Fox may have lost the battle to reboot American Idol, but the network isn’t surrendering in the reality-TV singing shows war. On Tuesday, the network announced plans to produce The Four, a crooner competition which turns the now-familiar talent search format on its head by eliminating audition rounds and starting the series with a quartet of finalists. The twist: Each week, the four finalists have to defend their spot on the show against new singing rivals who believe they’re more talented that those already chosen by a panel of music-business professionals. Viewer votes will decide whether to keep the judges’ picks or replace them with someone new. At the end of the season, whichever four singers remain will compete for an unspecified prize. No word yet on hosts, judges, or a premiere date.
The Four is based on The Final Four, a singing competition format created by Israeli-based producer Armoza Formats. ITV Entertainment, the studio behind the U.K.’s successful The X-Factor, will produce the American version. Fox is moving forward with the new project less than two years after Idol signed off, and just months after dropping out of talks with Idol producer FremantleMedia to reboot the show. The new Idol will instead air on ABC early next year, with the Alphabet sinking tens of millions into the project, which will feature Katy Perry as a judge and will once again be hosted by Ryan Seacrest. With NBC still heavily invested in The Voice, next year could well see three prime-time singing competitions airing around the same time. Yay?