The TV Zone

There's much to say about Bernie Mac and his all-too-brief life and career but the bulk of the work I know was from a five-year span on Fox - "The Bernie Mac Show" - which may be the bulk of the work you know as well, so this appreciation may be preaching to the long-ago-converted.

The show was brash, brilliant, in-your-face, and full of humanity. It was an alternate universe "Cosby Show," where life and love didn't always end with a smile, and where the laughs didn't come from an easy and eager to please studio audience because Mac refused to have one. The show drew comedy from that old sitcom foil, fatherhood, (or in Bernie's case, unclehood) but established - hilariously - that the daily business of taking care of kids was messy, complicated, difficult, full of anxiety, but - most of all - full of joy.

"The Bernie Mac Show" celebrated life and celebrated children, and celebrated all of this through the unique prism of Mac's own unique brand of comedy. Mac was a fighter - quite literally, because I believe he was a boxer before he went into stand-up - and this show was one of his hard-fought victories. Most of the networks passed on it - and for reasons I can't possibly fathom, although Bernie Mac wasn't exactly a "safe" comedian like his idol, the great Bill Cosby. He was a little dangerous and the premise of this show was a little dangerous too: His drug-addicted sister has to give up her three children and Bernie and his wife, Wanda (Kellita Smith), took over the parenting. The kids were tough, and in countless asides - known in TV as breaching the fourth wall - Mac explained his parenting dilemmas in words sometimes best suited to the pugilist arts (millions of parents understood exactly what he meant.)

The show bowed in November of 2001, right around the time another celebrated and groundbreaking comedy, "Scrubs," got off the ground; "Scrubs" is still going but "Mac" ended five years (and 103 episodes) later. The final episode, "Bernie's Angels," aired April 14, 2006. Loglines say that in this episode, "Bernie suffered a near-death experience..." I'm sorry to say I don't remember the finale, but I think I can also safely say that it was first rate. The series, after all, certainly was.

One more thing: "The Bernie Mac Show" was one of the best sitcoms in Fox history. It defined the network, and pointedly established the fact that Fox WAS doing something differently and OFTEN doing something better than its rivals. During its run, Bernie Mac (and his writing partner, Larry Wilmore) got credit for this, but not nearly enough.

Finally...at the end of this post, I've appended a readers' note, and it's for anyone who read - or responded - to an earlier post I wrote when Mac was first hospitalized last weekend.

Now...here's a clip from "Tavis Smiley" which aired June, 2007. Smiley and Mac were pals, so there's a warm intimacy to this conversation. (I've posted the entire conversation on the jump.) After the clip, I've posted what Bernie had to say about the show.

Here's what Mac told Smiley about his show...

Tavis: When you look back now at those five seasons, you hit the magic number - 100 episodes. When you look back on that series now, what do you make of it in retrospect, what do you think, to your earlier point, when you look back on your career, on your body of work? What did that TV show do for you? What did it mean for Bernie Mac's career?

Mac: It was innovative, it was new, it was different, it was mine, it was my vision, it was my heart, it was my life, it was nothing fictitious, it was a true story, it was my humor, it came from my heart, and that's why I felt so much. Being a different style of comic, my comic is wide open. I'm very open with my comedy. And what I mean by that, Tavis, is I'm not the type of guy to do punch line jokes.

I'm not the kind of guy to sit there and just talk about a topic just on the strength of trying to get a laugh. Everything that I talk about comes from here. I have experience, I've lived it, I've done it in some form, shape, or fashion. So when I take it to the stage, it's ideal is that the people understand and they get a glimpse of it's a part of them.

They see it coming from my heart. One thing people - especially the new comics - don't give credit. They don't give the audience credit. The audience is not dumb. You might get by, but you ain't gonna get away. And that's something the television show when I did that, they wanted a laugh track so bad. They wanted a multi-camera.

But the multi-camera, personally, didn't fit me. The multi-camera didn't fit my story. It didn't fit the story that I was trying to tell. I wanted to not insult the audience; I wanted the audience to understand that I was coming at them. They knew what's funny, they know when it's time to laugh, they don't have to be coached, they don't have to be guided.

So when we did the single camera, I wanted to shoot it like a movie. And the single camera was interested in me, because the look was different. I didn't want to be like everybody else. And they thought I was crazy at first, but that's okay. But I fought for it. I stood strong on it. And one thing I can say, out of five years, regardless of how they took us off and how they played us because that show should have done everything.

