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Ryan Seacrest Hosts American Idol Juniors
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Tuesday, 3 Jun 2003
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Mop-top Ryan Seacrest will be working overtime this summer.
American Idol's pretty boy has been tapped to host the show's pint-sized spinoff, American Juniors, from the creators of the original hit, bowing this Tuesday on Fox.
As such, Seacrest's job description will remain essentially the same: swap silly banter with contestants and judges and guide viewers through the selection process.
But the shtick will be purely PG in light of the show's underage set.
Juniors features 20 young singers and dancers separated into two groups--ages 6 to 9 and 10 to 13--competing on a weekly basis for the chance to join a five-member group.
Like it's older sibling, Juniors kicks off this week with an audition episode, part of a special two-part premiere. Meanwhile, the regular song-and-dance performances don't begin until June 17. At that point it's every Dick and Jane for themselves as Fox opens the phone lines to voting viewers. Winners and losers will be announced in the half-hour episodes airing Wednesday nights.
"Ryan Seacrest has proven time and again that he is one of the premiere hosts in variety television," Fox Entertainment prez Gail Berman says in a statement. "As an important member of the Fox family, and the face of American Idol, he is obviously the best choice for the job."
Seacrest continues to host his radio show on Los Angeles' KYSR 98.7 FM Ryan Seacrest for the Ride Home and has also inked a deal to host and executive produce his own syndicated daytime show for Fox's Twentieth Television that's slated to launch in January.
Originally, Idol's cheerleader Paula Abdul had been suggested as host of the kiddie version, but now it appears the "Straight Up" singer won't appear as a host or judge on Juniors.
Also MIA from the summer series are Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell, who's busy producing a CBS reality show called Cupid that debuts in July.
Possibly fearing reprisal from Child Welfare, the producers have decided to cast a whole new panel of judges who won't make the small fries cry.
Contenders so far include Lionel Richie and Gladys Knight, each of whom served as guest panelists on Idol.
Calls to Fox on the final Juniors lineup were not immediately returned.
Replacing the vicious thrill of Simon's viper tongue are Juniors' pushy stage parents, who chaperone their little prodigies along the audition process and, according to promos, don't take kindly to seeing little Johnny eliminated.
But are talented tykes and fanatical moms and dads enough to attract the record number of viewers who tuned in for the grown-up version?
"It seems like they've managed to replace the Simon factor by going after the parents," said Robert J. Thompson, professor and director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. "But the idea that you could slap the American Idol label of an arithmetic class and get people to watch is incorrect. Television viewers have a lot of choices and are very fickle. If they're bored they're not going to stick with it."
Still, with even a fraction of Idol's success the spinoff could be a hit. A record 38.1 million viewers tuned in to the second hour of Idol's season finale to watch Ruben Studdard crowned pop superstar. Overall, the two-hour special averaged 34.3 million curious, making it the second most-watched entertainment show of the year, behind Fox's Joe Millionaire finale (40 million) and ahead of the Academy Awards (33 million).
Speaking of Idols, runner-up Clay Aiken is proving a winner where it counts: his first single, "This Is the Night/Bridge Over Troubled Water," is already number one on Amazon.com's list even though it doesn't come out until next week. Overall, preorders for the tune are reportedly running about four times ahead of those of Studdard's first single, "Flying Without Wings/Superstar," which also comes June 10.
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