The fine minds of American television have ripped off yet another European series and hope to make it work. And perhaps it will, as it seems it will be much like "American Idol". NBC has signed on to a U.S. version of Eurovision, the well-known battle of the bands competition that helped the launching of Abba, Celine Dion and Katrina and the Waves.
Ben Silverman's "Reville" production company has purchased the format rights to bring Europe's oldest and biggest TV music competition to the "Peacock Network", "Daily Variety" reports.
The exact details, such as the name of the show, are still being worked out, as the project isn't yet finished, the same paper related. What's already known is that instead of bands and artists from multiple countries competing against each other, the U.S. version will feature representatives from each of the 50 states.
"You'll have this unbelievable multicultural, regional flavor to the whole show," Silverman said. "Imagine the Montana cowboy, the Detroit Motown star, the New Jersey alt band and the Tennessee crooner all going up against one another," he added.
The Eurovision finale is one of the region's largest TV events of the year, attracting hundreds of millions of viewers and so is the new American show hoped to become.
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