ABC

"American Idol" and ABC made it official Tuesday ... they've bagged Katy Perry to be the lead judge when the show returns next year.

ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey made the announcement Tuesday -- as we first told you she would -- at the network's Upfronts in NYC. Katy wasn't there for the big reveal, but said in a statement she was "honored and thrilled to be the first judge bringing back the American Idol tradition of making dreams come true."

The network didn't have anything else to say about its 'Idol' reboot. Our sources say it's still a near certainty Ryan Seacrest will host. Zippo on the other 2 judges too.

We broke the story ... 'Idol' honchos don't feel it's essential to the show's success to get another big name singer now that they have Katy. We're told they'll target songwriters and industry execs.

ABC ... you just snagged "American Idol." So, where you goin' for auditions? We're goin' to Disney World!!!

Yep, TMZ has learned the show will shoot audition weeks at Walt Disney World in Orlando. We're told there are 2 reasons:

-- It promotes a huge brand within the Disney company -- amusement parks.

-- It's way more cost-effective than travelling the show to various cities.

A source familiar with the deal tells us there's also talk of doing some of the auditions at Disneyland on the West Coast.

It would also give the show a cross-section of America and beyond, without having to hit the road.

Money is definitely an issue. The show got too expensive to produce, which is why it went off the air a year ago, and this will save a considerable sum.

Ryan Seacrest sounds like he's game for round two of "American Idol."

TMZ broke the story..."Idol" is coming back in March, 2018 on ABC. We got Ryan and GF Shayna in NYC Saturday night and he certainly didn't shut down the possibility of hosting the show again.

As we reported ... the new gig has almost super-human strings attached, requiring him to fly coast to coast twice in two days in the middle of the night each week to pull it off. Ryan seems to think he's up to the task... with an L.A. Fitness membership.

BTW... we got him going in to Le Bernardin restaurant in NYC. It's super expensive, so we're guessing he's banking on "A.I." money to pay the check.

"American Idol" seems headed for ABC for a March 2018 launch ... sources connected with the negotiations tell TMZ.

TMZ broke the story, ABC made the offer a week ago and asked the owners of the show if it could be moved to NYC so Ryan Seacrest could host, now that he's living there. That idea was quickly nixed and the show will go on in Hollywood.

ABC tells us ... there's no signed deal, but our sources say the negotiations are far along and the fine points are being worked out right now. We're told both sides expect to seal the deal "soon."

We're also told NBC, which made an offer several months ago, is out as a bidder. FOX also made an offer but from everything we're hearing, it's now all about ABC.

Our sources say the plan is for ABC to announce the return of 'Idol' at the Upfronts a week from next.

Ryan Seacrest is the new co-host of 'Live' with Kelly Ripa ... which means a coast-to-coast move for the former "American Idol" host.

Ripa has been without a co-host for a year, since Michael Strahan bailed for "Good Morning America."

Seacrest has had a long-standing relationship with NBC, so it looks like he's bailing from the Peacock.

We know talks have been in the works for more than a month, and there's no doubt he's making wheelbarrows full of loot.

Unclear if he'll still do stuff for E!.

Hollywood is hiring way more Muslim actors than ever before ... and President Trump might very well be the one to thank.

Industry sources tell TMZ there's been a big uptick in the number of roles for Muslim actors this pilot season, and that TV networks are pushing for more Muslim-American story lines in primetime.

For example ... Omar Metwally (CBS), Mouzam Makkar (NBC), Zainab Johnson (ABC), Adeel Akhtar (FOX) and Hasan Minhaj (Netflix) ... are all starring in pilots right now.

Sue Obeidi, the director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Hollywood, says studios and production companies are reaching out to her group to consult on accurate plots.

She adds ... rather than just casting someone who might look Middle Eastern or Arabic, networks are pushing for actual Muslims to play Muslim characters. As opposed to the infamous casting of Jake Gyllenhaal in 'Prince of Persia.'

Sources at one of TV's biggest casting agencies say the demand has been on the rise since Trump announced his presidential bid.

As for why? The timing makes it seem obvious -- Hollywood power players, most of whom are vehemently anti-Trump, are pushing back against what they see as his exclusionary policies.

ABC News used a mocked up pic of Donald Trump in the Oval Office to promote its first TV interview with the prez, and the image was ripped from The New Yorker! Oops.

The network ran the phony image Tuesday night to promote an interview with Trump -- the first since he took office -- for Wednesday's nightly news, and apparently didn't realize it was photoshopped or another outlet's work.

We're told the photo did in fact see air time Tuesday, but has since been replaced. ABC has apologized, and copped to its marketing team screwing up.

When is a crime scene not really a crime scene?? When ABC News FAKES IT for a live TV shot.

Viewers at home watched live Friday morning as Linsey Davis reported in front of what appeared to be a crime scene in South Carolina ... where a woman had allegedly been held captive in a storage container by a sex offender.

Problem was ... the crime scene tape was just a TV prop to make it look like she was in front of the real crime scene ... and the lie was exposed in a photo obtained by CNN.

You can clearly see the yellow tape was tied to production equipment to give the illusion Davis was reporting right from the scene of the investigation. The segment aired on "Good Morning America."

ABC News is placing the blame on the field producer -- saying, "As soon as it was brought to our attention, we decided to take the producer out of the field, and we're investigating further."

"This action is completely unacceptable and fails to meet the standards of ABC News," ABC News' VP of Communication said in a statement.

