings as her representative and likely orchestrator of the deal.
But casting Carey would be expensive (though Fox could try to bring down the price by noting how much Lopez benefitted via her music and endorsements by promoting herself on TV's No. 1 stage). More importantly, it could infuriate X Factor’s Cowell (still a friend of Jackson's), who had the singer booked for his season one judges’ house episode, but Carey was ultimately grounded in New York due to Hurricane Irene. X Factor's highly competitive L.A. Reid, who is widely credited for orchestrating her massive 2005 comeback album, The Emancipation of Mimi, which he executive produced, might not be pleased to see the diva judge Idol, either. If it’s a programming war Fox is looking for, they may just find it in hiring Carey.
One thing is certain: host Ryan Seacrest is locked up for the next two seasons, with Idol producers having agreed to pay him $15 million per season earlier this year, and it will be in large part the multi-hyphenate's job to steer the ship back to shore.
According to well-placed insiders, in the hours that followed both Tyler’s and Lopez’s announcement, a mild panic seemed to set in for those intimately involved with the show as war room-like meetings behind closed doors were hastily assembled and cell phones beeped nonstop.
Public opinion came down fast and furious, too. Among the revelations: that in the end, superstars Lopez and Tyler saw their careers flourish with lucrative endorsement opportunities and music on the charts, but didn’t really help the Idol franchise; in fact, they may have hurt it. After all, this year’s finale was the show’s lowest rated ever -- even counting season 1, which aired -- wouldn’t you know it -- during the summer.
Idol this season commanded between $468,100 and $502,900 for a 30-second commercial spot, according to Ad Age, second only to Sunday Night Football among TV broadcasts
. But the ratings drop will likely impact those rates. And with it the money Fox and Fremantle spend to produce the show -- which is believed to be in the $2 million per episode range. Production budget cuts could impact the show as well, affecting the number or length of location shoots and the size of crews contracted by the show. A taping with mentor Jimmy Iovine, for example, would typically have 10 people on duty -- future sessions may find one person having to do the job of two; a reality many working Americans are all too familiar with.
Fox and Fremantle had no comment but one source close to the production disputes the notion that Idol is trimming the fat, labeling the reporting as “inaccurate.”
Source:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/ido...utbacks-349266
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I was just talking about this yesterday in the J.Lo thread --
http://atrl.net/?p=10651403
Carrie Underwood from season 3 
