By David Bauder, Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Fox entertainment chairman Kevin Reilly is out after a rough year at the network, its ratings dragged down by the dramatic decline of "American Idol."
Fox said Thursday that Reilly will leave by the end of June. Reilly came from NBC in 2007 to run the network's prime-time entertainment operation, and was promoted to chairman two years ago.
The network had several strong years under Reilly, with the luxury of "American Idol" dominating the TV landscape in the winter and spring. But the show's finale last week had a startling 66 percent fewer viewers than its season-ending episode three years ago.
Fox ranked fourth among all viewers this season, second behind NBC within the 18-to-49-year-old demographic that the network cares most about, the Nielsen company said. Its viewership in that youthful demographic was actually steady this year, but when sports is taken out of consideration — Fox aired the Super Bowl, NFC championship and a competitive World Series in prime time — the demo's rating was down 17 percent.
Reilly will exit shortly after he announced Fox's schedule for next year, meaning his successor will essentially get a year's pass for being held accountable for the network's performance.
Reilly said he had been talking about leaving Fox for a while, "and now with a robust new slate of programming for next season and strength in the FBC (Fox Broadcasting Co.) ranks, it felt like the timing was as right as it could be."
His boss, Fox Networks Group chairman and CEO Peter Rice, will be in charge until a successor is named.
Reilly has pushed Fox toward airing fresh programming all year-round, and is a strong backer of short-run series like the recent return of "24." The most highly anticipated of 12 new series next season is "Gotham," described as a prequel to "Batman."
While at Fox, Reilly shepherded shows like "Glee," ''Sleepy Hollow" and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine."
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More