Fox honcho: We really value Ryan Seacrest and want to keep him on ‘Idol’
Who has the leverage between Ryan Seacrest and Fox? I'd say Seacrest. CREDIT: Rodney Ho/rho@ajc.com
At the Television Critics Association winter session (which I haven’t attended in five years), Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said he really does want to keep Ryan Seacrest as host on “Idol.” And after the disaster over at “The X Factor,” he admitted to appreciating Seacrest’s value that much more.
The Hollywood Reporter last week speculated that Seacrest has plenty of other options and Fox may be hard-pressed to pay him the $15 million they are paying him now.
“It’s really hard to imagine the show without Ryan,” Reilly told the critics today. “We certainly want to keep him. It’s a deal issue. It’s a tough negotiation and one that will come to a conclusion pretty quickly.”
The HR said today that Seacrest’s people were frustrated that Fox hadn’t even talked to him about his next deal until their story came out last Thursday.
Seacrest, it seems, would have more leverage in this situation given what else he could do and already does. But Seacrest said he wants to stick around: “I love this television show. I can’t imagine life without American Idol,” he said.
I spoke with “Idol” executive producer Nigel Lythgoe on Saturday at “So You Think You Can Dance” auditions at the Fox Theatre and he naturally hopes that Ryan stays around awhile. (Nigel himself left for two seasons before coming back season 10.)
I’ll post the video interview and details tomorrow with Nigel, Mary Murphy and Debbie Allen, a guest judge for SYTYCD.
Join my Facebook fan page and Twitter.
By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk
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© 2012 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
44 comments Add your comment
Jon
January 8th, 2012
9:58 pm
First!
Benadawg
January 8th, 2012
10:12 pm
Ryan is a huge part of Idol, pay the man.
wsj
January 8th, 2012
11:04 pm
I’m not one to argue against the free market…but is he really worth $15 million a year? Seacrest alone would have made a difference with the “problems” with The X Factor? Apparently Simon Cowell was an even bigger draw as he commands about $100 million a year. And people complain about Wall Street and CEO pay. Talk about feast and famine.
Fox honcho: We really value Ryan Seacrest and want to keep him on ‘Idol’ | ATLANTAboy.com | Gay Atlanta Celebrity, Film, Movie & TV News
January 9th, 2012
12:08 am
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Ryne Seacrest
January 9th, 2012
1:03 am
You will see me as the host of the next “X-Factor.”
Tex
January 9th, 2012
5:51 am
This column confirms each week the complete idiocy and bad taste of the American public.
Thanks for the reality check. I thought I was just crazy.
Nutmeg
January 9th, 2012
6:28 am
X-Factor couldn’t have been timed better for Ryan.
I did not appreciate the job he does on Idol until I saw Jones on the X-Factor and realized how much a bad host could just *murder* a show.
Xfacfan
January 9th, 2012
7:24 am
He’s toast, iold is history. He needs to jump ship now, before it all falls down.
Xfacfan
January 9th, 2012
7:25 am
iold=idol
Highlander
January 9th, 2012
7:43 am
Oh, good! Another post telling us how Idol is history and is going to fall soon.
Dude, checkout last season’s ratings! But don’t compare them to the X-Factor’s ratings ’cause if so, you’ll be on Prozac by noon!
Highlander
January 9th, 2012
7:48 am
“The Hollywood Reporter last week speculated that Seacrest has plenty of other options and Fox may be hard-pressed to pay him the $15 million they are paying him now.”
Ummm, doesn’t Fox actually pay 19 Productions for the show and the producers pay the talent? In past negotiations (over Simon’s, Paula’s and Randy’s contracts), I don’t recall hearing anything said about the negotiations being with Fox, but with the production company. (Simon Fuller’s bunch.)
Deirdre
January 9th, 2012
7:52 am
Morning!
I think Fox is already starting to set Ryan up as the bad guy if he leaves.
And yes, wsj, Seacrest would go a long way toward helping XF. Ignoring the totally fake and badly acted argument by the judges, RoboHost’s attempts at charm were nothing short of cringe-worthy.
Deirdre
January 9th, 2012
8:22 am
However, if Ryan left Idol for XF, a lot of people would have difficulty seeing him as anything but a turncoat.
Rickster
January 9th, 2012
8:58 am
It doesn’t matter if any of us think Ryan is worth $15 million or not. It matters if the people he works for think he’s worth $15 million. Based on Robo-host’s performance, I think Ryan’s worth a whole lot more.
