Fox at TCA: Executive Session Live-Blog

Kevin Reilly is about the hit the Press Tour stage to talk about all things Fox. Keep refreshing to find out the latest of what he has to say…

11:08 AM: Reilly says he’s going to give us 5 points in 5 minutes. He says they’re flat for the season. “SLEEPY HOLLOW is one of the top 3 dramas of the season,” Reilly says. He says he loves it, it’s great.

11:10 AM: Reilly says they’re proud of the shows, there’s high streaming of it, even if the traditional numbers are lower than they like. Eight of the top 20 comedies are on Fox, he notes.

11:11 AM: VOD is up, streaming is up 55%. Reilly says that if they included all platforms, Fox would be up 8% from last year.

11:13 AM: “RIP, pilot season,” Reilly says. The slideshow says 1986-2013. Reilly says they’re officially, for the first time, bypassing pilot season. He calls it “highly inefficient.” They’re working on a better way to do things — they’re in production in some stage on 10 shows.

Reilly is laying out some of this stuff: BACKSTROM has four scrips and will go into production in March; MIDDLE MAN from Ben Affleck has five scripts; John Mulaney’s show just reshot its pilot; WAYWARD PINES is shooting ep 5; GRACEPOINT will start production in two weeks; GOTHAM has a pilot order, but they’re prepping it as a series.

11:19 AM: Now time for our questions: X FACTOR Q: “The ratings were not what we hoped,” Reilly says, but he says there’s no decision yet. The fact that it’s a number 1 show around the world makes them give pause. If it comes back, it will be in a different form.

11:21 AM: “We can’t be in the one-size-fits-all business,” Reilly says of the traditional TV business. He notes there are thousands of original shows these days. He notes they’re premiering 24 in May and it’ll air in the summer, which is nontraditional. Reilly also says that at one point, they were in production on 42 shows at once. (Some will air later.)

11:24 AM: “We may do a few more” Reilly says of SLEEPY HOLLOW’s 13-episode season 2 order, but he notes they did have problems making air dates this year.

11:25 AM: “I’m sorry we even have to have the discussion in 2014,” Reilly says of whether there’s a diversity mandate. He says they’re proud of on-screen being so diverse, and they’re working to make off-screen equally diverse.

11:28 AM: Reilly notes that because the Tuesday block has had “fragile” ratings, it would have been a risky move to put ENLISTED there. Reilly says he hasn’t given up on Friday nights for original programming. He thinks DADS has come a long way; he says it makes him laugh, so he wants to see that show all the way through. Reilly says they will run all of ENLISTED and hope the DVR numbers are better.

11:29 AM: Because of SLEEPY HOLLOW’s production issues, they weren’t able to get things in on this. Next season, they’ll go into production in March and air 13 straight.

11:32 AM: GOTHAM will feature a young Bruce Wayne…possible a teen.

11:33 AM: “BONES has been a well-oiled machine; you can do 22 episodes of that.” – Reilly says of what shows might get a higher than 13 episode count.

11:37 AM: “A great show is going to be a great show, and a horrible show is going to be a horrible show, but a lot of shows fall in the middle,” Reilly says. He notes that a lot of shows they pick up have potential, and in the pilot phase, the stress can cause something to come out of line. Reilly praises FX for replacing the lead of SOA in the original pilot, something he says might not have happened on a broadcast show.

11:40 AM: Reilly points out there are cultural differences between BROADCHURCH and what will happen with its American counterpart, GRACEPOINT. He thinks the original airing here would have been lower-rated. There will be a lot of faithfulness to the original series, but the ending will be different.

11:42 AM: Reilly says that with all the straight-to-series orders, they will have a bigger incentive to air all produced episodes.

11:43 AM: Reilly had no clue TERMINATOR was being revived as a potential TV series again.

11:44 AM: “I’m pretty bullish on it coming back,” Reilly says of THE MINDY PROJECT. He says he wishes the ratings were better, but it’s a top 20 comedy.

11:46 AM: “We intended to [do] an American cast, top-to-bottom,” Reilly says of David Tennant being cast on GRACEPOINT.

11:47 AM: “We’re negotiating on another BONES season, but I think we will work it out,” Reilly says. Stephen Nathan will take lead on the series while Hart Hanson focuses on BACKSTROM.

11:48 AM: “I anticipate we will be down [in ratings], but I think it will be a good season,” Reilly says of IDOL.

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And that’s it!