You mad FOX? After losing the bidding war for American Idol reboot to ABC, FOX is developing a new singing competition based on an Israeli format. Variety reports:
Fox is developing a new singing competition from Israeli producer and distributor Armoza Formats, Variety has learned. Although no series order has yet been finalized, development has accelerated since May, when ABC closed a deal to bring American Idol back to television just two seasons after Fox canceled the long-running franchise.
The Armoza project is a variation on classic shiny-floor singing competitions, one in which the show’s four finalists are selected in the premiere episode. New contestants then challenge the finalists each week to steal one of the four slots. The winner is named in the season finale.
Armoza made its first sale of the format in April, in France with production company Satisfaction. The show has been being shopped internationally under the title “The Final Four,” but will not air in the U.S. under that name so as to avoid confusion with the NCAA men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments. The still-untitled series could be the first show developed under new alternative programming chief Rob Wade, who joined the network in February, to make it to air.
The format reminds me a little of the X Factor’s “Six Chair Challenge,” in which a contestant performs and their mentor decides whether to give them a “seat” or not. However, there are more singers than seats. Nobody is safe until the end of the round. It can be a pretty brutal process. Which is why Simon loves it, of course.
Also, the new format lends itself well to real-time voting, which I would expect FOX to incorporate here. Tidbit: ABC’s failed singing show from 2012, Rising Star, which relied on real-time voting, was also a format developed in Israel. Tidbit #2: Rob Wade is the former long-time executive producer of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.
It could be a super busy spring for singing competitions in 2018. Quite a departure from 2017, where we only had The Voice to satisfy our singing show addictions…
