The world is not enough for James Bond. Or Ryan Seacrest.
Days after being added to next year’s Super Bowl lineup, the American Idol star and E! News anchor has been tapped to host next month’s Primetime Emmys on Fox.
“He’s a consummate host of major live broadcast events and a proven talent who always makes it look easy, which makes him the perfect choice for this year’s Emmys telecast,” Fox executive Mike Darnell said in a statement Monday.
Seacrest, 32, was already set to be working the 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards as host of E!’s Live from the Red Carpet. He’ll still be part of the network’s preshow coverage but will obviously need time to transition between the productions—not even Ryan Seacrest can be in two places at once. (E! Online is a division of E! Networks.)
He’s also up for an Emmy Award, as the Idol team again seeks to break The Amazing Race’s chokehold on the Reality Competition category.
The Seacrest hire gives the Emmys what the Emmys have wanted all along this year: A touch of Idol (and, presumably, a touch of Idol ratings).
Last February, Emmy organizers gave Idol executive producers Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick the keys to the show. But in May, Lythgoe and Warwick pulled out, citing their busy schedules.
As Emmy luck would have it, a busy schedule just happens to be Seacrest’s specialty. And so the multitasking Idol host, who also anchors E! News, cohosts Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve, broadcasts a Los Angeles morning-drive-time radio show and the syndicated American Top 40 radio show, guest hosts on Larry King Live and probably does windows, too, adds Emmy host to his résumé.
Network synergy seems to be aiding Seacrest’s latest employment surge: Idol, this year’s Emmys and next February’s Super Bowl XLII, for which Seacrest last week was named pregame entertainment host, are all Fox productions.
Last year’s Emmy telecast, as hosted by NBC’s Conan O’Brien for NBC, averaged 16.2 million viewers, marking the fourth time in the last five telecasts that the show’s ratings decreased. The Emmycast hasn’t averaged more than 20 million viewers since 2000. By contrast, last season’s American Idol averaged 30 million viewers on Wednesdays and 29.5 million on Tuesdays—ranking as TV’s first- and second-top-rated shows.
The Primetime Emmys are scheduled to be presented Sept. 16 from Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium. HBO’s The Sopranos is up for the most drama series awards, ABC’s Ugly Betty the most comedy series statuettes.
