FOX Execs Confirm Failed Attempt to Bring Back AMERICAN IDOL

On a conference call with reporters this morning, FOX Television Group CEO Dana Walden confirmed that the network did indeed attempt to bring AMERICAN IDOL back to its original home for a 2020 return, however their offer was rejected by 'Idol' producer FremantleMedia.

"Yes, it feels bad knowing it's coming back on another network," Walden told reporters. "We sat down with Fremantle just a month or two after the end of the show and they were determined to get this show back on the air as quickly as possible."

After marketing last year's 'Idol' as the show's "final season", FOX felt that it would be doing a disservice to its viewers by bringing the show back immediately. "It felt to us that it would be extremely fraudulent to bring the show back so quickly -- that our fans would not appreciate being told one thing and then have the show brought it back right away," Walden said. "We and Fremantle just had very different points of view."

The exec also revealed that prior to the show's final 15th season, FOX attempted to make changes to the singing competition, including trimming the format and testing out new judge's panels, in order to boast ratings. However Fremantle was not interested in their requests.

Commented Walden, "We did not see the fan excitement and enthusiasm for the show to come back that Fremantle did. We just had a different set of facts."

Last week, ABC officially announced that it will be reviving AMERICAN IDOL next season.

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