Fox at TCA: Peter Rice on the "American Idol" Rumor Mill, Kevin Reilly on Steve McPherson's Departure from ABC

Appearing at the Television Critics Association tour yesterday, Fox Networks Group Entertainment Chairman Peter Rice started things off by politely refusing to confirm or deny any of the exciting rumors about American Idol that have been swirling about throughout the group's summer gathering.

"In the last week, lots of American Idol stories have been written, and we've been reading them avidly ourselves, so I think we have to address that right at the beginning," he said at the start of Fox's executive session, at which he appeared with Fox Broadcasting Company Entertainment President Kevin Reilly.

"I'd like to start by talking about Ellen [DeGeneres'] departure and giving you a little bit of the background on that," he continued. "In early June, I met with Ellen, and we talked about the season and her feelings about the season, and really, the idea that she wasn't comfortable. She didn't feel like it was a good fit for her. I tried to persuade her that it would be different in the future, but ultimately we came to an agreement that we would begin to look for new judges. We were doing that anyway because Simon [Cowell] was leaving. That played out over the course of the summer. That's sort of where we got to last week."

Last week's announcement about DeGeneres' departure, he noted, "was precipitated in great part" by the impending arrival of Fox's day at TCA. "We knew we were coming here [today], and I thought it would be very disingenuous to sit here and to talk about Ellen being on Idol next year when we knew that wasn't going to be the case. So we decided to announce that [she was leaving] last week. That created another round of speculation about who would be replacing Ellen and who would be replacing Simon on the judges' panel next year."

If nothing else, Rice was refreshing. It's not every day that TCA members hear that such big announcements are timed and information managed out of respect for them, rather than in spite of them.

Rice then cautioned everyone in the room that they might not know as much as they think they know. "The only thing I can tell you with absolute certainty right now is that no one has signed a deal yet on either side of the camera to join American Idol next year who wasn't on it last year," he said, no doubt referring to stories about former executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, who is reportedly returning to fix the mess the show has become since he left; and rumored new judges Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler.

"I can tell you that much of the information that has been written is accurate, and some of the information that has been written is wildly inaccurate," Rice continued. "I'm not going to get into either confirming or denying which ones they are, but it does make it difficult for us and the job that we're trying to do and the business that we're trying to run.

"I truly wish that we were going to [bring] out a panel of judges for next year and that that could be a celebration for us and we could engage with you on that," he said. "I'm really sorry that that's not going to happen. If we had signed deals, we would have done that. I can imagine that there are a tremendous amount of follow up questions, [but] I'm not going to get into that speculation and I'm not going to live in sort of a fish bowl of a blow by blow account of casting the show right now, however much fun that would be for you or for your readers."

Undaunted, some reporters tried to extract Idol information from Rice anyway.

"You said that you have no questions or no deals with people who were not on the show last year," one crafty fellow asked. "Kara DioGuardi was on the show last year. Do you have a deal with her in place for next season? And if you don't, have you had any discussions with her about the fact that there's been much public speculation saying that she will not be with the show next year? In other words, does she know what's going on in your mind as to whether or not she's going to be on the show?"

"I'm not going to get into the speculation about it, because it's not fair to everyone that's being speculated about," Rice replied.

"I'm not asking you to talk about her role," the fellow pressed. "I'm asking, have you had discussions with Kara about the speculation in the press about her? Has she called you and said, 'Hey, I read here that I'm not going to be on the show?'"

Rice remained a study in politeness. "Again, I really appreciate your question. It's not something I'm going to get into. I don't mean to be rude."

Recalling the many celebrities who came forward asking to be judges after the announcement seven months ago that Simon Cowell was leaving, another reporter wondered, "Why is it so hard for you guys to close these deals with judges given that there seemed to be so much interest even among notables in the music industry to join the panel?"

"Again, I never said the deals were hard to close," Rice answered. "When we have a signed deal, we're going to announce it. We're excited about the new panel. We have met with a tremendous amount of people and discussed it. So I don't think that we've ever felt that it was hard. We just, unfortunately, were not able to do it within the time frame of TCA."

In a welcome subject change, Reilly was asked about the other big story that has remained red hot throughout this tour: The sudden resignation last week of his friend Steve McPherson over at ABC.

"I don't really want to talk about his departure or the decision," Reilly said. "All I will say is that Steve is a very close friend of mine. I've known him for almost 30 years. We've been friends. All I can speak to is the depth of his character, and on a personal basis, he's a loyal and a good friend, and I think even people in the community who know him will speak to that. I think you can see, as a professional, he's a guy who is not afraid to have the courage of his convictions and get behind decisions, and I think that's resulted in some inspired programming, and it's made him a successful executive. So it will continue to serve him well as he goes forward.

"Honestly, it's been upsetting to me," he continued. "So right now my focus is really just being a friend to him and a friend to his family, and frankly, I don't know what his professional plans are, but if they entail any producing, the door will be open to him at Fox."