Because that show was hot, that show was good. And that show survived for five years on its own. They moved us, we was on every time, date, every different day of the week for five years. People didn't even know where we were. But our ratings were still top flight, top notch. And I'm proud of that. That's one thing I learned, if you've got a true product, and if you stay true to yourself, Tavis, can't nobody beat you.

[Readers' Note: Last Monday I posted an entry on Bernie Mac's admission to a Chicago-area hospital, and I received some blowback from a few angry (some very angry) readers. They said that I had been dismissive of his illness, or treated it lightly - at least that seems to be the substance of the criticism. Allow me to state here that my intention never was - and never possibly could be - to treat someone's illness with levity. It certainly was not the case in that posting, which attempted to reflect the confusion over conflicting reports by the Chicago media. The Chicago Sun-Times had reported that he was in "very critical" condition, and obviously, the S-T report, in hindsight, was accurate. However, Mac's representatives dismissed that report, saying that it was inaccurate and overblown, and that he was NOT suffering from a recurrence of his previously diagnosed illness, sarcoidosis. The Tribune reported that. I - like everyone else - was left to sort out two diametrically opposed reports, and when I contacted Mac's reps, they told me that indeed, he was on the mend. Nevertheless, I still saw nothing wrong with telling readers that we were left with dueling news reports, but - meanwhile - also offered a quick overview of Mac's TV career and why it was so important. That was it. Again, in no way would or could I ever be dismissive of anyone's illness, and was certainly not in this instance. Thanks for reading. Rest in peace, Bernie Mac.)

"Wipeout's" already begetting copycats (now THAT's success...) although one could argue that a newcomer on Fox this September entitled "Hole in the Wall" isn't technically a copy-cat insofar as it's made its way around the world several times already in various editions. "Hole in the Wall:" It's exactly that, where you've gotta somehow fit through a hole in the wall. Ah, TV...Fox just announced a time period for this newcomer (Thursday 8 p.m., Sept. 11) and potential canon fodder. But "fodder" it may not be if it has any of the juice "WO" has. The details, per Fox: "one of the trickiest, fastest, funniest and wettest shows on the planet where speed, agility and a hearty sense of humor are essential tools to survive. During each episode, two teams of three compete against each other in multiple rounds of play, facing various barrier walls speeding toward them with weird and wacky cut-out shapes. Each team must contort their bodies individually or in unison to fit through the wall or be swept away into a pool below. As players struggle to strike a pose, points – and dignity – can be easily lost with a simple miscalculation." Check out this clip from the Japanese edition, if you've got four minutes to kill...

It's not often you open a press release from the folks at Media Matters and laugh out loud, but that's pretty much what I did this afternoon. Ever-enterprising, "MM" studied some photos of NY Times TV reporter, Jacques Steinberg, and TV editor, Steve Reddicliffe (which Fox News aired on "Fox & Friends" this ayem) and determined that they had been photoshopped.

Photoshopped in a way not particularly complimentary to my hard-working counterparts at the Gray Lady. In fact, I do believe Fox turned them into serial killers or psychopaths. You be the judge...

What was their sin? Having the GALL to question the fact that FNC's ratings are blah while CNN/MSNBC's are growing. Here's what Loosey Goosey Doocy said on the air this morning:

"There was a hit piece by somebody in The New York Times. The writer was a fellow by the name of Jacques Steinberg, and he's been doing a bunch of attack stories on Fox News Channel. Well, there's some backstory to it, and that is this: His boss, the guy who assigned him to this, is a fellow by the name of Steven Reddicliffe, and Mr. Reddicliffe actually used to work for this company. He worked -- I think he was the editor in charge of TV Guide until circulation went down under his tenure -- something like, 40 percent. So, he got fired, and according to Radar Online, this guy has had an ax to grind."

Then, up come the pictures! MM has the real pix on the left, the doctored FNC one is on the right...Get me makeup!!!

Naturally, got me to thinking - what would those photoshop trolls at FNC do to ME if I had the temerity to question the deterioration of their ratings...

