“Carpool Karaoke” started as a bit “Late Late Show” host James Corden translated from Britain’s Comic Relief fundraiser in 2011. In the intervening half-decade, the bit has become a behemoth, leading to an expansion into a half-hour standalone series that will run exclusively on Apple Music.

Apple Music’s “Carpool Karaoke” doesn’t have a release date yet, but it will consist of 16 half-hours, executive producers Eric Pankowski, Ben Winston, and Corden revealed Monday morning at the TCA winter press tour.

Furthermore, the series won’t have a single host in the drivers’ seat. Instead, the trio conceived of a format that is more of an interview series than longer versions of the “Late Late Show” bit, with a different “host” for every episode.

The idea to go outside the usual musical pairings came from the immense demand from non-musical stars clamoring to appear in the car with Corden. “We wouldn’t do Will Smith on [‘Late Late Show’],” Winston said. “So many people have been getting in touch with us, big movie stars, and we’re like, ‘that’s not really for us,’ but here with Apple Music it’s perfect.”

The series will be Apple Music’s first. “We thought about places to go with it, but we’d also heard Apple wanted to get into the video business, and because of the show and its celebration of music, we went to them,” Pankowski said. “They grabbed it with both hands right off the jump.”

The changing nature of late-night TV has been a big boon to the way these particular producers think. “We’ve got a huge advantage in this day and age called YouTube,” Winston said. “This is really resonating with our viewers. You can make a show for any time of the day. You wake up to 10 million having watched it online.”

Source: variety