The Second Time Through Fox’s Revolving Door

It no doubt sounds like a dream scenario: Get fired, spend a few years rebuilding your reputation, then be given an even bigger job by the company that had ousted you.

Yet for Sandy Grushow--the newly installed chairman of Fox Television Entertainment Group, now overseeing the Fox network as well as the studio’s TV production unit--the world has changed so much since News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch handed him his walking papers in 1994 that he has little time to relish the challenge facing him.

For starters, the WB and UPN networks (whose entertainment divisions are headed by Fox alumni who worked for Grushow, Susanne Daniels and Tom Nunan, respectively) didn’t exist when Grushow was bounced from the top entertainment post at Fox after less than two years. His departure began a parade of top Fox executives--Grushow, John Matoian and Peter Roth--who each served no more than two years.

Fox appears to be reaping the bitter harvest of that revolving door, and the fact that rumors surfaced this fall about current entertainment chief Doug Herzog--still less than a year into his tenure--indicates how little has been done to quell the perception of instability.

As a result, Grushow’s promotion comes at a time when Fox is experiencing ratings woes, having lurched out of the starting gate this fall, the victim of miscues past and present as well as too many about-faces in programming strategy.

All of which raises the question as to what Grushow can do, and how quickly, to address the task of reviving Fox’s lineup.

Only 32 when named president of Fox Entertainment, Grushow, now 39, downplayed any feelings of redemption (“I’m long past that,” he said) but conceded there is some irony in being responsible again for series launched during his first tour of duty, among them Fox’s top-rated show, “The X-Files,” and “Party of Five.” The first show had yet to fully blossom into a hit, and the latter had barely premiered, when he was axed less than two weeks into the 1994 season.

Fox finds itself caught between the elder networks and upstarts UPN and the WB, which have forged bonds with the minority and teen audiences Fox stole from the Big Three in establishing itself as a youthful alternative. Despite that pincers action, Grushow still sees room to operate.

“When I look at the WB, while it’s a real success story and they deserve a lot of credit, what I don’t think they’ve done is take a lot of risks creatively and innovate. . . . I believe that’s the space that the Fox Broadcasting Company needs to continue to play in,” Grushow said. “That’s one of the things the audience has come to expect from Fox.”

Restoring a ‘Sense of

Identity and Purpose’

Being truly “innovative,” however, has become no small feat. As Grushow noted, a decade ago Fox earned that label for introducing prime-time animation (“The Simpsons”), reality programs (“Cops”) and youth-oriented dramas (“Beverly Hills, 90210”)--today all common staples of prime time.

Grushow said his overall goal “is to try to restore a clear sense of identity and purpose to the network,” beginning with properly scheduling and marketing existing shows. As an example he cited Fox’s well-traveled sitcom “That ‘70s Show,” which in its second year is finally looking like a potential hit--underscoring the patience often required these days for viewers to discover new fare.

Though key players on “The X-Files” have stated they would prefer this be the program’s final year, Grushow called keeping that franchise going “a major priority, and it will continue to be one until we’ve secured another season.” At present, Fox has no deal beyond May with series creator Chris Carter or star David Duchovny, who is suing the studio for allegedly shortchanging him on the sale of reruns into syndication.

A UCLA graduate who joined Fox’s feature film marketing department as a college intern, Grushow previously spent six years at the network in all. After leaving Fox he became president of Tele-TV, an ill-fated programming venture put together by Michael Ovitz on behalf of three major phone companies. The enterprise folded in 1996, and Grushow walked away with several million dollars in severance pay but little in the way of vindication.

Some of that came when Grushow was brought back into the Fox fold in early 1997 as president of Twentieth Century Fox Television, the entity responsible for producing such Fox shows as “The Simpsons,” “Ally McBeal” and “X-Files” as well as programs on rival networks, among them ABC’s “Dharma & Greg,” NBC’s “Stark Raving Mad,” CBS’ “Judging Amy” and the WB’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Twentieth landed 21 series on the six networks this fall, a record total for any studio.

Associates describe Grushow as a highly competitive and driven executive who has often clashed with his network counterparts, including Herzog, who will now report to him. Industry sources say he pushed for Roth’s removal and lobbied hard for his own expanded role.

Colleagues also credit him with a keen marketing sense and knack for salesmanship, which may be a significant component of the job as Fox seeks to dig out of its current hole.

“The three networks just used to say, ‘We’re open,’ ” said Bob Gumer, a partner in the Kaplan-Stahler-Gumer Agency. “When you have so many different networks, people come in and say, ‘What are you going to do for me to get this [project] away from ABC?’ ”

Indeed, Fox spent roughly $100 million signing deals with top writers to create series through Twentieth but found many intent on selling shows elsewhere. While still preferring to develop home-grown hits, Fox--like Disney and other studios affiliated with networks--insists its production arm will keep supplying programs to all the networks.

Changes to Start

at Midseason Mark

If turning a TV network around is equivalent to changing the course of an ocean liner, Grushow maintains Fox can begin the process with midseason scheduling moves and the crop of new shows the network orders next May.

Still, surveying the playing field, Grushow can’t help but notice how much things have changed since his first bumpy ride in the Fox hot seat.

“Things really got intense when the two other networks came along in terms of vying for creative talent,” he said. “Nothing was ever easy, yet somehow in retrospect, as you look at the horizon, it was arguably easier then than it is now.”

After rifling through executives, many in the industry feel Fox’s best move would be to settle on a management team and put its own long-running soap opera to rest for awhile.

“There’s no doubt that if they’d stayed with Sandy, they would have had the same stability CBS has had with [network president] Les Moonves the last five years,” said Jay Sures, co-head of the TV department at United Talent Agency.

“They’d be better off,” added one rival TV executive, “if they had picked one of these guys and stuck with him.”