BACKSTROM: Kevin Reilly on Why This May be the Next ‘Great A-hole Protagonist for Fox’

BACKSTROM, the new Fox procedural that was picked up to series just last week, was a coup Fox Chairman of Entertainment, Kevin Reilly, was happy to boast about while talking with reporters after his Press Tour session during the network’s TCA day.

“We had it last year, the season before, and the script didn’t come together [and then it went to CBS this past season],” Reilly explained. “Look, I think it’s [another] great…asshole protagonist for Fox. I think it’s a great, outrageous, unconventional character, with [series star] Rainn [Wilson] as the perfect kind of guy [for that].”

And in addition to the series bringing an, um, distinctive character to television, it will also allow Fox the chance to launch another procedural.

“One of the hardest nuts to crack is the episodic show like HOUSE or BONES that the audience can invest into and isn’t highly serialized, but just has a voice or a character at the center,” Reilly said. “I looked at the pilot — I look at all the competing pilots — and frankly [CBS] wanted to pick it up: it was a business disagreement [as to why they didn’t]. I said the second I watched it, if they blink, we’re in.”

BACKSTROM follows Detective Backstrom and the Portland Police Bureau’s Serious Crime Unit, as they solve high-profile cases. The series will go into production in March.

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