TV Odds: Fox Has “Idol” Competitor in the Works

It’s no secret the execs at Fox were not impressed when their hit competition show, American Idol, was snapped up by ABC. After a whopping 15 seasons and almost a decade as the highest-rated series, the show began to lose momentum and was taken off the air in 2016. ABC decided to pick up the show and dropped $25 million to snap up Katy Perry as a judge.

It looked like the battle for singing competition supremacy would be between two big players, ABC’s American Idol and NBC’s The Voice. But Fox wasn’t willing to relinquish the crown without a fight. Variety just announced that Fox has a brand new competition show in the works.

The details are sparse, but here’s what we know so far: The show will feature a panel of judges and four contestants. Every week, new contestants will challenge the four spots and the judges decide who stays and who goes. It’s a slightly different variation to the well-worn elimination process.

The working title for the show is “The Final Four”, but that won’t be the airing title in the US due to its connection to NCAA basketball.

More details will come out soon enough, but for now, let’s make some educated guesses. Here are the odds for Fox’s currently untitled singing competition show!

The Final Four Odds

Odds the show is called:

• American Icon: 99/1
• Four-tune and Fame: 150/1
• Awesome Foursome: 250/1
• The Show Formerly Known as “American Idol”: 300/1
• None of the above: 1/30

Odds the word “four” is included in the show’s title: 1/2

Fox is really driving home the fact that only four contestants will advance after every show. The elimination process is what differentiates their show from the others, and they’ll probably make note of it in the title.

Odds the show airs in January 2018: 3/1

Fox could promote the new series during the NFC playoffs and debut the show in January. That would give them a head-start over “American Idol”, which is scheduled to start in the spring of that year. The question is, can Fox have a show ready by the start of next year?

Odds to be the highest-rated singing competition show in 2018:

• American Idol: 11/9
• The Final Four: 13/7
• The Voice: 4/1

The Voice is going the way of Fox’s American Idol. It’s slipping in the ratings and it looks like the only direction it can go is down. The Final Four (or whatever it ends up being called) has a lot of promise. Fox gave up a show to ABC, but they’re not willing to cede the ground.

That may be tough, though. ABC has already thrown down the big bucks to land Katy Perry, and they’re inches away from snapping up Ryan Seacrest as well. The revamped American Idol is going to be tough to beat.