Mike Huckabee, who won in Iowa, gave John McCain a scare, and made a lot of people think for a couple minutes, "what would it be like to have someone in the White House named 'President Huckabee?'" is joining Fox News Channel as a talking head. This is one of those gigs similar to what Karl Rove has - which is explain stuff to viewers, but not actually preclude the person from looking for other work. Nevertheless, it's a pretty dramatic move - first reported this morning by the WaPo's Howard Kurtz - and who knows where it goes from here? Maybe he'll replace Katie Couric. (Hmmmm..."The Evening News with Mike Huckabee." ) Here's Fox bossman Bill Shine's canned quote: “Governor Huckabee’s campaign experience and knowledge of politics makes him a great addition to our ongoing election coverage.”

Laura Ingraham -- who sort of reminds me of Anne Coulter, but is no relation, best I can tell -- will get a big career boost starting Monday: the 5 p.m. slot on Fox News Channel. The show is called "Just in With Laura Ingraham" but don't get too comfy with it; FNC plans to rotate other guest hosts in here too. Ingraham is (of course) no stranger to FNC and has subbed on "The Factor" any number of times.

In all the excitement yesterday about "Lost," I almost entirely forgot to mention: Fox gave critics a first look at "Fringe," the new J.J. Abrams series for the fall. (Was the timing a coincidence, on the day of the "Lost" finale? I think not...)

Here's my quick read: Good, very good on occasion, though not quite the spectacular eye-candyfest I expected. It also skirted self-parody at moments, but that's OK. Near-self-parody is, after all, par for the course with a lot of TV sci-fi...

Why is "Fringe" such a huge deal? Because it's Abrams and was the subject of a network bidding war and because - to a certain extent - this a retro-"X Files," with a truth-is-out-there ethos and a tug at the hearts and souls of those many millions who have made "Lost" (not to mention "Battlestar Gallatica," "Heroes," and...) a small screen classic.

"Fringe," by the way, WILL be a hit. That is a given.

There's much much to commend the production - notwithstanding the off-screen bloodline, which includes "West Wing's" Alex Graves and big screen scribe Alex Kurtzman. Joshua Jackson - "Dawson's Creek" - is on a career revival bender with this, and newcomer Anna Torv - who I honestly believe I have never seen in ANYTHING - is terrific. (Torv's an Aussie and was born in Melbourne.) Plus...Lance Reddick is here, while Mark Valley lends a whole new meaning to the word "transparency..."

Best of all is John Noble, though. He plays mad scientist Dr. Peter Bishop, released from his padded cell to help Torv's FBI agent Olivia Dunham find the secret formula that will save...Sorry, I can't say anymore or Fox will do what they do to crix who give away plot lines four months before show premiere (See: John Locke.)

Noble is quite a story: A veteran Aussie actor and a star theater director down under, he was also Anatoly Markov on "24," while "Lord of the Ring" fans will vividly remember him as Denethor, the foul-tempered lout of a king willing to hand over his kingdom to the Orcs.

(Above, Torv; picture from Scificool.com.)

That's the headline out of Fox's new fall schedule (other than the fact that a "24" prequel will air late November.) Joss Whedon's "Dollhouse" will air Monday's at 8 in January. "Fringe" will air Tuesdays at 9 this fall.

This is worth noting if only because these two are the standout "must-see" shows of the fall on any network, per industry buzz (though I guess you must add CW's "Bev Hills 90210" remake to that frothy mix.)

Both are not merely big budget but huge budget; their pedigree is TV royalty; and...they actually sound good too....

Here's the Fox description of "F," produced by J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman..."When an international flight lands at Boston’s Logan Airport and the passengers and crew have all died grisly deaths, FBI Special Agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) is called in to investigate. After her partner, Special Agent John Scott (Mark Valley, “Boston Legal”), is nearly killed during the investigation, a desperate Olivia searches frantically for someone to help, leading her to Dr. Walter Bishop (John Noble, “Lord of the Rings”) [but] he’s been institutionalized for the last 20 years, and the only way to question him requires pulling his estranged son Peter (Joshua Jackson, “Dawson’s Creek”) in to help. When Olivia’s investigation leads her to manipulative corporate executive Nina Sharp (Blair Brown), our unlikely trio along with fellow FBI Agents Philip Broyles (Lance Reddick, “The Wire”), Charlie Francis (Kirk Acevedo) and Astrid Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole) will discover that what happened on Flight 627 is only a small piece of a larger, more shocking truth."

