The Four is ‘fresh take’ on singing contest

Fox defends axing of American Idol

BEVERLY HILLS, California — Fox will counter its onetime powerhouse American Idol with a new singing contest, The Four.

The network cancelled its long-running American Idol last year because of dwindling ratings and rising costs, only to see it snapped up by ABC for an early 2018 debut.

Fox Television Group CEO Dana Walden, announcing the new series this week, said there’s room for a “fresh” take on the contest format as she defended the axing of American Idol.

While other shows are “more about celebrity panels and less about star-making,” Walden told a TV critics’ meeting, The Four will be the opposite.

“Our show begins where the others end,” she said, with four finalists pre-selected from auditions by a panel of industry experts.

The singers will have to fend off weekly challenges from newcomers trying to replace them. Viewers who believe they “have the goods” can upload an audition video and possibly go from sitting on their couch one week to competing the next, Walden said.

The show’s prize: a career guided by the show’s panel, which Fox indicated is likely to be drawn from music producers, songwriters and perhaps a pop star-mentor.

Like American Idol, which transferred a format tested in another country (Britain’s Pop Idol), The Four is based on an Israeli show.

Walden struck a confident tone about chances for The Four in a field that will include the American Idol reboot and current singing contest champ The Voice, which airs on NBC.

“I don’t anticipate that we’ll put it up against Voice or American Idol because we really believe in this show. We’re not developing it to just try to create some noise,” she said.

The Four will have a shorter season than other singing contests, part of the plan to make it an “event,” said Rob Wade, president of alternative programming for the Fox network.

Wade said the moment when a challenger auditions against a finalist is “brilliantly dramatic.” and exciting. “It’s like Game of Thrones, with better singing and less nudity,” he added.