BY ARIANA COLASUONNO
Staff Reporter
Despite prior claims of the show’s supposed farewell, the American singing competition television series, “American Idol,” is back for a 16th season.
“I’m so excited,” said sophomore Shannon Sweeney. “I used to watch ‘American Idol’ with my parents and siblings every week as every new episode came out.”
On May 11, 2015, Fox announced that the 15th season would be the final season of “American Idol.” The season was later branded as “American Idol: The Farewell Season” and the series concluded on April 7, 2016, with country pop singer Trent Harmon as the final winner.
“I’m really not excited about ‘American Idol’ coming back,” said junior Anushka Chowdhuri. “I probably haven’t watched it since 2007.”
After the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) announced in May that they were making a bid to revive the series, they acquired the rights and “American Idol” was officially coming back for another season.
“I think that they thought they would get a lot of viewers since they marketed it as the last season,” said Chowdurri. “[They] thought there would be even more of an reaction and excitement that there’s a new season after its fan base thought it was gone.”
The show’s original judges were Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson. After 12 seasons, none of them were further involved in the series.
“It shouldn’t have came back unless they were going to bring back the original crew: Simon, Paula and Randy,” said junior Nebeel Khandwala. “I think it’s fine, but just a pathetic attempt to bring back a dead show.”
Before the show concluded, Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr. were the judges. After the series revival was announced, three new judges were chosen: Katy Perry, Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie. They will be joined by Ryan Seacrest, who hosted “American Idol” for the past 15 seasons.
“Katy Perry has a huge fan base and Lionel Richie is a music icon with decades of knowledge,” said junior Shauntane Scott. “I think Lionel might be the standout judge.”
“American Idol” isn’t the only singing competition television series. Other students believe that even with the new judges, they don’t compare to the judges of the show’s competitors like “The Voice” and “America’s Got Talent.”
“There are way better judges on ‘The Voice’ and ‘America’s Got Talent,’” said Chowdurri. “Especially because ‘America’s Got Talent’ has a solid group of core judges and when ‘The Voice’ gets new judges, they always get celebrities who are relevant in today’s popular music, such as Miley Cyrus.”
Some also believe that “American Idol” shouldn’t have come back because it won’t attract the same amount of viewers it once had—which was a big concern for prior seasons.
“I don’t think ‘American Idol’ has a chance because the show has gone on for too long,” said senior Christina Mavroudis. “I don’t think it will be successful because it probably won’t get as many viewers as they would like.”
“American Idol” is known for discovering big stars in the music industry like Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson. Some past viewers believe that the show returned because its fans fought for it to stay.
“I think it came back because a lot of younger people who want to become singers have always wanted to be on ‘American Idol’ and audition,” said Mavroudis. “They probably had a lot of people reaching out to them.”
Whether the revived series will make a comeback or not, “American Idol” fans believe that there is something that sets the show apart from its competitors.
“I think ‘American Idol’ started a huge chain of singing competitions on television.” said Sweeney. “Maybe they had to come back one last time to honor a tradition and prove who started it all.”
The official air date of the 16th season of “American Idol” is not yet known to the public. However, it is set to air sometime during the beginning of 2018 on the ABC Network.
