Have American Idol’s 2020 Live Shows Been Postponed Due to Coronavirus?

Most productions have shut down in the past few weeks due to the global coronavirus pandemic, but ABC’s American Idol’s live shows are still on the schedule to start sometime in April. They have not yet been officially postponed.

Shows like American Idol and The Voice were scheduled to begin live shows in less than a month, but that likely won’t be happening. ABC has already shut down production on their biggest reality show, The Bachelorette, with no official plans on when they’ll be able to start production back up. They are reportedly going to re-cast the men for the season as well.

Other shows that have been postponed or canceled for the 2020 season include CBS’s The Amazing Race, Law & Order: SVU, Supernatural, Survivor, Grey’s Anatomy, and all late-night television programs including Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert. The late-night shows were filmed for a few days with no audiences, but they have also been completely shut down since then.

Read on to learn more about American Idol and whether the season will be postponed or canceled.

‘American Idol’ Filming Has Been Postponed Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic

ABC/Eric McCandless

On Thursday, March 19, a source told Billboard that some of the crew have been working remotely since the previous week and all new shoots for American Idol have been put on hold. The source also said that all the contestants had been sent home to be with their families in order to be quarantined at home instead of in Hollywood.

The live shows would have begun sometime in April since the pre-taped shows will still be airing for the two episodes this week as well as the two episodes set to air next week.

According to TV Line, the producers on Idol will continue to evaluate how things are going on a week-to-week basis with the hopes of getting up and running as soon as it is safe.

Hollywood Week and the Showcase Round Will Air as Scheduled

ABC/Eric McCandless

Because of the way the show was laid out, the Hollywood Week rounds and showcase rounds have been pre-taped, so they will continue to air on the usual schedule. That means that the following schedule should still stand for the show:

Sunday, March 22: Hollywood Week Duets
Monday, March 23: Hollywood Week Solos
Sunday, March 29: Hawaii Showcase Round
Monday, March 30: Showcase Round Part 2

After that, things for the show get a little more dicey since it’s not immediately clear just how much has been pre-taped. The show was definitely narrowed down to the top 20 contestants before taping had wrapped up in January. Then, those 20 performers would have performed either in a pre-taped episode or live.

Live voting was set to begin starting with the top 20 performances. From there, the contestants would have been narrowed down to somewhere around 10 to 15 people by the audience. Once the show got down to that point, it would have begun to air its live coast-to-coast episodes.

For now, the judges and contestants are keeping busy while being at home with their families. Tune in to the pre-taped episodes of American Idol on Sundays and Mondays on ABC at 8 p.m. ET/PT to see which contestants make it to the Top 20.

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