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    American Idol' is back! But wait. Didn't we just say goodbye?

    If you watched the Oscars on ABC, you saw plenty of ads for the 'American Idol' revival that starts this coming weekend. But it was barely 2 years ago the series ended at Fox. Was anyone really asking for the show to come back?

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    KCRW placeholderBy Michael Schneider • Mar 6, 2018 • 4m Listen

    We've talked about it before--rebooting an old show is one of the only ways to cut through the clutter of the TV landscape. But was anyone really asking for a revival of 'American Idol'? We'll find out this weekend when the show returns to ABC. Also returning is host Ryan Seacrest, who is under the shadow of a sexual harassment allegation. An internal review has cleared him of any wrongdoing, but no one knows what that review actually looked like. But ABC is forging ahead with Seacrest as host, and has already shelled out a lot of money to get Katy Perry as a judge. Whether the show still holds up, especially in a world where we've now got 'The Voice' and 'America's Got Talent' remains to be seen.

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      Michael Schneider

      Senior editor at Variety

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      Josef Adalian

      Vulture

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