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I’ve learned Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly’s new deal just closed. His new deal will keep in place for 3 more years. His contract wasn’t up until July, but Fox Broadcasting Co wanted to lock him in early as because of all the TV hits he’s generating like Glee and The Cleveland Show and Fringe. And for the first time in the network’s history Fox won the fall — outperforming its nearest competitors by 6% in the adult demo, 35% among adults 18-34, and 50% among teens. (And this is the guy Jeff Zucker fired to bring in that putz Ben Silverman. NBCU, Zuckered again!)
In Hollywood, nice guys usually finish last. Yet under his leadership Fox has really broken out. The network gambled creatively by launching a musical on broadcast TV, and the show was done so well that it’s now a pop culture phenomenon. And Glee was championed from the very beginning by Reilly. This fall, it was the #1 new hour-long comedy on broadcast and the #1 new program among women. It ranked #1 among Adults 18-49 in its time period this fall and boasted the highest concentration of viewers with incomes of $100K+ among all broadcast TV shows. Glee also is already the most award-winning new series on television this season: 4 Golden Globe nominations, Golden Globe for Best Television Series Musical or Comedy, Screen Actors Guild Award, People’s Choice Award, and multiple nominations from the Directors Guild and Writers Guild of America. Glee: The Music, Volumes 1 and 2 were both certified gold, hit #1 on the iTunes charts, and debuted in the Billboard Top 5. Glee has sold over 4.5 million digital tracks to date. E4 in the United Kingdom launched Glee on January 11th to a record-breaking 1.3 million total viewers, the best ratings for an acquired series since 2005′s Lost.
Another gamble that paid off was the strategy to move Reilly’s sophomore hit Fringe (last season’s #1 new drama on television) to the most competitive timeslot in broadcast: Thursdays at 9 PM. Despite the inevitable ratings hit the series would suffer, Reilly made a big bet pairing Bones and Fringe on Thursday nights. Fox is now regularly placing second and first on Thursdays – a night on which the network used to come in last. A both shows are increasing ratings while the other network dramas like CSI and Grey’s Anatomy are hitting lows.
Look, all you can ask of these network bosses is one bonafide hit a year. Reilly did that at NBC and got fired for it. He’s doing it that and more at Fox and is being rewarded. Like, duh.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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How does Zucker still have a job?
Kevin Reilly is a helluva executive. Fox is lucky to have him.
Worked with him a few years back. Great guy. Fox is lucky to get him back over there.
This can only mean one thing, Zucker is now due for another promotion up the ladder. His repeated failures and catastrophic idiotic blunders have always been rewarded with promotions so let’s have that NBC announcement right away. So what if he fired NBC’s only talented executive. That’s just the mark of a smart leader. You should always fire your most valuable execs so they don’t make you look bad. Also clever is hiring an imbecilic moron like Silverman another brilliant move. Zucker must be rewarded for Reilly’s success at FOX. Zucker should be named King of the World right away, he’s far too talented to merely replace Bob Wright. I’d even go so far as to nominate Jeff to replace Obama as President as soon as possible. There’s nothing Zucker can’t screw up so put him in charge of everything today please.
Well earned. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Um, wouldnt those scheduling moves more likely have been Preston Beckman’s call?
was thinking the same thing – Preston Beckman, probably called that scheduling change and pushed for it.
Reilly and O’Brien has a nice ring to it.
Isn’t it interesting Kevin was fired by Jeff Zucker and replaced by Ben Silverman who never developed and original idea in his entire career. Just think all those Fox shows could have been on NBC Are listening Comcast On top of it Kevin Is not only creative but a class act
Good Post Nikki,
Any word on whether Reilly and Fox will go after Conan O’Brien?
Despite his instincts to micromanage, there is no better Network President in the business. Great instincts coupled with great confidence equals great results. He’s become Tartikoff, just at a different network than he had once dreamed of.
GREAT ARTICLE!!! And well put, like duh.
Zucker should thank his lucky stars he has CABLE under his tutelage, cuz he sure screwed the whole Reilly-Silverman thing up ROYALLY. He tossed out one of the most creative, classy dudes in TV for a ‘skiing’ absent arrogant one who screwed up. Meanwhile, he’s given the competition a leg up in a seasonal part they couldn’t get above water without the helium in “Up.”
Glee is awesome but it’s a one-hour show. It shouldn’t be called the #1 new comedy, but the #1 new one-hour show. What hit half-hours like Modern Family and Big Bang Theory do is a very different type of storytelling and shouldn’t be in the same category at all.
Glee is absolutely a comedy, as is Mod Fam…and In Treatment is a drama even though eps are 30 minutes.
I think what’s debatable is wether Entourage is a comedy.
Kevin is one of the nicest guys in this business and also one of the smartest, he deserves every good thing that is coming his way. As for Zucker, let’s start a betting pool as to how long it will be between the official announcement of the closing of the Comcast takeover and the official announcement of his firing.
I say 1 day, 3 hours – anyone else?
I’d hardly call Glee “a pop culture phenomenon” just yet. How many millions watch it? I would bet most people aren’t aware of it.
Glee is absolutely a phenomenon. They’ve been on Oprah, to the white House, to the World Series. They’re a phenomenon.
Holy crap, is that a weird statement. The MLS and WNBA champions have been to the White House, but that doesn’t make them a phenomenon. And Oprah? Are you kidding? You’re saying that Dr. Phil is a phenomenon then? They’re on Oprah for promotional purposes, not because the masses demanded it or something. Don’t confuse a little advertising with a lot of phenomenon, okay?
I think a show should actually win its time slot first before we use a word like “phenomenon” to describe it. Like we shouldn’t call a show a “hit” when it has significantly lower ratings than both the show that precedes it and the show that follows it, like The Cleveland Show. Fringe has an even smaller audience than Glee, not sure it’s such a certified hit either. Just because something is on TV doesn’t mean it’s a hit, and just because something gets promoted by the White House doesn’t mean it’s a phenomenon.
It seems like there’s some Kool-Aid going around in this comments section for whatever reason.
way to be an idiot like Zuck, NOT Jeff Zuck.
first, glee is a phenomenon. period. viewers matters not (as evidenced by gossip girl).
second, it’s not that they’ve been to the white house. or on oprah. or to the world series. it’s that they’ve been to the WH AND Oprah AND WS NOT TO MENTION the musical tour et al. phenom-enon.
and by the way… I 100% disagree with u. The nice guys in Hollywood usually…. L A S T. Its the uglies that may do well for a bit but burn out after years of beating people down. Pick anyone who has been in the business forever, make a list and look at who is naughty and nice on a personal level, actors, execs, agents are excluded from this comment = they’re all mostly well… yah.
I can’t believe programming departments still exist at networks.
A goldfish with a pointing device could program a network schedule.
So Kevin Reilly gets three more years, and this is the one who cancelled “Prison Break”, forcing the writers to make a bad and sour ending of the series which will make the DVD’s sales a nix for me. This is also the Wunderkind who cancelled “Sarah Connors” in favor of “Dollhouse”, and likewise he is the genius who cancelled “Surface” in favor of “Invasion” and cheaper and insipidly stupid reality shows, and now likewise the DVD’s of the hubbled “Surface” are making the rounds. Way to go Reilly. You too Murdoch. Really shiny on that one!