‘American Idol’ Revived At ABC, Is Ryan Seacrest Going To Be Involved?

It only went off the air in 2016 because of continually falling ratings on Fox, but “American Idol” will officially be heading back to television screens with a new home on ABC in 2018.

ABC has officially announced that they will be reviving the singing competition series sometime during their 2017-2018 television season, shortly after they outbid other networks for the rights to revive the show. The news comes just one week after “Idol’s” former host, Ryan Seacrest, officially joined the ABC/Disney family as Kelly Ripa’s co-host for “Live! With Kelly and Ryan.”

There have been no reports confirming if Seacrest would somehow be involved in the show’s reboot. If the series follows the same format as the original show, the production would take place predominantly in Los Angeles, while Seacrest is now based in New York during the week, and will be on the West Coast on weekends. It is also unclear if his hiring by ABC may have also impacted the decision to bring back the show.

According to The New York Times, the decision to revive “Idol” seems puzzling because of how much ratings had dropped on the show over the years, though it also fits in with the recent reboot mania that seems to have seized the big networks in an effort to combat sinking ratings overall. Other rebooted franchises made into new shows or taken from movies have included Fox’s “24,” “Lethal Weapon,” “Prison Break,” and “The Love Connection,” as well as CBS’ “Training Day” and “MacGyver” reboots this past season.

NBC has also gotten into the revival game with plans to bring “Will and Grace” back in the fall. ABC is also reportedly set to do a “Roseanne” revival next year as well.

Read: Did Ryan Seacrest Confirm He Will Host ABC’s “American Idol” Reboot?

NBC was initially reported to be pushing for the “American Idol” revival and had seemed successful, until ABC wound up winning the rights. Regardless of which network got the show now, there doesn’t seem to be overwhelming excitement online from fans about the planned return.

During “Idol’s” initial 15 season run, the show did manage to catapult successful careers for a few of its winners (including Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood), but managed to make bigger stars from runners-up, like Jennifer Hudson, Clay Aiken and Chris Daughtry. However, despite some of the successes, the increased competition from similar shows, as well as a constantly evolving judge’s table, started to affect the audience watching.

By the time the show took its final curtain call in 2016, the three judges were Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr. Before them, other members of the judge’s table had included originals Randy Jackson Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell, as well as Kara DioGuardi, Ellen DeGeneres, Steven Tyler, Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj.

As of now, there have been no details about who would host or who would judge revealed.