Kevin Reilly (executive)

Kevin Reilly is Chairman of Entertainment for the Fox Broadcasting Company, where he oversees all prime-time development, programming, scheduling, marketing, research, digital and business affairs for the only network in broadcast history to win 8 consecutive seasons among Adults 18-49.^[1]

Professional background

Fox

At Fox, Reilly has supervised and introduced several successful and critically celebrated TV series. Most recently, Reilly introduced The Following, the highest-rated broadcast drama of the 2012-13 season^[2] and The Mindy Project, the #1 new comedy of 2012-13 to be picked up for a second season. Reilly also championed New Girl, the network’s highest-rated fall sitcom debut in 10 years,.^[3] Reilly launched Glee, which won the Golden Globe for Best Series – Musical or Comedy^[4] in 2010. Glee is the most Emmy-winning comedy in the network’s history.^[5] He is generally credited with creating Jane Lynch’s character, Sue Sylvester, on the show.^[6] Reilly also developed and launched Seth MacFarlane’s The Cleveland Show and the J.J. Abrams thriller Fringe at Fox.

Reilly has also bolstered Fox’s leadership and investment in digital and social media. He was the architect behind the recently launched Animation Domination High-Def ^[7] - an independent digital animation studio generating alternative animation for digital channels and a late-night block on FOX—and is building out additional digital content verticals for the network in the drama and unscripted arenas.^[8]

NBC

Reilly joined Fox from NBC, where he served as President, Entertainment from May 2004 to May 2007. Having begun his career at NBC Entertainment almost two decades earlier, he returned there in fall 2003 as President of Primetime Development.

Early in his career at NBC, Reilly supervised Law & Order in its first season and developed ER. After his first stint at NBC, Reilly was President of Brad Grey Television, the television production arm of Brillstein-Grey Entertainment. He joined Brillstein-Grey in 1994. He was responsible for shepherding some of television’s top shows, such as the pilot for The Sopranos, and the NBC comedies Just Shoot Me! and NewsRadio. Reilly's vocal support of The Office helped it survive its low-rated first season.^[9] He is credited with developing shows such as My Name Is Earl, Heroes, 30 Rock, and Friday Night Lights.^[10] Despite having received a new three-year contract at NBC in February 2007, Reilly's partnership with NBC was terminated in late May 2007, and Reilly departed soon after.^[11] Approximately one month later, Reilly was hired as President of Entertainment at FOX.

FX

Prior to his tenure at NBC, Reilly served as President of Entertainment for FX. In that role, Reilly helped redefine the basic cable business with an aggressive slate of original quality programming including The Shield, Nip/Tuck, and Rescue Me. Within a year of his arrival, FX made cable history with its seminal series, The Shield, which broke cable ratings records when it premiered and went on to receive a Golden Globe Award for Best Drama Series (2002) and an Emmy Award for lead actor Michael Chiklis (2002).^[12]

References