Fox at TCA: New Adventures in Late Night; Big Questions About "House," "Fringe," "Glee" and Ryan Seacrest

Ed Martin Live from the 2012 Winter Television Critics Association Tour

Fox Entertainment President Kevin Reilly's session at the 2012 Winter Television Critics Association tour Sunday could have been a disaster, given the fact that he had no substantial answers to most of the questions critics and reporters had for him, many of them about the fates of several Fox series and personalities. But he pulled it off, engaging the room with the same kind of candor, honesty and good humor that worked for NBC Chairman Robert Greenblatt earlier in the tour.

At one point Reilly had to laughingly admit, "We've done a good job of avoiding some of these big decisions until after this session."

Reilly did have some news to announce, primarily about an upcoming animated programming block that will run in late-night on Saturdays and on digital platforms to be determined. "Primetime animation has been an enormous part of our legacy, our brand, our identity, and our business," he said. "One of the high class problems of that is … there has been a lot of talent and a lot of product that we've wanted to pursue over the years that just doesn't quite fit the primetime mold."

There was some interest in this, but most of the reporters in the room were bursting with questions about three high profile Fox series: the long-running but fast-fading House, said to be in its last season; fall success Terra Nova, said to be dead; and cult favorite Fringe, said to be hanging by a thread.

Asked about the future of House, Reilly replied, "I think we have just been avoiding it, to be honest with you. It's hard to imagine the network without House. This is not going to be like the pink slip goes out and that's the end. [Series creator David Shore, star Hugh Laurie and Fox] kind of agreed, mutually, to put it off until after the first of the year, and then we'll sit down and see where we are. We haven't had that big meeting about 'what do we want to do?' Should it be the last season, it's not going to be an unceremonious finish, I can tell you that."

Reilly suggested that Fox is somewhat conflicted about the future of the big-budget Terra Nova, which was, he noted, "the second-highest-rated" new drama of the fall. "There is a distinct audience that has stuck with it. The perception of it kind of got away from us at a certain point. Everyone kept saying, 'Doesn't it have to do huge ratings?' The fact is we made money on it, the studio made money on it, the audience enjoyed it. It seems to have resonated particularly with the family audience. We've heard a lot of evidence in focus groups and anecdotally that the family audience really feels they can sit down and watch it together. If we had more holes on our network we'd be thrilled to just lock it right in. We are going to decide very soon because it does need to get back into production over the next month. We won't be able to drag our feet on it for too much longer."

Moving on to Fringe, a show with a small but ferociously loyal and vocal fan base, Reilly said, "I love that fans stuck with it and went to Friday night with us. It's vastly improved our Friday night. The hesitation in my voice is that it's an expensive show. We lose a lot of money on [it]. We're not in the business of losing money. So we really do have to sit down and figure out if there is a number at which it makes sense, or will this be it? I do not want to drop the ball at the end and let the fans down."

"Please don't start the letter writing campaign right now," he laughed. "I can't take it."

In other revealing non-news, Reilly said that certain characters on Glee would indeed graduate from William McKinley High School at season's end but would not be spun-off into a series of their own, as has long been expected. He said those characters would remain on the show's canvas but wouldn't offer details.

Reilly also expressed great satisfaction with Fox' least-exciting success story in years, The X-Factor, which he credited with giving Fox one of the strongest falls in its history. He would not comment on industry speculation that wooden host Steve Jones would be replaced next season. But he did offer this spectacular tease, as if to suggest that he understood the complaints about the show: "Everybody has now come to appreciate the value of a Ryan Seacrest." Then he added, "Whether Steve's the guy or not, you know, some of it comes under the heading of growth in general. There will be some tweaks to the show."

Questions about Seacrest's future with American Idol brought a similarly engaging non-answer. "It's very hard to imagine the show without Ryan," Reilly admitted. "We certainly want to keep him. There's no creative discussion there whatsoever. It is a deal issue. It's a tough negotiation and one that will come to [its] conclusion, I think, pretty quickly."

Fox's day at TCA also included panels for two high-concept midseason series that will certainly be generating much media buzz during the next few weeks: Touch, an emotion-driven drama starring Kiefer Sutherland, and Alcatraz, a dark thriller from executive producer J.J. Abrams. On the lighter side, Fox also presented The Finder, a spirited procedural crime drama featuring characters first seen on Bones.