ABC midseason schedule: American Idol reboot to fight The Voice

This spring, Kelly Clarkson is going head to head with Katy Perry in primetime.

ABC just announced its midseason schedule, and the network has made the bold choice to put its revival of American Idol directly against NBC’s top-rated singing competition The Voice on Monday nights.

Idol will air from 8-10 p.m. on Sundays and Mondays starting March 11. But it’s that Monday slot that’s the really interesting play. The Voice launched in 2011 and famously helped hasten the demise of long-reigning American Idol back when it aired on Fox. The Voice caught Idol in the ratings during the NBC show’s second season and then outright surpassed it in its third. Now Idol is back, rebooted with Perry in a judge’s seat along with Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie, and ABC is attempting to weaponize the reality revival against its biggest competitor and former foe.

What makes this all the most compelling is that The Voice‘s Clarkson is Idol’s most famous alum. There was considerable speculation that NBC swooped in to hire her for their talent show to prevent ABC from snagging her for the Idol revival when she was hired early last year (NBC executives dutifully denied that Idol coming back had anything to do with hiring their new competition’s most famous winner). Clarkson joins Alicia Keys, Adam Levine, and Blake Shelton in The Voice coaches chairs.

The Voice stands as TV’s highest-rated reality show, with this season averaging 11.9 million viewers and a 2.6 rating among adults 18-49. But the show has been declining in recent years. Could American Idol, rather ironically, heavily undermine The Voice just like The Voice undermined Idol years ago?

The Voice will get heads start on Idol with some heavy promotion: NBC is launching season 14 straight out of its Winter Olympics coverage on Feb. 26. Then Idol will dive into the fray a couple weeks later.

Here’s ABC’s 2018 midseason schedule:

SUNDAY, MARCH 11
8:00-10:00 p.m.           “American Idol”
10:00-11:00 p.m.         “Deception”

MONDAY, MARCH 12
8:00-10:00 p.m.           “American Idol”

TUESDAY, MARCH 13
10:00-11:00 p.m.         “For The People”

THURSDAY, MARCH 22
9:00-11:00 p.m.           “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff (two-hour premiere)

TUESDAY, MARCH 27
8:00-9:00 p.m.             “Roseanne” (one-hour premiere)
9:30-10:00 p.m.           “Splitting Up Together”

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28
8:30-9:00 p.m.             “Alex, Inc.”

THURSDAY, MARCH 29
9:00-10:00 p.m.           “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff (time-period premiere)
10:00-11:00 p.m.         “Scandal” (new time)

MONDAY, APRIL 2
10:00-11:00 p.m.         “The Crossing”

TUESDAY, APRIL 3
8:00-8:30 p.m.             “Roseanne” (time-period premiere)
8:30-9:00 p.m.             “The Middle” (new time)

THURSDAY, APRIL 26
10:00-11:00 p.m.         “Quantico” (Season 3 premiere)

MONDAY, APRIL 30
8:00-10:00 p.m.           “Dancing with the Stars” All-Athletes Edition