It’s FOX Network day the the Television Critics Association tour taking place in Pasadena California. The Executive Panel just wrapped up.
Entertainment President Kevin Reilly, fielded most of the questions. Quick summary. There will be changed to X Factor next year, but neither FOX nor Simon Cowell know what they are. “Whether Steve is the guy or not…” is how Reilly worded the fate of Steve Jones as host of X Factor. His return seems to be very much up in the air. Simon Cowell says there will be a blood bath, and I believe him. Steve is a dead man walking, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Nicole Scherzinger and maybe even L.A. Reid to depart too. Something tells me Paula is staying, but we’ll see.
Reilly blames Glee’s 19% ratings dip from last year on the World Series hiatus (Uh. The first week ratings were down from the previous season, so….)
But the big glee news is NO New York City spinoff. But, the characters who are set to graduate at the end of the season will still be part of the show in some way. Lea Michele is confirmed to return.
UPDATE: “Reilly told reporters after the executive session that the network would have to look at the cast’s contractual issues but reaffirmed that “creatively, we’d to see them all back” when asked if Colfer would be among the characters returning. Asked if it’s possible to have a show within a show, Reilly told reporters that he’s “eluding to some version of that,” and that the spring batch of the episodes would set up the plan for next season.” (Via THR)
UPDATE: Naya Rivera confirms she’ll be returning: “Super excited about working on glee for another year! Season 4 is going to be great! Ryan just filled me in on the new ideas. “
I’m not surprised by this news. With this year’s Glee ratings hit, both shows would probably fail if popular characters were peeled off for a spin-off.
So I wonder what will happen to Kurt, Finn, Rachel, Mike, Mercedes, Santana, Quinn, Puck–nearly the entire cast are seniors. Will they come back as teachers? Will there be parallel story lines in other cities (maybe we’ll follow Rachel and Kurt to NYC, but as part of Glee instead). Hm.
FOX is “rejiggering” So You Think You Can Dance to make room in the summer schedule for more shows. More crappy shows that won’t make it past the winter season. Stupidest. Decision. Ever.
“‘”I think it’s going to be a nice little change in format for that audience,” Reilly said about cutting the results show for “So You Think You Can Dance.” “It wasn’t about reducing hours or cutting costs or anything like that. We wanted to get a few more shows on over the summer. We also wanted to smooth out our summer so we don’t stop early and have these dead weeks leading up to the season.”” Via Futon Critic
Reilly expects contract negotiations with Ryan Seacrest to return to Idol to be “tough”. Ya think? It’ll be tough, but Idol would be crazy to let Ryan go. He’s the show’s anchor. What happened to the flow of X Factor when it was led by a sub-par host should be a lesson.
Fringe, House, Terra Nova may not be back. Allen Gregory is dead.
There’s a panel devoted solely to American Idol beginning at 7:15 EST. Watch out for a recap later.
Twitter feed highlights below:
- Kevin Reilly is “thrilled” at what
#XFactor did. “It’s a show that’s returning that people loved”#TCA12 - Reilly calls the
#XFactor hosting job “a very hard job to do. Makes you appreciate Ryan Seacrest”#TCA12 - Reilly loved S. 1 of “X Factor” but there will be changes. He doesn’t know what they are yet. One of them may be host Steve Jones.
- Also not a ringing endorsement for Steve Jones as host for X Factor. “Whether Steve is the guy or not…”
- Fox president Kevin Reilly praises X Factor by basically saying it filled a schedule hole
- Fox boss says the AMERICAN IDOL Season 12/Ryan Seacrest sitch is going to be “a tough negotiation.”
#TCA12 - Reilly expects
#Idol to be down ratings-wise this season but mainly because of its age, not its quality. - “When the audience is bored, we’ll know it’s over.” Reilly on the saturation of singing shows on TV.
- Fox’s Reilly indirectly mentions killing SYTYCD’s result show: “We are rejiggering the format on Dance.”
- On SYTYCD, Reilly tries to say that killing TV’s best results show was a creative decision, but admits they wanted more shows on in summer.
- Reilly indicates they’ll use the departed
#SYTYCD results slot to launch other programs this summer, create better fall bridge. - “I believe all out competition shows will be around for quite some time” says Reilly
- Fox president notes
#Glee is down 19 percent this year, blames three-week hiatus during baseball playoffs - No
#Glee spin-off, but those characters will graduate, says it will lead to a “cool season” next year. Lea Michele will be back
Via @TVGuideMagazine, @GlobeRodman, @RealityBlurred, @BastardMachine, @theFutonCritic
