Tuesday’s ‘Idol’ Expanding to 90 Minutes

Results show will be cut by a half hour

ALSO READ: "Fox Builds on ‘Glee’ With Comedy Block."

Good news for "American Idol" fans with DVRs.

After a season when the performance show has consistently run overtime — and the results show been consistently maddening in its length — Fox is reconfiguring the hit show’s schedule.

When it returns in January, the performance show will expand to 90 minutes and the results show be cut to 30, nework executives said Monday.

“We’ve heard consistently from audiences they would like more performances and tighter results shows, so that’s what we’re going to do as we get into the spring,” Kevin Reilly, Fox’s entertainment president, said.

Part of this is a return to the past. Several "Idol" incarantions ago, the results show had been only 30 minutes.

There’s still no word on a replacement for departing host Simon Cowell, however. Fox brass said that there’s still plenty of time to find a stand in for the sardonic Brit, noting that auditions for season 10 of "Idol" don’t start until September.

The network said it will spend the summer searching for someone with the right mixture of music bona fides and on-screen charisma.

 

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