And "Dollhouse:"

"'“Buffy' alumna Eliza Dushku is Echo, an “Active,” a member of a highly illegal and underground group who have had their personalities wiped clean so they can be imprinted with any number of new personas. Confined to a secret facility known as the “Dollhouse,” Echo and the other Actives including Sierra (Dichen Lachman, “Neighbours”) and Victor (Enver Gjokaj, “The Unit”) carry out engagements [and) immerse themselves in all manner of scenarios – romantic, criminal, uplifting, dangerous, comical and the occasional good deed. After each scenario, Echo...returns to the mysterious Dollhouse where her thoughts, feelings and experiences are erased by Topher (Fran Kranz, “Welcome to the Captain”), the Dollhouse’s genius programmer....Her memories begin to return and she slowly pieces together her mysterious past. [Show] revolves around Echo’s blossoming self-awareness and her desire to discover her true identity. But with each new engagement, comes a new memory and increased danger inside and outside the Dollhouse."

Now...the rest of the fall lineup:

Monday:
"Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" (8)
"Prison Break" (9).

Tuesday:
"House" (8)
"Fringe" (9)

Wednesday:
"Bones" (8)
"'Til Death" (9)
"Do Not Disturb" (new sitcom about NYC hotel called the Inn; 9:30)

Thursday:
"The Moment of Truth" (8)
"Kitchen Nightmares" (9)

Friday:
"Smarter...5th Grader" (8)
"Don't Forget the Lyrics" (9).

Saturday:
Song remains the same.

Sunday:
Ditto.

(Above: Eliza Dushku, AKA Faith, from "Buffy" days...)

Obama - surprise! - has been avoiding "Fox News Sunday" like the very plague for what seems like forever. And in fact, he agreed to come on the show over two years ago, but...still a no-show. (He has been kinda busy, but there have been plenty of appearances elsewhere, including FNC) So the guys at FNC then had an idea: An on-air clock which ticked away the minutes since he first agreed to appear. At last count, it was 765 days, 13 hours, 54 min, 47 seconds.

Anyway, the clock is dead: Obama is finally gonna come on this Sunday's show, in what's billed as an "exclusive one on one" sit down with Chris Wallace.

Amazing the ways of television, but typically when your head is cut off, you don't normally return to the show in which you starred. Ah, but what if viewers didn't actually SEE the headless body? Or the bodyless head? what if...

Anyway, Sarah Wayne Callies is coming back to "Prison Break" next season, and her head - TV Guide is now reporting - will be firmly attached to her body. Check out the Michael Ausiello piece here - amazing. Just amazing. As you may vaguely recall, Wentworth Miller squeeze Doc Sara Tancredi got her head taken off last year - the rather unexpected outcome of a particularly unpleasant contract dispute with Fox/producers. ("You want a raise, Callies? Raise THIS!")

But bygones are bygones - particularly now that "PB" has a new two-year deal and has to goose ratings (FAST!). Bringing Tancredi back should help.

Here's how Matt Olmstead wiggled out of Ausiello's obvious question:

"Initially when we realized that we never actually saw the character get killed, we just had that knowledge in our back pocket and moved forward with the narrative as we intended. Which was: she's out of the picture, Michael's [feeling guilty] and Lincoln is freaking out because if they did that to her, they could do that to his son. It really gave us a real push for the season..."

Sara's head would beg to differ...

(Above, Callies, head photoshopped back on.)

This is finally official so no sense in waiting around any more to tell you about it: "Prison Break" has been picked up for a fourth season. "PB" is certainly no barn-burner in terms of audience appeal, but it does have a core audience and the core'll keep the show around another year. No details on the new season, but Fox does appear to be making some concession to costs: Show will shift production from Dallas (where it's been the last two season) to L.A. So...somehow Scofield, now out of that Panamanian prison, is presumably heading north, way north, to Los Angeles where he'll wreak havoc on the Company next fall. This is OK, because L.A. - already nuked by "24" - knows full well how to deal with maniacal revenge. Meanwhile, no worries about bumping into Bauer cuz he'll be in D.C. next season.

Laurie Dhue - not to be confused with Jane Skinner, but if you did confuse the two, you'd be forgiven - is bolting Fox News Channel. Anyone who doesn't watch FNC would go right about now, "huh? so what?" but anybody who does will go, "huh! WHAT!" She's been a reasonably visible fixture on the channel that has essentially cornered the market on attractive blonds. There are exceptions - FNC has also "indefinitely" cut loose "Big Story with John Gibson," and as you accurately note, he is not an attractive blond. (He's not leaving FNC, but Eric Burns - longtime media critic - is.)

