Upcoming rebooted series such as ‘Lethal Weapon’ have a high bar to clear, Fox execs say

In the era of “peak TV” when critical accolades can mean as much as ratings for a show, Fox is seen as playing it safe with four shows based on proven movie and television franchises in the upcoming TV season.

Fox Television Group Co-chairman and CEO Dana Walden told writers gathered Monday at the Television Critics Assn. press tour in Beverly Hills that the familiar titles wouldn’t have made the cut if they weren’t good shows. But she acknowledged that Fox needed an advantage going into what is considered a rebuilding year for the network, which no longer has its long-running reality franchise “American Idol” to rely on.

“Our hope is the well known titles -- if, and only if, well-executed -- will lighten the load on our marketing team and enable some of the projects to enter the most competitive television marketplace ever with an advantage of viewer awareness,” Walden said. “Every show we ordered won its way onto our schedule.”

The schedule includes a series based on the “Lethal Weapon” movie franchise, a revival of the series “Prison Break,” which has been off the air since 2008, a new iteration of its serialized terrorism thriller “24,” and a drama based on the 1973 film hit “The Exorcist.”

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“Reboots are not a guarantee of success and we certainly know that as well as anyone,” Walden said. “We get the advantage of recognition and the challenge of meeting the original.”

Walden said even she was skeptical of the idea of bringing “Lethal Weapon” to TV, as the original film has become a template for buddy cop shows. But the pilot delivered strong production values and did well with test audiences.

“ ‘Lethal Weapon’ had to hurl itself over a very high bar at every level,” she said.

David Madden, entertainment president for Fox Broadcasting Co., who joined Walden on stage at the press conference, said even if the reboots are successful, they won’t crowd out future new concepts.

“That remains our predominant business,” he said. “It’s still mostly original. If the right title of existing [intellectual property] comes in, we’ll still buy it. We’ll still develop it. We’ll still hold it to the same rigorous process that we tried to hold the ones that went through the process this year.”

While Fox loaded up on proven commodities, its reboot menu does not include another round of “The X-Files,” which was brought back for a six-episode run last season.

The revival received decent ratings but a mixed reception from longtime fans of the cult hit. Nevertheless, Madden said the network would bring it back once the stars David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson and show creator Chris Carter can fit the production into their schedules.

“We would love to do another season,” Madden said.

stephen.battaglio@latimes.com

Twitter: @SteveBattaglio

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