'Idol' has performed better than we expected against the Olympics, but we never took the Olympics into consideration. 'Idol' has momentum all by itself. |
Because we have 'Break,' 'House' and 'Bones,' we have clear targets for our dramas. Our development was informed by those shows. |
Fortunately for us, we didn't feel we needed to go overboard like we did last year on short-order unscripted shows. |
Fox has a history of launching shows in the summer season. |
I think the Super Bowl is going to be in the next couple of years the difference between possibly winning or losing a season. |
I think the thing with Thursday night is, it's not the daunting night it used to be. Everyone feels they can go in and make some noise. |
I think we're relieved and a little shocked that it's showing such growth this year. For us, having maintained the ratings we had last year would have been a plus. |
I think what's happened is we are at a maturing phase for reality programming. It used to be you could put on any reality show and get a rating. That's not the case anymore. |
It's a much more competitive night. |
It's going to be an extremely competitive season. |
NBC doesn't have the big shows now. We do. ABC does. CBS does. We weren't intimidated. NBC is vulnerable. |
Ratings for an event like the Olympics aren't necessarily drawn from the usual prime-time television audience. For us to suddenly program differently for those two weeks would be a mistake for our network. |
Summertime, in recent years, has become a testing ground for reality shows – 'Survivor,' (CBS) 'Fear Factor' (NBC) and 'Dancing With the Stars' (ABC) all premiered in the summer. |
The Olympics aren't as daunting as people think they are. |
The overwhelming number of people who are watching the Olympics don't watch Fox. For us to run away from it is goofy. |