America's long nightmare is over.
Fox announced yesterday that "American Idol" will not -- repeat, not -- be moved to Thursday nights, but will stick with the Tuesday-Wednesday play pattern that has done so much to make it impossible to phone home on those nights. For weeks now, the show's nearly 30 million fans have been angsting over reports about a possible move to Thursday night. In the reality series, would-be pop stars compete on Tuesday, viewers phone in their faves that night, and the bottom vote getter is whacked the next night.
"Despite fevered guessing by industryites and some overeager media outlets, Fox Wednesday said 'American Idol' will remain on Tuesday and Wednesday nights when it returns for its fifth season in January," trade paper Variety reported yesterday afternoon on its Web site.
"After weeks of speculation about a possible scheduling move of 'American Idol,' Fox has decided to keep the blockbuster reality series on Tuesday and Wednesday nights," the Hollywood Reporter chimed in.
"Fans of 'American Idol' won't have to change their weekly plans," the Associated Press pointed out.
And, our personal fave: "Fox is indeed shaking up the Thursday-night landscape at midseason, although the announcement the network made about its schedule isn't quite the earth-shattering one many were expecting." That from Zap2it.com. (FYI, that Thursday-night shakeup consists of aged "That '70s Show" and Pamela Anderson's "Stacked" moving from Tuesday to Thursday at 9.)
And this, boys and girls, is how you get the media worked into a frenzy over your otherwise utterly boring announcement about your midseason schedule changes -- the most exciting bit of which is that "House" will not, as Fox suits had told advertisers in May, move to Monday at 8 but will stick in its Tuesday 9 p.m. time slot. Try making a TV Column out of that .
Instead, we are joining the pile-on of stories about the shocking decision by Fox to not -- repeat, not -- move "American Idol" to Thursday night.
And why not? you might ask. Good question.
Because, Fox scheduling guru Preston Beckman explained to the Associated Press, "It's been a Tuesday-Wednesday institution and it's in its fourth year.
"It works. People expect it then," he said.
All undeniable. Plus, he added, "I don't believe it would make significantly more money if we moved it."
