American Idol's ratings have been declining for years, so Fox has made some changes for the upcoming fourteenth season.
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Idol premieres Wednesday night, January 7 at 8PM ET/PT, and viewers will experience shorter episodes, an absent Randy Jackson, and some other new alterations, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Although American Idol will debut with a one-hour episode Wednesday night and be followed by a two-hour broadcast on January 8, the show will scale back to a single two-hour show per week on Wednesday nights beginning in the middle of March.
According to Nielsen ratings figures, American Idol dipped last season to an all-time low weekly average of 10.2 million viewers, according to the Tribune.
"Whatever audience erosion will happen this year will be mitigated by limiting the show to one night," Horizon Media analyst Brad Adgate told the newspaper.
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Now that television is saturated with all different kinds of reality singing competitions like The Voice, Fox executives believe American Idol needs to decrease its demand on viewers' time.
"To commit to three hours a week for our or any other of the shows is too much, even if you adore these (talent) shows," Idol executive producer Trish Kinane said, adding that the new compressed schedule will make for more riveting episodes.
Less filler makes for a better program, according to Kinane, which will now feature eliminations and performances in the same night.
The contestants will be "dressed, ready and with their songs rehearsed" for each episode only to discover who is going home simultaneously. The Tribune reported that the elimination results will be revealed in a "more dramatic way," but definitely not at the beginning of the broadcasts.
In terms of the talent this year, Kinane hinted one female contestant, who makes the Top 24, had "never sung in public before the first audition."
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"She's really good, but whether she'll win or not is unsure because she's quite raw. Can her raw talent develop through the process" is the question, the executive producer explained.
As previously reported, Jackson, who has been the reality singing competition's only mainstay other than Ryan Seacrest, will not be participating in the next edition at all.
Replacing Jackson as the show's in-house mentor will be music producer Scott Borchetta, who will sign the season's winner to his Big Machine Records label, which houses greats such as Taylor Swift -- whom Borchetta discovered at age 14 -- Tim McGraw and Reba.
Seacrest will be reprising his role as host, while Jennifer Lopez, Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr. will all be returning as judges for the second season in a row.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski