Author: The Associated Press

Michael Becker / Fox

‘American Idol’

American Idol producers have talked about a cross-promotion with Empire, Fox’s hot new series about a music industry family, perhaps getting some of the contestants on the scripted show, producers said Saturday.

“The music connection would be silly to ignore,” said Trish Kinane, executive producer of American Idol.

The two shows air back-to-back on Wednesday nights. Empire has been a success out of the box, already earning an order for a second season, while age has cost American Idol its long-time status of television’s biggest show.

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Folks at Empire signaled an interest in the idea later Saturday.

“It would be stupid not to,” said actor Terrence Howard, who plays the show’s lead character, Lucious Lyon.

American Idol producers, host Ryan Seacrest and judges Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez and Harry Connick Jr. talked about steps being taken to get stronger performers among the finalists this season. While the show had good contestants last year, one reason the show faded in the ratings is because some of them could have done more to connect with an audience, Seacrest said.

More young would-be musicians are comfortable working at home with their computers these days instead of in front of an audience, the judges said.

This year, before the show’s group of contestants is whittled down from 48 to 24, they are being interviewed by the judges to get a better sense of their goals and strengths, Kinane said. Then they will be taken to a showcase at the House of Blues in Los Angeles so the judges can get a sense of how they are as performers.

“If it makes them better performers, it makes a better show,” said David Hill, News Corp. senior vice president, who oversees the show for Fox.

Read more ‘Empire’ Cast Tackles Diversity, ‘Dynasty’ and Terrence Howard During Presser Victory Lap

The show has also brought Taylor Swift’s label head, Scott Borchetta, in as a mentor for the contestants. While he’s already started work it’s still not clear when Borchetta, CEO and president of Big Machine Records, will first appear on the air, Kinane said. Borchetta’s successful independent label will take on the winner of this year’s show with a contract.

The musicians said they can really see a difference with would-be musicians whose development is a more solitary experience.

“There is something about going to a studio and getting out and being with other musicians and writers when you are making music,” Lopez said.

Connick, a jazz musician who embodies his hometown of New Orleans, said that because of the Internet, young people are exposed to music and influences from around the world. That has its positives, but Connick said he saw how regional strengths are being whittled away when American Idol conducted auditions in New Orleans.

“It was really weird,” Connick said. “I was looking for people who looked like they really came from New Orleans. But they could have been from anywhere.”

Netflix

‘Orange Is the New Black’

The woman whose best-selling prison memoir has been adapted into the Orange is the New Black Netflix series is sharing her insight into the upcoming season 3, saying it “holds some really amazing stories and twists and turns.”

Piper Kerman said the upcoming season will feature backstories for some of the characters and the emergence of very intriguing new characters.

The show, created by Jenji Kohan, is about a woman serving time in a federal prison for carrying a suitcase stuffed with drug money to her ex-girlfriend. Kerman said shooting for its third season is more than halfway through but she can’t offer spoilers or a release date.

Read more ‘Orange’ Showrunner Jenji Kohan on Hollywood’s Pay Inequality, ‘F— You’ Money and Her ‘Friends’ Regrets

Kerman is a consultant on the show, reading scripts and offering her advice on how to make it realistic. But she did not offer any inside scoop on when season 3 will be available and laughed Tuesday night when asked if Vee, one of the show’s main antagonists last season, is still alive.

“One of the things that Jenji Kohan has said about season 3 already on record is that an exploration of faith is a big part of what she is planning and what they have scripted so far,” Kerman said before addressing more than 400 students, faculty members and fans at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell.

Kerman also commented on a book deal signed by her former lover and friend Cleary Wolters, whose involvement in drug trafficking led to her imprisonment.

“I expect that my ex-lover’s book will be a fascinating read,” Kerman said. “She’s had a very different life, and her story is very different from mine. For one thing, she was much more involved in narcotics trafficking, and for the other thing she served a lot more time in prison than I did.”

Although Kerman has done very well for herself thanks to her memoir and its adaptation into a hit Netflix series, she said she would change her story in a heartbeat if she could go back to when it all began, in 1993, when she was 22 years old.

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“I absolutely regret my crime,” said Kerman, an advocate for reforms of the criminal justice system. “I think that while I’m so grateful to have found readers and I’m thrilled with the Netflix show, the truth of the matter is that prison is a deeply traumatic experience.”

Kerman spent 13 months in a federal minimum-security prison in Danbury, Connecticut, just over a decade ago for her role in a money laundering and drug trafficking ring.

“The truth is that I caused my family and the people that love me most a great deal of pain and worry,” she said. “And the other fundamental truth is my actions caused other harm in terms of other people’s substance abuse and addiction.”