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Glee stars to stay, but FOX undecided on Terra Nova

FOX entertainment chief Kevin Reilly talks about the future of Glee, Terra Nova, House, Fringe and American Idol.

Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Chris Colfer will be back for Season Four of Glee, there’s no decision on more Terra Nova and House is still up in the air (why?).

These were the insights from FOX entertainment chief Kevin Reilly at the Television Critics Association winter press tour on the weekend.

Here were the main points from his appearance:

Terra Nova
No decision. “Creatively it was hunting,” he said of a season that he later revealed he wished was more “consistent.” He added, “It was an exciting bet to take and I think it has proven that it was worthwhile.” He acknowledges he can’t drag his feet for too much longer given the complex production commitment and SPFX.

Glee
“There will not be a Glee spinoff… but [Ryan Murphy and his team have] an interesting idea that I think is going to give us something cool to dig into for next season,” he said. Since then cast members  Lea Michele, Cory Monteith and Chris Colfer have indicated they will return. The rest is a Spoiler you can read here.

House
Reilly admit he’s been avoiding making a decision, that its hard to imagine FOX without House. What he did reveal, beyond the fact that the series is not cheap to continue: “If it is the last year, it won’t be an unceremonious finish [for the series].”  Cease and desist!

Fringe
Reilly acknowledged that they “lose a lot of money on that show. At that rating, on that night [Fridays], it’s impossible to make money… and we’re not in the business of losing money.” No decision but try and guess…

American Idol
“It’s very hard to imagine the show without Ryan [Seacrest],” he said, before stating that the rest is “a deal issue” and that there is “a tough negotiation” ahead.

You can read more at Hollywood Reporter

14 Responses

  1. With all the Cash they through at Terra Nova you’d think they hire some truely creative sf writers. Watched a couple of episodes where i thought “didn’t they do this on Star Trek, the 60s Star Trek?” It could just have easierly been set on a distant planet with alien creatures, as set on Earth in the past with dinosaurs.

  2. “If Fringe is so expensive to make, why don’t the put it on a night when a large chunk of their audience isn’t out?” – It’s not unknown for Networks to move shows that they want to get rid of for one reason or another to a timeslot they Know it will fail in.

  3. However he also stated that they can cut some of the costs of Fringe (and urged the fans not to start a letter writing campaign because he “couldn’t take it”).

    What Fringe fans (and Community fans) have going for them is there’s no guarantee that they’d be able to make a replacement show that will do better or for the same amount of money.

  4. @SecretSquirrel Because they already tried that and it was barely doing better. They moved it to Friday’s and cut the budget- and they’re still losing a lot of money.

    Farewell Fringe.

  5. Addendum: I should add that Friday’s are know and have the reputation of the Friday night death slot. So if they renew it one last season then there would be an exception. By the way it’s were Star Trek (the original series ) died. X-Files was an exception although I think they moved it to Sunday. Whereas if they don’t renew it the death slot tradition continues. I guess we’ll see. I’m not loving what was reported.

  6. It’d be brilliant if there was a fifth and final season for Fringe. But I’ll acknowledge it was amazing there’s been four seasons. Any hints yet when it’ll be on here? If there is I hope they don’t then put it on the week before.

    @ Secret Squirrel

    They put it on Friday as a last ditch attempt to save it as it wasn’t rating good enough for a Thursday (which is when it dropped a lot of viewers ) . It’s still rating higher than the last scripted show they had on a Friday. But the disaster is there’s also Grimm and Supernatural on at the same time. I’ll admit if I were American I’d choose Fringe. That said a lot of viewers are recording it. When I heard it was on Friday I feared the worst as I know about Firefly and other shows. But they did renew it for the fourth season. However there is a syndication number of around 88 episodes. If you split the pilot episode into two then it reaches 88 at the end of the fourth season. So it would be near miraculous if they did it. Although they’d regain some respect with genre viewers. As why would you want to watch new shows on a network that ends shows prematurely? I guess it depends on Alcatraz and other shows do this year by the end of May.

  7. I’ve never understood the appeal of Ryan Seacrest. He’s surely not worth more than his current 45 million dollar deal.

    As for Terra Nova.. it was silly of Fox to put such an ‘expensive’ show against DWTS and HIMYM/2.5 men and expect it to last. Shame really…

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