Kesha & Ludacris Confirmed For ‘Rising Star’ Judging Panel

Christina Lee | May 16, 2014 11:01 am

Will Rising Star be a TV hit? While singing competition shows have long flooded the market, ABC hopes to distinguish the new show from others with help from a notable judging panel comprising Kesha, Ludacris and Brad Paisley, along with host Josh Groban.

As The Hollywood Reporter points out, all four stars will arrive at Rising Star with plenty of TV experience: Kesha had her own reality show, MTV’s Kesha: My Crazy Beautiful Life. Ludacris is hosting this year’s Billboard Music Awards. Paisley has co-hosted the CMA Awards with Carrie Underwood, while Groban was a frontrunner to take over Regis Philbin‘s Live! seat.

What remains to be seen, though, is how other factors will affect the show’s ratings. Somehow, Rising Star will incorporate real-time voting while being taped in Los Angeles. Plus, as The New York Times pointed out earlier this week, the future of reality competition shows looks bleak. Younger viewers have almost completely lost interest. Ratings have declined, even for ratings king The Voice.

“The awful stat is in stars created by these shows,” Simon Cowell says to the Times. “The last true breakout artist we had was Carrie Underwood on [American] Idol. That was eight years ago.” (Remember, Cowell was also on The X Factor, which was canceled after three seasons.) Later, he points out that the all-star judges benefit more from these shows than the actual contestants.

We’ll see, though! Rising Star premieres June 22. For a (somewhat) better idea of what to expect, check out its trailer below.

[via Popdust]