Wait and see approach on Australian Idol
Seven is waiting for Australia to fully re-open before settling on Idol 2022 plans.
- Published by David Knox
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With Seven having two editions of The Voice in 2022, where does it sit with Australian Idol?
In June Seven stated that whilst plans for the show had halted due to COVID restrictions, it was still committed to a show in 2022.
Andrew Backwell, Seven’s Head of Production, has now given an update to Mediaweek.
“You can see that there is an appetite for this type of genre. Idol is a fantastic format. We were going to go into production, but obviously, Covid stopped us from producing Idol. There are hundreds of hundreds of people that line up outside the venue for the chance to audition and it’s done live shows in front of an audience of 1000 people. You can’t produce that type of show during Covid,” he said.
“The Voice we were able to get away with it, and we had a full audience there that just fell into that patch where things were open, now it would have been much harder. But it’s one of the shows you could achieve in this current environment and Idol wasn’t.
“So what we’re going to wait to see is when Australia opens up, how it opens up, and then we’ll work up what we’re going to do with Idol after that.”
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7 Responses
Interesting strategy, clearly not worried about audience fatigue.
This always felt like something commissioned for the benefit of the Upfronts rather than the viewers at home. Lockdowns seem a convenient get out, although after the success of The Voice this year surely they’ll want something to air off the back of the Winter Olympics. It’ll probably end up being an early run of The Voice but failing that Idol is the next closest thing – but two on the same network would never work.
I mean would it really be the worst thing not to bring it back?
I think it would be a shame especially if it is live with real public voting. The voice has a format and is more tuned to existing performers. Idol and and to a degree Xfactor are better platforms for hopeful new talent.
My only concern is Sevens liking to pre-record all it’s reality now, so if they can’t or wont do it live then let it go. Maybe someone else will be brave enough to do it right.
Last I heard, 2022 was the final year in 7’s contract for Idol. If it doesn’t make it to air in 2022 i don’t think we will ever see it, and with the success of the voice i cant see them being too keen.
Why wait? America’s already done the latest AGT season, so Aus Idol should be able to work under current conditions. We need to move on with life and get things going again.
It feels Idol was a back up reserve if Voice or AGT failed. However Voice delivered and they seem to be pursuing a second season minus audience, so no need for them to act on Idol I guess.