Show are hoping for the Idol touch Scott Collins Los Angeles Times Nigel Lythgoe couldn't r resist an idle boast the other d day ay after he and a longtime c colleague had just been tapped lapped to try to rescue the 7 TV rv industry's biggest night fi from a long slouch toward fio o obsolescence fiE Its the first time the E Emmy producers have been o on 11 the front of the bloody lra lr Hollywood Reporter a and md Variety exclaimed L Lythgoe a British born choreographer turned TV ii iiii impresario Lythgoe and fellow Brit Briten K Ken en Warwick oversee Foxs Fox's American Idol currently ii in n its sixth season and so competitors can an only look upon its ratings and despair Now the Academy of Television Arts Sciences hopes the Idol duo luo will sprinkle its Nielsen pixie dust on Septembers September's Emmy Awards on Fox Viewers dont don't normally notice lotice or care car who midwifes l live ceremony but installing the Idol guys in n the Emmy control room amounts m to a tacit admission from rom the normally change- change averse Iverse TV academy that it needs leeds to try something new or risk you know something approximating annihilation in n a universe Its It's the same impulse that while back led Oscar officials to turn rum to Chris Rock ock and Jon Stewart as hosts although Sundays Sunday's Academy Awards emcee the e much more understated Ellen DeGeneres hinted ata ata at ata a reversion to traditions For years the TV academy has hired either of two respected live-broadcast live vets Don Mischer or Ken Ehrlich to oversee oversee the telecast But like most other name-brand name entertainment awards the show has seen its ratings erode sharply over the past few outings Last August the gathered an average audience of million on NBC sliding 13 percent compared with the previous year on CBS and off nearly one-fifth one compared wih the 2002 broadcast according to figures from Nielsen Media Research Lythgoe whose shortcomings do not include excessive shyness said hes he's up for the challenge Once known to British viewers as a bombs-away bombs judge on Pop Idol nicknamed Nasty Nigel hes he's more recently become famous almost-famous to American viewers as a less- less brutal Simon Cowell on Foxs Fox's summer filler So You Think You Can Dance How could you pre present ent the cast of Heroes Heroes' he wondered of NBC's pulpy hit drama Could they come flying in on wires Could you stop time Those are the things I 1 want to look at He added I think were we're gonna shock people Whether or not Nasty Nigel shocks anyone though the consensus among TV professionals i is that its it's high time Emmy officials stepped outside their comfort zone Contacted through a spokeswoman television academy Chairman Dick Askin didn't ret call Lythgoe and Warwick have to blow through 27 Emmy categories in three hours with plenty of clips and scripted bits tossed in and that's clearly going to limit their opportunities for innovation It is an algebraic equation Lythgoe said and of course theres there's nothing quite so as algebra Both men said they fully expect academy officials to weigh in with further demands over the next seven months But the producers did offer a couple of important clues to their approach Viewers should look for a host who has never emceed the and more attention fixated on behind- behind the-scenes the drama Lythgoe considers the emcee of paramount paramount- importance although he refused to offer hints about his short list beyond this There are four people I 1 would give my eyeteeth for two vo individuals and andone andone andone one a double act After a moments moment's reflection he added Well they're not a double act really but I 1 know they'd be great together DeGeneres Garry and Conan OBrien O'Brien shouldn't bother waiting by the phone I would not particularly like to go down the route of someone weve we've seen a thousand times before Warwick said |