By the way, this isn't the first time Davis has been in the headlines this week -- she was the reporter who interviewed Lil Wayne for 'Nightline' when he ranted about Black Lives Matter and stormed out of the interview.

ABC News lifted a photo of NYC's fattest cat and posted it without permission ... according to the photographer who's now suing the network.

Stephen Yang is a professional photog who typically licenses his pics, but in his lawsuit he says ABC News used his shot of Samson -- dubbed the largest cat in NYC at 28 pounds -- and never paid him a dime.

According to the docs ... Samson got famous for his size, and also because his owner, Jonathan Zurbel, takes the enormous pussycat all over Brooklyn in a pet stroller. So hipster.

Yang says all that attention is why ABC News posted its story on Aug. 12th with his jacked photo. The story's been shared more than 900 times on Facebook, and Yang is suing for a cut of ABC's profits.

We've reached out to the network, so far no word back.

Kelly Ripa will be back Tuesday on 'Live' ... TMZ has learned ... this after her people jawboned it with Disney over the fate of her show and the tenure of her co-host.

Our ABC sources say Kelly's people made it clear she would come back if they could get assurance the show wasn't getting the ax. As we reported, ABC honchos are noodling whether to add a third hour of 'GMA,' which would displace 'Live.'

From what we can gather, the brass gave Kelly enough assurance to end her boycott. Based on what we know, even Disney doesn't know if they'll expand 'GMA.' A lot depends on morning show ratings and the performance of 'Live' over the next year.

Even if 'GMA' moves to 9 ... ABC could save 'Live' by moving it to 10 or 11 AM.

Our ABC sources say Kelly made it clear she'd be a happy camper if Michael Strahan leaves before his scheduled September departure. Our sources say both Kelly and Michael are extremely uncomfortable about sitting together under the circumstances, and they'd both like to stop the bleeding STAT.

As we reported, the 2 have not gotten along for 2 years ... various sources say they don't like each other.

Kelly Ripa is alienating lots of people on 'Live,' because they believe she's jeopardizing their jobs by refusing to work.

Production sources tell us, some members of the crew believe ABC execs are weighing the benefits of either killing the show or moving it to a later hour so they can add a third hour of 'GMA.'

These crew members are grousing, the longer Kelly stays out, the more damage it will do to 'Live' and the greater the chance that they'll be replaced by 'GMA.' If 'Live' goes away, so do they.

That said, we're told the crew generally likes Kelly, but many of them think what they call "her tantrum" is hurting the show.

ABC has put the kibosh on 2 dudes dancing hip to hip on "Dancing with the Stars."

Sources connected with the show tell TMZ, the issue came up over an upcoming performance by an openly gay artist who goes by the name, Who Is Fancy. The performance is set for November 23, where he will debut his new song, "Boys Like You," featuring Ariana Grande and Meghan Trainor, who will also appear on the show.

The song is about a man falling in love with another man. We've learned Who Is Fancy's choreographer sent an email to a 'DWTS' producer, saying, it would "be an awesome look to have 2 males dancing with each other."

Our sources say the 'DWTS' honchos discussed it and a producer fired back an email, saying, "Apologies all but this is a definitive no from the network."

We're told ABC agreed to allow "near dancing" during the performance, like a recent appearance by two men -- Alek and Carlos -- who shared the stage this week. Check out the video ... it's more like a Cirque performance than romantic ballroom dancing.

Hulk Hogan is nonplussed that Officer Darren Wilson compared him to Mike Brown ... he's staying neutral.

The Hulkster was cruising into LAX Friday when our photog asked about Wilson telling ABC News ... Mike Brown was as powerful as Hulk the day he shot and killed the teen.

It doesn't take much to read between the lines ... Hulk thinks the truth lies somewhere in the middle ... somewhere between the Brown and Wilson scenarios.

Darren Wilson says Michael Brown was goading him, saying he was "too much of a pussy to shoot me."

Wilson went through the events of the evening step-by-step ... prompted by ABC's George Stephanopoulos ... who, by the way, showed he's a great interviewer.

Wilson said it was either his life or Michael Brown's when he fired the shots in Ferguson, saying Brown absolutely did NOT have his hands up when he discharged the gun.

Janel Parrish just had her chances of winning the Mirrorball Trophy derailed ... at least that's the way it looks after she suffered a gnarly injury during rehearsal.

TMZ just got this video of the "Pretty Little Liars" star and Val Chmerkovskiy practicing lifts. Something bad clearly happened because you see her dissolve into tears as she hobbles to a room where doctors examine her.

It looks like she suffered a broken or compressed rib.

She hasn't been counted out, but it doesn't look good. The finals are tonight.

"Dancing with the Stars" star Cheryl Burke looks dramatically different these days ... but she says she's NOT deathly ill ... hasn't had plastic surgery ... and she's pissed at all the trash talk.

Burke -- who recently dropped a sizable amount of weight -- posted this pic on Facebook ... and got bombarded with comments from people saying she looks anorexic. Someone even suggested she's dying of AIDS.

One person wrote, "Those Botox lips need there [sic] own FB page, gross" ... and another said she should delete the pic before it ends up on TMZ.

Burke is especially upset because she believes the same people who are trash-talking her now are the ones who called her fat before.

Burke -- who was once a regular on the club/party circuit -- tells TMZ there's absolutely nothing wrong with her ... she recently turned 30 and decided to stop drinking and hard partying. She says she's living healthy ... and that what you see is the result of hard work.

Burke tells us, "I didn't have plastic surgery and I don't have an eating disorder. I'm just actually happy."