What's going on over at Fox News? Honestly, I'm not certain: It's always had this swaggering, biggest-baddest-dude-in-town attitude - all courtesy of Roger Ailes - but lately the dude feels pale and wan, like a pitcher who's just lost his devastating breaking ball and everyone on the opposing team knows it. (I'm into mixed metaphors today - just can't help it.)

Is Dhue's departure a huge deal? Of course not. People leave TV networks all the time...but it's still gotta make you wonder. TVnewser, which broke this over the weekend, got a statement out of Fox which says,"Unfortunately, we were unable to come to terms on a new agreement with Laurie. She has been a valued member of Fox News, and we wish her all the best in her future endeavors." (A spokeswoman who just called added nothing to this.) TVnewser added, "Since September she has been working as ombudswoman for The O'Reilly Factor for a segment called 'The Dhue Point.' In what would be her last installment Thursday night, Bill O'Reilly told Dhue, 'I hope you know, this is my favorite segment of the week.'"

Yeah, yeah - everyone might automatically assume Fox would be the first out the box to do a primetime special on William F. Buckley, and in fact it will - this Saturday at 10, in a David Asman-hosted hour.

But what's so surprising is a.) why only an hour? and b.) why on Saturday (late)? WFB's the patron saint of conservatism, for crying out loud, and FNC is, well, FNC. Per Fox: "During this program, FNC will show never-before-seen interviews with Buckley detailing his 60 years in the conservative movement and will feature interviews with some of the most influential figures in the conservative moment who discuss the impact Buckley had on them, America and the world."

Remember that huge kerfuffle in December '06 between News Corp. and onetime Fox News Channel contributor/publisher-with-big-stick/Bernard Kerik-very-close-friend Judith Regan? Of course you do (who could forget?): She got fired over that ridiculous "If I Did It" O.J. autobiography which was going to be turned into a TV doc, and subsequently sued News Corp. It got uglier and uglier after that. News Corp. said she was anti-Semitic, and then Regan - who really knows how to go nuclear - went nuclear on her ex-employer.

In any event, peace has been achieved in our time. News Corp. and Regan have settled out of court, and here's the (rather bizarre) press release announcing the detente:

"Judith Regan and News Corporation announced today that they have settled her lawsuit arising from the termination of Ms. Regan’s employment in December of 2006. The parties are pleased that they have reached an equitable, confidential settlement, with no admission of liability by any party.

News Corp. said, “After carefully considering the matter, we accept Ms. Regan’s position that she did not say anything that was anti-Semitic in nature, and further believe that Ms. Regan is not anti-Semitic.”

News Corp. also said, “Ms. Regan is a talented publisher who created many award-winning and bestselling books during her twelve and a half years at the company. News Corp. thanks Ms. Regan for her outstanding contributions and wishes her continued success.”

Ms. Regan said, “I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked with so many gifted people and am looking forward to my next venture.”

So much for “Day 7” with Cherry Jones and Janeane Garofalo. In view of the current Writers Guild strike, the Fox network announced late Wednesday it’s postponing the planned January launch of “24” until it knows the entire seventh season can run “non-stop.” (Oh, well. We can watch the trailer over and over. And over.)

The first WGA-strike-prompted wholesale lineup revision also includes premiere dates for new Fox shows, along with some other shakeups: “Bones” moves to Friday at 8 on Jan. 4 to make way for “American Idol” (back Jan. 15-16), while “Prison Break” picks up on Monday, Jan. 14 at 8.

New arrivals announced include the action movie spinoff “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles,” which previews Sunday, Jan. 13 at 8, before moving the next night to its regular Monday 9 p.m. slot (where “24” was supposed to run).

Other shows are slated further down the line, which means their premiere dates could well shift depending on strike resolution (or lack thereof). “New Amsterdam” (due Feb. 22) is about an immortal New York homicide detective, while “The Return of Jezebel James” (March 7) is a city-shot comedy from “Gilmore Girls” creator Amy Sherman-Palladino, starring Parker Posey and Lauren Ambrose as estranged sisters.

The gritty Denis Leary-produced drama “Canterbury’s Law” (April 11) also shoots in New York, but was already delayed due to the pregnancy of Julianna Margulies, starring as a tough defense attorney.