Sam-A
January 9th, 2012
9:27 am
Mercedes: Thanks for the “Downton Abbey” mention! I was afraid I was the only watcher and wouldn’t be able to discuss it. I didn’t watch the orignal showing, but my sister insisted I watch the rerun over the holidays, and I’ve fallen hard! Only a couple of hopes, one that there’d a limited amount of war scenes, and two that Bates gets back SOON. LOVE him and his character, what a genteel, wonderful man. And love the Earl as well, for the same reasons. The Edwardian clothes and jewelry are one of my top fave periods, and this show sure doesn’t disappoint. And the cherry on top is the wonderful Maggie Smith!
I fell asleep before Kelly came on SNL, but hopefully someone (are you listening K&CF??) will post the songs here.
Haven’t (and won’t) seen the new “Dragon…”, so cannot speak about it other than what I’ve read, but my feeling is don’t mess with perfection, and the original was a near to perfection as anyone could ask for.
I did see “Tinker, Taylor…” – a real snooze and confusing to boot the first 30-40 mins, but then it got quite good. Gary Oldman is very good (so intense, no matter the role), but boy has he aged in the 6 years since “Sirius Black” role!
Deirdre
January 9th, 2012
9:37 am
Gary Oldman is an acting genius. He is hard to recognize from one role to the next because he is so good at becoming the character. I have often wondered why he chose to take on Commissioner Gordon in the latest Batman series but he’s so good at it that I don’t really care.
Deirdre
January 9th, 2012
9:39 am
And I agree with Rickster. Salaries are based on what the market will allow. If they want Ryan, they already have a number in mind to try to keep him.
Mercedes S.
January 9th, 2012
9:41 am
Sam-A, had a feeling you’d be a “Downton-ie”…First episode lived up to my expectations. Hubbie and self sat quiet for the whole two hours, just taking it all in. Clothes are amazing – and it was probably all done by hand back in the day. Maty’s red outdoor outfit – serious case of covet there.
As for Deirdre’s 8:22 post, if Seacrest would drop Idol for XF – just another reason for me to dislike the show even more.. Unless there is some serious re-vamping, like ditching two useless judges on left, and replacing host and – but we’ve been through all this already – I doubt XF would see a season 3.
J-Hud on Today this am, did well, looked fabulous.
Mercedes S.
January 9th, 2012
9:42 am
That should be “Mary’s red outfit”.
And Good Morning!
Rickster
January 9th, 2012
9:46 am
Wow! Her queeness agreeing with me???
Maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket!
Deirdre
January 9th, 2012
9:51 am
You’d have to share your winnings with me, Rickster!
Mercedes S.
January 9th, 2012
10:07 am
My favorite Oldman movies, except for the Potter ones: “Sid and Nancy”, “Prick Up Your Ears”, “Bram Stoker’s Dracula”, “Immortal Beloved”, “Nil by Mouth”.
Sam-A
January 9th, 2012
10:11 am
Oldman is always fab – and in the Parade in yesterday’s paper, Daniel Radcliffe said he’d learned the most from him (amazing considering the considerable talent this kid has been surrounded with for the past 10 years!) He was a great villain in “Air Force One”, Russian if I remember correctly. He just gets totally immersed in a role. Glad I’ll usually think of him as the loving Godfather Sirius, and not some evil horrible person!
JTesla
January 9th, 2012
10:18 am
What about Fifth Element? He got to wear a nice hat in that.
As for Ryan, I guess people want him to be paid 50K a year and let the producers pocket an extra 20 million. The money is being made, I won’t gripe that some is going to the talent. Or in Idol’s case the people who help display the talent because the true talent don’t get what they deserve.
Sam-A
January 9th, 2012
10:30 am
JT: Too creepy in 5th Element to think about (isn’t that the one with the silver metal skull thingy and the weird “haircut”?)
Deirdre
January 9th, 2012
10:55 am
I loved Fifth Element…so wacky, so weird. It’s one of my guilty pleasures.
DanJ
January 9th, 2012
11:35 am
Ryan is worth whatever someone is willing to pay! My guess is he could use XF to get the max from Idol. That is IF Simon wanted him. My guess is he does after the Steve Jones fiasco.
Does anyone here watch Justified? It’s my favorite show!
Deirdre
January 9th, 2012
11:51 am
Dan I haven’t watched Justified but definitely want to. I’ll probably Netflix the series when they get it…they may have it already. I loved Timothy Olyphant in Deadwood.
Branch Loveless
January 9th, 2012
12:23 pm
Another Seacrest blog? We need Julianne Hough pics, please. That’s the rule.
And if it is “butts and undies” pictures, so be it. We’ll deal.
kelly&carriefan
January 9th, 2012
12:26 pm
Hi y’all,
Sam-A, here’s a link to MJ’s where you can see Kelly’s SNL performances. http://www.mjsbigblog.com/kelly-clarkson-saturday-night-live-video.htm
I thought she looked great, but I’m a little surprised at the second outfit. Glad she was wearing underwear, is all I can say!
