“American Idol” Might Have A Case Of Buyer’s Remorse Over Katy Perry
ABC’s American Idol reboot has a lot in common with the old American Idol. They’ve got the same dead-eyed robot host. They’ve got people lining up to audition. And just like William Hung’s voice, the judging situation for this reboot is a flaming hot mess. According to Radar Online, it might have just gotten even messier.
We all know by now that ABC backed a dump truck up to Katy Perry’s house and unloaded $25 million – reportedly half of Idol’s budget for talent – to secure her as a judge. She was getting paid way more than what Ryan Seacrest was rumored to be getting, and a whole hell of a lot more than what ABC was prepared to fork over for the other judges. Judges that (nervous collar-tug) still have yet to be named, by the way.
Everything seemed to be great for Katy though. That is, until Katy descended from the ceiling in a tacky space suit at the MTV VMAs on Sunday night and gave a performance that can best be described as a good excuse to mentally check out and eat a banana. A lot of people weren’t feeling Katy’s cringey performance as host. A source tells Radar, that includes some of the higher ups at ABC and Idol.
“They are paying her $25 million and she was a total dud [on the VMAs]. No one ever auditioned her for the new Idol job and they are freaking out that they hired someone who is terrible on live television.”
Radar also reports that producers are trying their damnedest to reign in Katy’s impulse to be the biggest, loudest star in the room.
ABC wants “a more modulated and thoughtful Katy,” a source had said of the 32-year-old singer. “It’s not like they’re asking her to change her hairstyle or revise her style team, but they are asking her not to upstage the contestants the way some past judges, especially Mariah Carey, had the tendency to do.”
Have these people seen the video for “Swish Swish” yet? Because here’s what they should expect from Katy: mugging for the camera, and lots of it.
It’s really too bad that ABC is so far into production on their Idol reboot, because this sounds like perfect material for a TV special called When Stunt Casting Goes WRONG. You didn’t audition someone before you threw $25 million at them? And then they proved they *might* not be so good at live television? I’m sorry to tell you this, ABC, but I think that might be the entertainment industry equivalent of someone in 1996 blowing their 401K on Beanie Babies.
Pic: Wenn.com