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TCA Report: Fox, “Arrested Development” film update

Fox went all out with their TCA coverage, providing loads of fun Glee swag and over-feeding reporters at Monday’s Television Critics’ Association summer press tour stop in Beverly Hills. While there was little gay to be had in most of their new shows most of the day’s talk was – not surprisingly – about American Idol and the non-announcement to end all announcements: There’s no news on the judging front. However, some fun tidbits did pop up, including an update on the Arrested Development movie.

10:15 a.m. Running Wilde

From the masterful minds of Arrested Development’s Mitch Hurwitz and Jim Vallely comes Running Wilde, starring co-created and written by Will Arnett. In addition to the very Arrested-like comedy, the series brings Keri Russell back to the small screen as Emmy, the love that got away from Arnett’s clueless rich guy.

Following the panel, Vallely gave us the skinny on where things are with the Arrested Development movie and Portia de Rossi‘s involvement in it:

We’re in the middle of a draft right now, it’s all coming together and we’re trying to take our time and not rush it so we can get it right – because we have to get it right because we have so many smart fans and they will know. I believe Portia has confirmed – everyone as far as I know has agreed to do it. They’re all waiting for the script and we’re all waiting to get the time to just finish it up.

That show should have stayed in my opinion! I think we’re in a comedy renaissance right now and we’d love to get Portia on (Running Wilde), are you kidding?

Pressed for details about Portia’s story arc in the Arrested film, Vallely only offered one tidbit: “I think we’ve got the best joke for Portia and David [Cross], her on-screen husband, Tobias) in the movie, but I can’t tell you! It’s the best joke we’ve ever come up with for them. I will tell you this for AfterEllen: I think everyone will be happy with the story line for David and Portia.” What a tease!

Any shot we’ll see a lesbian on Wilde? Vallely says, “Always!” Let’s hope so – Wilde looks funny and charming.

Running Wilde premieres Tuesday, Sept. 21.

11 a.m. Executive Session

No, there was no announcement about just who the new judges will be on American Idol, but Fox Networks Group Entertainment chairman Peter Rice did offer more details into Ellen DeGeneres’ departure from the ratings behemoth.

In early June, I met with Ellen and I tried to persuade her that it would be different in the future but ultimately we came to an agreement that we would look for new judges – we were doing that anyway because Simon [Cowell] was leaving. As that played out over the course of the summer that we would come to an agreement and say to her, ‘We can’t replace you’ or to say that, “We feel that we can move on without you.” … We felt confident we could come up with a panel that didn’t include Ellen as a judge and at the same time we knew we were coming here on Monday and I felt it would be very disingenuous to sit here and to talk about Ellen being on Idol next year when we knew that that wasn’t going to be the case.

The only thing I can tell you with absolute certainty right now is that no one has signed a deal yet on either side of the camera to join American Idol next year who wasn’t on it last year. … There are no signed deals with anybody.

Finally switching gears to Fringe, featuring out actress Jasika Nicole, Fox Entertainment president Kevin Reilly said the network has “No intention of screwing with Fringe because it’s been going great. It really found its footing last year. The first batch of scripts [for Season 3] is great with the alternate universe.”

Addressing the network’s decision to scrap the plan for a Glee reality show, Reilly noted that the time commitment didn’t fit in with the production schedule for Season 2. “It seemed logistically very difficult and probably not worth it,” he said. “We are introducing a few new characters and the characters that Ryan envisioned will be coming later on. But the (audition) tapes and the fans that participated in that have been viewed and we’ve looked at some of those people and those people and that component will still be kept alive and probably factor in at a later date.”

Touching on Glee’s overexposure, Reilly said it’s a “high-class” problem to have. “We’re looking to do a great year of television and maybe some of the hoopla will die down and I think maybe that will be healthy.”

Both execs met with Glee creator Ryan Murphy recently and agreed that focusing on characters in Season 2 would be the best idea. “There’s no pressure from the music industry to do more music on Glee. ” Reilly said. “Everything we’ve heard is that people love the characters – like Heather [Morris], who is really a background dancer and emerged as one of the favorite characters of last season.”

Look for an exclusive post on Glee’s new season later today.

2:15 p.m. Raising Hope

A sweet comedy with a dark premise, Greg Garcia’s (My Name Is Earl) Raising Hope revolves around a broken family whose mother is executed and must care for an infant. Scene-stealer Cloris Leachman co-stars alongside Martha Plimpton and Lucas Neff and will add fresh ingredients to the family sitcom mix.

While there currently aren’t any gay or lesbian characters in the mix, Plimpton said after the panel that it’s “inevitable and we’ll have to have one” and she hopes lesbian viewers enjoy that the show “is for everybody.”

With recent stops on Fringe and The Good Wife, Pilmpton added that she continues to work in theater and TV because of increased opportunities for women. “I don’t have to be someone’s girlfriend or someone’s wife or exist in the context of some man,” she said. “It’s a cliché because it’s true. On television and in theater, a character actress such as myself has a lot of choice.” Asked why movies continue to provide new opportunities for women? “I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the numbers, the money that they’re dealing with. Maybe it’s the nature of the way that they think about women. Movies have a long way to go. They’re not so good with the women lately; in fact they’re lousy actually.”

Raising Hope premieres Tuesday, Sept. 21.

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