ABC Boss Promises Format Changes for American Idol

ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey previewed the network's plans for its American Idolrevival during a call with reporters ahead of the network's upfront presentation on Tuesday and defended the network's decision to bring the singing show back so soon after it ended its run on Fox, a move that Fox TV chairman Dana Walden called "extremely fraudulent."

"From where we sit, we feel like it's the perfect time to bring this series back," Dungey said. "What I love about it personally is that it's about heartfelt, uplifting stories of people who make their dreams come true. And honestly, that's our sweet spot at ABC."

Dungey didn't have many details to provide about the revival, which came together quickly and only became official last week, but did give a sort of status update as to where things are and what could happen.

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As for selecting the judges (rumored candidates include Katy Perry and Idol alum Chris Daughtry) and host (probably Ryan Seacrest), "We are in a number of key conversations, but we don't have anything to announce on that at this time," Dungey said.

She did say that ABC's version will be different than Fox's.

"In terms of format changes to make it feel fresh, absolutely," Dungey said. "This is going to be ABC's version of American Idol, so we are very excited. I think you guys will see when we unveil our version of the show that it is going to have a very clear ABC hallmark and brand on it at that point."

UPDATE: During ABC's upfront presentation, Dungey confirmed that Katy Perry will be joining American Idol as a judge.

American Idol will premiere on ABC in 2018.