American Idol season 18 to resume with Ryan Seacrest, Katy Perry and other judges calling in from home
AMERICAN Idol will continue production for season 18 with judges Katy Perry, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan working their jobs from home.
Host , 45, and mentor Bobby Bones, 40, will also perform their duties while quarantined in their houses for the upcoming live shows.
The confirmed the news on Tuesday as the series halted production last month as it transitions from pre-taped episodes to live shows.
Longtime host of the franchise Ryan will lead the series from his Los Angeles home.
Judges , 35, and , 70, will offer their critiques remotely from their California estates.
Country star Luke Bryan, 43, will call in from his residence in Nashville while radio DJ Bobby will also appear virtually from Tennessee.
The remaining Top 20 contestants will perform from home and the same voting system the show has used in the past will still be implemented moving forward.
“America will VOTE and choose a WINNER! Same time, same night,” the network said.
The live studio shows were expected to begin airing on Monday, April 6th but the network announced it will spread its remaining pre-taped episodes over multiple weeks instead of one to buy time.
In order to fill airtime after production was suspended indefinitely on March 21, Idol announced a two-week special would take place to show fans behind-the-scenes content.
American Idol: This is Me promised to “delve deeper into the lives of our Top 20 contestants, with unseen footage and performance highlights.”
Part two of This is Me will air Sunday, April 19 at 8pm EST on ABC.
Last month, Ryan told that despite the COVID-19 shutdowns, all of the scheduled programming will still “make it to air.”
He while self-isolating in his home: “I’ve been doing the American Idol episodes.
“We have shot the auditions and we put what we call voiceover tracks onto those shows and I’ve been doing those voiceover tracks from home as well.
“So in terms of our productions and our programming, all is still making it to air,” he said.
The radio and television personality continued: “With safety being the priority, that is #1, we do want to deliver all of this season. We want to put on these performance episodes.
“I think we’re trying to push the limits of technology and explore any sort of technology that might be available to us to deliver the performance, to deliver the judges comments.”
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Pop star Katy teased fans on Instagram Live last night that the series would need to get “creative” in order to pull it off while the country remains quarantined amid the health crisis.
The mom-to-be is expecting her first child with fiancé , 43, and is .
On April 4, the proud parents revealed they are - who will reportedly be Ann Pearl Hudson.
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