Fox Press Tour
Ex-NBC Prez Kevin Reilly discusses his new job
Kevin Reilly
Never before has a network exec gone from worst to first in such a short time. When the Television Critics Association last saw Kevin Reilly, he was the entertainment president at the fourth-place NBC. On Sunday, he made his debut as the new chief for Fox, the ratings leader in the advertiser-coveted audience of 18- to 49-year-old viewers. After being pushed aside at NBC for Ben Silverman, Reilly was quickly recruited by Fox's Peter Liguori, who has yet to develop a big hit since joining the network two years ago.
Liguori was upped to chairman after convincing his bosses to bring Reilly in. The two execs, who once formed the team that put cable network FX on the map, looked ready to burst into a chorus of "Reunited" when they met with reporters. "I have an unbelievable amount of respect for him professionally," Reilly said of Liguori. "He's a great guy. We've maintained a personal friendship and really not in that Hollywood way where everybody's friends. It's genuine."
The quick move to a crosstown rival made it tricky for Reilly to do some of the typical press-conference posturing required of an entertainment president. Reilly developed the new shows at NBC, and avoided taking any shots. He even expressed hope that his baby
Friday Night Lights would prosper in its new time period. "I can genuinely hope that it has a nice run and lives on for a long time because it will be inconsequential to us," he said. That's interesting because, last time we looked, Fox had a show on Friday at 9 pm, too.
But Reilly deserves to be cut a little bit of slack for having trouble shifting gears so quickly. After the press conference he confirmed industry rumors on how he learned that his days at NBC were numbered despite having just signed a new contract. "I actually got an (anonymous) e-mail that said, ‘Ben Silverman has been offered your job,'" he said.