Also slated: the single-camera comedy “Unhitched” (March 2), from the Farrelly brothers, about thirtysomethings who include Craig Bierko and Rashida Jones.

Fox’ strike-reflecting lineup loads up on game/reality/“unscripted” offerings. Mark L. Walberg hosts the lie-detecting hour “The Moment of Truth” (Wednesday, Jan. 23 at 9). “When Women Rule the World” (March 3) eavesdrops on women in charge of men in a “primitive, remote location.” Gordon Ramsay’s competition “Hell’s Kitchen” is back April 1.

When I dropped by Peter’s restaurant in Babylon last night, an hour before the premier of Kitchen Nightmares, they were hooking up auxiliary speakers to the flat-screen TV. As Fox’s viewing public now knows, Peter’s was the first recipient—or victim—of Gordon Ramsay’s culinary counsel. Back in March, the pugnacious British chef had swept into this modest Italian restaurant and had exposed everything—family strife, non-working stoves, frozen crab cakes—to the cold light of a television production crew.

The restaurant is owned by Tina Pelligrino, but its dominant presence is that of her brother, Peter. (He’s not the restaurant’s namesake, Tina explained; the place was named for their grandfather who founded it.)

Now that the specter of Joey Buttafuoco has faded, the South Shore of Long Island needs another poster boy and, in the show, Peter Pelligrino rises to the challenge. He comes off as selfish, crass, vain and violent: skimming money off the restaurant’s profits to buy a fancy car, an expensive tan, gleaming teeth and jewelry. He insults the wait staff within earshot of their tables, he physically threatens his creditors and, worst of all, neither he nor Tina seem to care that their kitchen barely functions and sends out consistently mediocre food.

Was Peter nervous about his upcoming small-screen debut? “As Shakespeare said,” quoth he, “‘All the world’s a stage.’”

The fledgling thespian—“this restaurant is my Carnegie hall”—said he has studied with acting coach Olinda Turturro. Years ago, he was stopped on the street by “Bobby De Niro” who liked his look. This led to a small role in “A Bronx Tale” (uncredited) and other De Niro movies. “I read seven times for the Soprano’s,” he said.

The five days Ramsay spent in Babylon, Peter said, were life-changing ones. “He made me toe the line,” he said. “I concede—he was right and I was wrong.” At the end of the one-hour episode, the bull has turned into a pussycat. He works hard, praises his employees and even sponsors a Family Day for Babylon. I asked him if, six months later, he feels that he has still turned over a new leaf. “I turned over a whole forest,” he responded.

We’ll see. I witnessed some very dismissive words directed at his long-suffering sister.

But I don’t think he’ll be around for long. Peter is an avowed scenester who considers himself “part of the woodwork” at Cipollini, the trendy Manhasset restaurant. He’s also a regular at the Manhattan Eurotrash magnets Da Silvano, in the Village, and Nello’s on the Upper East Side. Tony Danza loves his artichokes.

And he’s got some television projects “in the works.”

For all that, he makes for some very entertaining TV. Which was probably his intention all along.

Kevin Reilly's back in the game - though heaven knows, after his recent exit at NBC, one wonders why. Fox Broadcasting this afternoon said he's coming aboard as president of entertainment.

Reilly - I should add, Long Island's own Kevin Reilly - did a terrific job at NBC and for his trouble got shown the door last month. In his new gig, he'll report to former colleague at FX, Peter Liguori, who was upped to chairman of FBCE. All this, by the way, was predicted in Variety late last week.

Here's the canned quote from the press release:

“The television industry has changed more in the last five years than in the past 20,” said [Peter] Chernin [News Corp prez]. “We need to be structured in a way that puts us in the best position take advantage of the myriad new opportunities digital technology has afforded the broadcast television business. When Peter Liguori approached me with the idea of re-teaming with Kevin Reilly, I thought it was a bold move to redefine the structure of the network behind a pair of dynamic executives who have a proven track record of advancing the medium.”

Nice quote and I'm fairly certain it means nothing. But who cares? Fact is, Reilly is a genuine talent who catapulted NBC's Thursday back to its rightful place (ratings may come in time), did a lot of other good things there, and who is one of the brightest guys in the business. FBC is lucky to have him.

Kev's looking good! And "American Idol's" got his back.