Fox at TCA: Executive Session Live-Blog

It’s time for the Fox executive session at the Television Critics Association press tour, but there’s a bit of a twist: new Fox bosses Gary Newman and Dana Walden won’t be appearing to speak about the network; instead, we get Fox Networks Group Chaiman and CEO Peter Rice.

Follow along for what he has to say about Fox…

10:02 AM: We got a quick sizzle reel of Fox’s programming, mostly highlighting the new stuff.

10:04 AM: “I think it’s very exciting to align our studio and our network,” Rice says. He thinks as competition heats up, it’ll be essential to being competitive. He notes it’s also important to keep buying from other studios (for the network) and keep selling to other networks (for the studio).

10:05 AM: “MULANEY shot a pilot last year, and we looked at it and thought we had the makings of something,” Rice says. They redid a bit of the pilot, and shot six episodes of the new show. He says Mulaney himself has a unique voice, that is captured in the first six episodes.

10:07 AM: “We want to have the biggest hits we possibly can,” Rice says of wanting to get a hit on the scale of MODERN FAMILY. He notes our panel yesterday which talked about the measurement of ratings spoke to how people watch things today is different than it used to be. But yes, he’d love to have hits of the scale of MF and HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER. (Which 20th Century Fox produce.)

10:10 AM: Last TCA, then-Fox boss Kevin Reilly told us he was done with pilot season. Rice “agreed with him completely” that the traditional pilot season isn’t good for the creative product. He says they need to be flexible so creative people can do what they need to do. Rice said he’s talked about what with Walden and Newman, and they’ll still make pilots, but it’ll be year-round.

10:12 AM: Rice said he loved the new season of 24, but no conversations yet about it returning. However, he expects that conversation might come up at some point.

10:13 AM: “BONES, this year, I hope this year is not the last year,” Rice says. He points out it’s moved all over the schedule and thrived, but also points out this is David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel’s last year on contract.

10:14 AM: CABOT COLLEGE, a pilot they worked on this past season, is still in the mix, but things are up in the air until the new bosses officially come in to work.

10:16 AM:  “I think the old structure had a clear advantage for the studio in that it was a big independent studio and was able to sell to everybody, and it did that very successfully…the network was increasingly disadvantaged,” Rice says of the how the old structure of Fox/20th didn’t work for them. He says they were seeing less product and were competing with more networks. “We are ultimately all in the talent business…we have more choice now than we ever did before.”

10:19 AM: “It’s still a show that does well for us,” Rice says of IDOL. The feedback they got last season was that they loved the judges. He says the past couple of years, the problem has been that the group of kids they had didn’t quite capture our attention the way the contestants have in the past.

10:22 AM: “There are multiple derivative shows that are on the air that it competes with,” Rice says of IDOL. But he emphasizes they need to find contestants who pop.

10:24 AM: “We’re thrilled it’s with us…it’s inspirational and aspirational,” Rice says of RED BAND SOCIETY.

10:25 AM: “It was a really ambitious project,” Rice says. “Ultimately we looked at the first episode and it didn’t live up to the ambitions we had for it…when you take that big of a swing, you have to land it.”

10:26 AM: “We’re struggling with shows that have serialized nature to them and how they repeat,” Rice says.

10:27 AM: “I think the show is a wonderful show,” Rice says of SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. “I love the quality of those kids.”

10:28 AM: “It’s a show we love…it’s doing a very good job in a competitive time,” Rice says of SYTYCD. They’ll figure out its future at the end of the season, but Rice says he hopes it’ll come back.

10:29 AM: “I imagine in this room, you guys watch more television than anyone else in the world,” Rice says. (He’s probably right.) He notes the VOD numbers they’re getting this summer are 30% higher than last year.

10:32 AM: “For me to order shows or cancel shows, I feel like the President at that moment before the inauguration handing out pardons…they run the network and will make the choices,” Rice says.

10:33 AM: “I think GLEE is one of the great shows in television history,” Rice says. He points out “it burned so hot and so fast,” but it’s gone on for over 100 episodes, and compacting the final season to 13 episodes is a good move. And Newman/Walden were a part of the HIEROGLYPH canceling conversation.

10:34 AM: Rice says Fox new that Gordon Ramsey was going to end one of his shows, but they didn’t know he’d tweet out the news.

–

Follow @GiveMeMyRemote and @marisaroffman on Twitter for the latest TV news. Connect with other TV fans on GIVE ME MY REMOTE’s official Facebook page.

And be the first to see our exclusive videos by subscribing to our YouTube channel at youtube.com/givememyremotetv