Did you remember that American Idol is actually a show that’s still happening? Somehow we knew the show was airing, but we weren’t actively thinking about it. The renewal announcement from ABC was a quick reminder that it’s still happening. It’s also a sobering sign of how troubled network television is. Not to mention, not a great sign for the music industry either.
When American Idol premiered on Fox back in 2002, it was an absolute smash. It was based on the successful UK program, Pop Idol, and carried over producer and host Simon Cowell. Of course, Cowell hasn’t been a judge on the show in years. Can you even name any of the current judges? We had to check it ourselves. It’s nice to see Lionel Richie is still getting work!
That’s the overall problem with American Idol: it doesn’t have the impact that it once had. It also doesn’t have the public resonance. This even translates over to the success of the artists who win. Do you know who the last Idol winner to have a top 40 hit on the pop charts was? It was Phillip Phillips who won back in 2012. Sure, more recent winners have had hits on the Gospel and Country charts, but American Idol was based in the pop genre.
The dynamic of the music industry has changed drastically. Artists are more likely to have success thanks to TikTok than they are on American Idol. What’s the point of competing on a show when your win doesn’t guarantee any true level of success? ABC’s ratings for the most recent season seemed to average around 5 million an episode. That’s what passes the bar for renewal these days because terrestrial stations are hurting so much.
Maybe one of the reasons why they’re hurting is because this is the kind of programming they offer up. In the late ’90s and into the ‘2000s, large media companies started shifting some of their bigger shows to cable. Then, once streaming became bigger and bigger in the late 2010s and early 2020s, programs shifted again to digital platforms. That left cable in the dust and the terrestrial networks even further behind.
What do NBC, CBS, ABC, and Fox really have left for their affiliates? Mostly competition shows and sports. There’s the sporadic comedy and drama, but few of them are actually attracting large audiences. The last time a network comedy series won an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series was in 2014 for the 5th season of Modern Family. And Outstanding Drama is even worse. The last NOMINATION for a network drama was in 2021 for This Is Us. For the last win, you have to go back to 2006 for season five of 24.
All that is to say, when companies complain about network viewership decay, the programming choices are not helping. As people start getting priced out of streaming options, maybe this is a sign to pivot big programs to networks. As long as you can tune into the digital channels on your TV, they’re free. But you’re not going to get a lot of eyeballs with American Idol. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy: you lower your rating standards because of current industry dynamics, and you settle for substandard programming to fill those time slots.
Clearly we’re not exactly excited for the next season of American Idol. We can’t even tell you who won the last several seasons. That should be a sign that maybe we need something new and not just adequate for the ratings numbers.