Harriett
January 9th, 2012
12:28 pm
Good afternoon!
Ryan is worth whatever it takes to keep him, IMO. But, it would be just like Simon to try and steal him away.
kelly&carriefan
January 9th, 2012
12:29 pm
Oh, and PS. Not sure if anyone saw the Dateline interview with JHud, but I recall the hoopla when one of her CDs came out. This is what she had to say:
The singer and Weight Watchers spokeswoman says she was shocked to see a digitally slimmed-down version of herself on the cover of her 2008 self-titled album. ”It’s like, where’s the rest of me? They Photoshopped me probably to the size I am now on that cover, when we all know I was nowhere near that. Why would you Photoshop that?” she told Holt. “To me, it did not send out a good message. And it did not represent me well. Did I not just prove that talent is enough if I made it this far? Being who I am, being the size that I am?”
source: http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/01/09/jennifer-hudson-photoshop/#more-176051
JTesla
January 9th, 2012
12:33 pm
I agree with Branch, she’s been spotted in a bikini lately and most of the time she has kept the makeup on so she doesn’t look like she is 13 years old.
I don’t know that Simon would try to get Ryan. Too much like Idol, I think he needs to go “different”. He should go with a strong female host, one that could stand up to yet be flirty with him at the same time.
Rodney Ho
January 9th, 2012
12:33 pm
@KCF: This reminds me of the time at a V-103 Jennifer Hudson event at that time. I wanted to talk about that photo cover and when the publicist disagreed, they booted me from the green room. Fun times!
JTesla
January 9th, 2012
12:34 pm
K&CFan, thanks. I now have more respect for Jennifer.
Deirdre
January 9th, 2012
12:41 pm
One has to wonder why JHud couldn’t have just said that right from the beginning. There WAS a lot of hoop;a and she really didn’t address it.
Deirdre
January 9th, 2012
12:43 pm
hoopLa..lol
Yes, it even got Rodney kicked out of an interview. I guess it’s a lot easier for her to take the high road now that she actually is that size but if she was proud of accomplishing what she had accomplished at that point, why not make an issue of it then?
kelly&carriefan
January 9th, 2012
12:46 pm
D, agreed. Perhaps a part of her wished she was that size and thought ignoring it would be the better course of action?
Deirdre
January 9th, 2012
12:59 pm
k&cf, thanks for the Kelly links. She did great and, um, yeah about that second dress
Mercedes S.
January 9th, 2012
1:13 pm
Forgot about “Fifth Element”… maybe because Oldman’s part was minor, and unpleasant, and everybody in movie was overshadowed by the blue Diva.
Thanks for link to Kelly – Best female voice on Idol ever! I’d love to hear her and Adele in a duet.
But the girl is in serious need of a proper stylist. The pants and top and bootie outfit was worse than the dress, which was pretty bad in itself. I think Kelly would look really great in a “Mad Man” dress, like that voluptious girl of the show (can’t remember name).
Mercedes S.
January 9th, 2012
1:15 pm
VOLUPTUOUS
Sam-A
January 9th, 2012
2:09 pm
Thanks, K&CF! I googled Kelly Clarkson on SNL, and saw some really great “headlines” – only read a couple of them, but they were universally great reviews. One I did read said, she “hit all her notes” – huh? When has Kelly NOT hit all her notes?
I tried to help in the dress area – sent an email to “What Not To Wear” a couple years ago, but alas, to no avail! They instead chose Mayam Bialyk (sp??) – say what!? She definitely has lost some weight – her butt is not any bigger than the yucky KimK now. (not implying that Kelly is “yucky”).
Sam-A
January 9th, 2012
3:55 pm
Just now found out why the Earl of Downton is so familiar – he was Bernie in one of my favorite ever movies, “Notting Hill”. He was a shy loser who could never get a girl – funny what a different character the Earl is – very elegant and charming!
Seth T.
January 9th, 2012
5:41 pm
The Idol Judges and Host and guest appearances are a big-money celebrity game that can self-promote the inner circle of the business — due to the success of the show, with deep-pocket sponsors.
Some of the actors & actresses in the T.V./Movie business, get paid huge sums of money for their roles, same in sports. Whatever the market will bear is the rule.
There is no doubt that a great host could be cast, that would do an amazing job for much less money, and my take on this is that they should provide more income to the aspiring young artists that they use, and film their struggles, to make the show to begin with.
The good thing for the contestants is that they get a great boot-camp in music, but unless they make the top 10 or so, they don’t get a lot of compensation for their time and work and stress in providing a basis for a high-dollar show for a t.v. audience. There’s a bit of an exploitation factor to set-up the show, that uses a share of the contestants making little, to pay the celeb’s a lot.