Moment of Truth by Kelsey McNeal/Fox
Success means never having to say you’re sorry.
At his Monday session at the Television Critics Association, Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly didn’t get defensive when asked if he was "satisfied with the content" of his network’s squirm-inducing lie detector game show The Moment of Truth. In fact, he embraced the show. "This is Fox," he said. "We never give up our DNA… Fox is free to do those kinds of things and we're going to continue to do them. So no excuses for it."
What ever happened to the crazy Fox we once knew? When you walked into the ballroom for the network's TCA session, there would always be some nasty issue that sat there like a boil that needed to be lanced (Paula, O.J., Michael Jackson, Joe Millionaire — we could go on). You could see the entertainment president staring out into the audience as if he or she was watching for sniper fire.
Now Fox has ratings (No. 1 in viewers and the 18 to 49 demo), classy scripted shows (House, 24), the only slightly slowing steamroller that is American Idol and the most buzzed about new series going into the fall in J.J. Abrams' Fringe.
"I think (this) is a really healthy place to be at this point in the network, which is not precluded from doing anything," Reilly said. "You know we can do shows that are perhaps more traditionally franchised, not as niche-y by nature. We can do quality dramas. We can do Moment of Truth. We can do Secret Millionaire."
Indeed, no one is humiliated in its new reality series Secret Millionaire, in which undercover entrepreneurs give away money to worthy people and causes. Well, at least we don't think so. Fox seems to be able to have it both ways. It can be edgy, subversive and Fox-like when it needs to be. Or not.
But Reilly does see room for improvement. Fox is virtually out of business when it comes to live action half-hour comedies. "We need to rejuvenate our comedy brand," he said. He’s enlisted the creative team from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia to develop a new series, Boldly Going Nowhere, which he described as "The Office in space." He also acknowledged that as Fox’s programming has broadened over the years its audience has gotten older. That's why the network is redoubling its effort to develop animated shows for Sunday night, which consistently score strong ratings among teens and young adults.
Reilly also noted that Fox execs have been huddling with the producers of American Idol in the hope of coming up with ways to keep ratings robust next season, like more half-hour results show. "You will see some fine-tuning," he said. Any big changes for Randy, Simon and Paula? "No changes in the judges," he said.
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