The Next Great American Band Premiere Date Announced

Fox has announced that The Next Great American Band, the network's new American Idol-like reality competition series that will search for the country's best up-and-coming musical group, will premiere with a special two-hour episode on Friday, October 19.

The Next Great American Band will follow a similar format to Idol, which shouldn't be a surprise since both were created by Simon Fuller and are productions of 19 Entertainment and FremantleMedia North America.

The Next Great American Band will scour the country for musical groups of all ages, styles and genres, and following a round of auditions, yet-to-be-announced judges will whittle the hopefuls to 10 semifinalists who will then have the opportunity to perform in-front of a live studio audience.

Home viewers will be able to vote for their favorite acts each week, as each band will perform either original music or covers of varied styles designed to challenge their musical abilities as well as their relationships. The Top 3 acts will then compete against one another for a recording contract during The Next Great American Band's finale.

Beginning with its second broadcast on Friday, October 26, the show will serve as a lead-in to Nashville, a new Laguna Beach-like docu-reality series that will follow a group of young people trying to make their mark in Nashville's music industry.

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.