Ryan Seacrest is one of the busiest guys in show business. In addition to the American Idol duties that first launched him to fame, he does red carpet work, produces and contributes in a variety of ways over at E!, and hosts his own radio show. Now, he’s signed on to produce another program for Fox called Dream Date.
Dream Date is a reality competition series that will follow a group of women looking for love. Deadline first reported the news that Ryan Seacrest Productions is behind the series, also noting that Fox is keeping the details about the new project tightly under wraps. Reportedly, the show will feature some sort of celebrity element, however. That’s not a lot to go off of, but as the show has been greenlighted by the network, I’m sure we’ll be hearing more about the new competition series in the coming months.
Dream Date comes at a time when a network could use another strong dating series. ABC’s The Bachelor and The Bachelorette are practically dinosaurs and other reality matchmaking programs have not found audiences, including NBC’s short-lived 2013 program Ready for Love. It’s hard to tell at this juncture if Ryan Seacrest Prods. has found the right formula to create a dating competition series that works. After all, the man is more known for his producing work on regular reality programs like Shahs of Sunset. Still, this one could be a moneymaker for a network that could use a moneymaker.
Interestingly, the Dream Date report comes just a couple of months after Seacrest signed on with another network to host a different reality competition series. Dream Date is reportedly already filming and I don’t know how much Seacrest is actually involved in the day to day work of that competition, but either way, the two show’s schedules shouldn’t conflict much. Seacrest is set to host The Million Second Quiz, a brand new unscripted series that will run for twelve days in September from a giant container in the heart of Manhattan.
Seacrest is also only one of two onscreen personalities returning to American Idol next year. He’ll join judge Keith Urban as the show welcomes back Jennifer Lopez and introduces Harry Connick Jr for the first time. Even if the ratings improve, it’s likely within the next few years, Idol will officially take its final bow. Luckily, with all of these other projects in the works, Seacrest should have more than just a few projects to fall back on. In fact, he might actually enjoy having a weekend or two free for the first time in more than a decade.
We’ll keep you updated on Dream Date and all of the other Seacrest projects as they work their way through production. Here’s to hoping this new one actually produces a few long-lasting relationships.
