Fox at TCA: "The X-Files," "Grease Live," "Idol," "24" and More

I have to imagine that moving forward Foxamp8217s Winter TCA days which have been largely powered since 2003 by annual panels for the alwaysnewsworthy amp8220Idolamp8221 are going to be lacking some of their usual excitement But weamp8217ll worry about that next year Friday in addition to host Ryan Seacrest and judges Jennifer Lopez Keith Urban and Harry Connick Jr Foxamp8217s final amp8220Idolamp8221 panel pictured belowamp160included five past winners amp8211 Ruben Studdard Jordin Sparks Keith Allen Scotty McCreery and 2015 idol Nick Fradiani plus 2011amp160runnerup Lauren Alaina They will all be cycling through this last season of amp8220Idolamp8221 on Fox along with most if not all of the noteworthy winners and other alumni from throughout the showamp8217s run making for a collective reminder of what we have all enjoyed since 2002 and what weamp8217ll be without when Season 15 concludes in April earlier than usual and oddly before the May sweepsTalking on and off the record with past winners and various executives connected to the show I couldnamp8217t help but wonder if this season will mark the end of amp8220Idolamp8221 or simply the end of its historic run on Fox Nothing concrete was stated but all agreed that dozens of networks and programming services would be thrilled to have the ratings that amp8220Idolamp8221 still generates One of the issues is the production costs associated with the show including its mammoth audition events But as cable networks continue to prove over and over again budgets can always be amp8220managedamp8221Frankly I think amp8220Idolamp8221 is going to continue somewhere in some form Itamp8217s a household name and brand arguably more so than any other program on television and not an asset to simply be snuffed out when millions of Americans are still so attached to it Itamp8217s the only talent competition series in this country ever to produce genuine stars and superstars something that has eluded NBCamp8217s popular amp8220The Voiceamp8221 and other such showsIamp8217m somewhat surprised that Fox hasnamp8217t placed a former amp8220Idolamp8221 star in the cast of amp8220Grease Liveamp8221 as it would seem the two could have played off each other If the panel on Friday for amp8220Greaseamp8221 pictured below was any indication this production is going to do for Fox what amp8220The Sound of Music Liveamp8221 did for NBC At one point during the panel the cast amp8211 including pictured at top left to right Vanessa Hudgens Aaron Tveit and Julianne Hough burst into an impromptu rendition of amp8220We Go Togetheramp8221 that made clear they are going to own this iconic show at least for one night The biggest star of amp8220Greaseamp8221 may be director Thomas Kail the director of the Broadway phenomenon known as amp8220Hamiltonamp8221 That39s Kail on the far right in the photo belowThe day began with the panel for amp8220The XFilesamp8221 potentially another huge television event of early 2016 and certainly one on the radar of every important critic Many of us were present for the first TCA panel for this enduring franchise way back in the summer of 1993 when nobody including the executive regime at Fox at the time expected very much from it The inhouse pick for giant success in the fall of amp821793 was the weird westernsciencefiction hybrid amp8220The Adventures of Briscoe County Jramp8221 with which amp8220XFilesamp8221 was paired on Friday nightsEarlier in the week and outside of official TCA activities Fox heldamp160a premiere event and party for the show at the California Science Center Episode one played extremely well on an IMAX screen as if it had been shot for theatrical exposition The afterparty was at the Samuel Oschin Pavilion where the Space Shuttle Endeavour is housed In fact much of the party was actually situated under the Endeavouramp160Itamp8217s clear that when it comes to reviving and possibly continuing this franchise Fox is all inThere was also a session for Foxamp8217s upcoming presentation of amp8220The Passionamp8221 which will tell the story of Jesusamp8217 last days through contemporary music Tyler Perry is among its executive producers quotThe Passionquot will be telecast live on Palm Sunday from locations in New OrleansAbsent from Foxamp8217s Winter tour was pretty much anything to do with the seriesamp160the network was most excited about at its Summer 2015 tour amp8220Scream Queensamp8221 amp8211 and yet it prompted some of the most interesting comments made by Fox Television Group Chairmen and CEOs Dana Walden and Gary Newman pictured below in their session with the press during which they announced that Ryan Murphyamp8217s controversial horrorcomedy hybrid has been renewed for a second season The Season 2 narrative will be set in a hospitalamp8220amp8216Scream Queensamp8217 draws a very hard to reach upscale audienceamp8221 Newman explained amp8220Itamp8217s the No 1 new comedy among young adults the No 1 new series on VOD and the No 1 new series on social media While everyone in this room knows it didnamp8217t break any records in its Same Day performance its young and upscale audience is watching the series on its own terms Across platforms its average total viewership grows by 167 When we look at it holistically we see how fans are watching the show and it tells a pretty positive storyamp8221Referring to a slide Newmanamp160continued amp8220If you look at amp8216Scream Queensamp8217amp8217 viewership by platform over 30 days youamp8217ll see that 30 of its viewers watched live and another 26 watched on DVR But what was most interesting to us is that 44 of its audience watched on VOD Hulu and FOX NOWamp8220These are ad supported platforms with fastforwarding disabled and are only partially reflected in Nielsenamp8217s ratingsamp8221 he addedAs impressive as the metrics of success for amp8220Scream Queensamp8221 may be I have to wonder if its young audience will stay with it once its setting moves from sorority and fraternity houses to a medical institution Weamp8217ll seeFurther questioned about delayed viewership of amp8220Scream Queensamp8221 and other Fox shows Newman replied amp8220Weamp8217ve sold a substantial amount of our ad time on C7 this year a lot of it also on C3 So I think thereamp8217s a general move in the direction of recognizing that delayed viewing is part of the contemporary experience Weamp8217re also having conversations with advertisers about cobranding opportunities trying to find new ways to associate the brands with our shows Weamp8217re always very careful about that because you donamp8217t want to overcommercialize the content I donamp8217t think the audience wants thatamp8220Monetizing the nonNielsen rated viewing remains a challengeamp8221 he continued amp8220Advertisers understandably want a reliable currency and weamp8217re working on that trying to get that Whether through dynamic ad insertion or in other ways we do have advertising on FOX NOW We have it on Hulu And we have it on VOD even outside the three and sevenday VOD windows So more and more weamp8217re monetizing that nonlinear viewing and thatamp8217s a trend that is not only incredibly important to us but it is one advertisers recognize has to be part of the future of broadcast televisionamp8221Photos from quotXFilesquot premiere party by Tracy Phillips Tracy1Phillips

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Fox at TCA: "The X-Files," "Grease Live," "Idol," "24" and More

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Fox at TCA: "The X-Files," "Grease Live," "Idol," "24" and More

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