Fox has announced American Idol's seventh season will premiere over the course of two consecutive nights on Tuesday, January 15 and Wednesday, January 16, with both two-hour broadcasts beginning at 8PM ET/PT.
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Following its two-night, four-hour debut, Idol 7 will slide into its regular one-hour Tuesdays at 8PM ET/PT time period beginning January 22 and its regular one-hour Wednesdays at 8PM ET/PT time slot on January 23.
In addition, Fox announced Idol 7's first half-hour results show broadcast will air Wednesday, March 12 at 9PM ET/PT and is currently scheduled to serve as the lead-in for the network's Back to You comedy.
Idol 7's seven-city audition process wrapped last month, and the competition's "Hollywood Round" -- where 160 hopefuls are narrowed to 24 semifinalists, 12 boys and 12 girls -- will begin at the end of November.
While Fox had presumably always planned to launch the seventh-season of it's ratings juggernaut in mid-January, the recent Writers Guild of America strike has also led the network to tentatively announce the Spring 2008 debuts of a few other unscripted series as well.
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Most notably, Fox announced Hell's Kitchen's fourth season will now premiere on Tuesday, April 1 at 9PM ET/PT immediately following that night's Idol broadcast.
Back in July, Fox renewed Hell's Kitchen for a fourth season that would air in 2008, and the show's Fox publicist recently confirmed that the edition was still "slated to air in Summer 2008." However Daily Variety recently reported Fox began back-to-back production on two new Hell's Kitchen installments, one of which will now debut in April. Hell's Kitchen 4 will be the first installment of the Gordon Ramsay reality competition series to debut outside the summer programming season.
In addition, Fox also announced When Women Rule the Earth -- a new reality series that will feature 12 unsuspecting chauvinistic men becoming slaves in a new primitive Survivor-like "society" ruled by 12 "strong, educated and independent" women -- is now scheduled to premiere on Monday, March 3 at 8PM ET/PT.
Fox reportedly began production on When Women Rule the World back in January, and while the series was initially scheduled to debut last spring, that never happened, and it was also left off both Fox's Summer 2007 schedule as well as its initial 2007-2008 primetime programming lineup.
Fox also announced The Moment of Truth -- a new game show that was developed under the working title Nothing but the Truth and will quiz contestants on personal questions and use a lie detector to determine if they're telling the truth -- is scheduled to premiere Wednesday, January 23 at 9PM ET/PT immediately following that night's Idol broadcast.
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The Moment of Truth will move into its Wednesdays at 8PM ET/PT time period beginning March 12, when it will serve as the lead-in for Idol 7's first results show broadcast.
About The Author: Christopher Rocchio