Nellie Andreeva

Fox Upfronts 2012Like NBC’s presentation earlier today, Fox‘s presentation too opened with a comedy video featuring cast members from several shows. The setup was the quartet from Fox’s freshman comedy New Girl interviewing candidates for a new roommate. Glee‘s Will Schuester, Fringe‘s Walter Bishop, Bones‘ Temperance Brennan (played by New Girl star Zooey Deschanel’s sister Emily), the kid from Touch and Rubber Man from American Horror Story on sister network FX were among the characters who interviewed for the gig, along with Randy Jackson of American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance‘s Mary Murphy.

Related: Fox’s Fall Schedule: All-Comedy Tuesday, ‘Glee’ Moves To Thursday, ‘Touch’ To Friday

After Glee‘s Jane Lynch emceed the presentation for the past two years, ubiquitous American Idol host Ryan Seacrest took over the role this year, presenting Fox’s executives in the style of the reality series. Like a pro, he phoned in such lines as describing British-born Fox chairman Peter Rice as “as American as American Pie, Justin Bieber and soccer,” blending America’s favorite dessert with Canadian pop export Bieber and the world’s most popular sport that everyone outside the U.S. calls football. Seacrest also claimed that “After a nationwide vote, the biggest star at Fox is… Kevin Reilly.”

Reilly started the rollout of next season’s slate with Tuesday night, which features four comedies. “Since the first day I walked into Fox, this is the kind of comedy lineup I’ve wanted present to you,” Reilly said of Raising Hope, New Girl and newbies Ben & Kate and The Mindy Project. Fox has a third new comedy, Goodwin Games, on tap for midseason.

Related: FOX First Look Teasers: 2012-13 New Shows

He took a jab at NBC’s large volume of comedies next season (seven new, 13 total). “A lot of comedies will come at this you this week, I think they announced like 200 this morning.” He also showed a graph depicting the drop of ratings for NBC’s The Voice over the course of its second season. “Looking at the odds this fall, I’m betting on the original,” Reilly said, introducing The X Factor, which will face The Voice for the first time this fall.

Reilly introduced new midseason drama The Following starring Kevin Bacon as “the new 24,” emphasizing the casting coup by noting that that the series doesn’t star “a Kevin Bacon type or a six degrees of Kevin Bacon” but the actual Kevin Bacon.

In keeping with the American Idol theme, Seacrest joined Reilly at the end of the presentation for “elimination.” Was Reilly voted off? “After the nationwide vote… you’re safe,” Seacrest said. A performance by Mary J. Blige closed the show.

Related: Fox Plays Youth And Multimedia Cards In Upfront Presentation

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