Fox TV Execs Want to Avoid Sensationalism

Fox Television Entertainment Group Chairman Sandy Grushow and newly named Fox Entertainment President Gail Berman stressed their determination Thursday to stay away from sensational programs such as the controversial “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?” as they set out to reverse the network’s track record.

“We’re not going for the short-term fix of the shockumentary like ‘When Animals Attack’ or shows like that,” Grushow told a gathering of television writers in Pasadena at which Fox is promoting its new fall programming. He added that the independent “risk assessment” firm of Price-Waterhouse will assess Fox’s future reality-based programming.

Meanwhile, Berman, the former head of Regency Television who has only been in her new post for three weeks, said her mission is to find great new shows and “make the ones we have even better.” Berman replaced Doug Herzog, who resigned last March after a stormy 15 months in office in which the network launched several shows that flopped as well as the popular sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle.”

As for making existing shows better, Berman said she had great hopes for “Ally McBeal,” David E. Kelley’s comedy about a neurotic attorney that took a dip in viewership and critical acclaim last season. The show, which won an Emmy last year for outstanding comedy series, was not among the outstanding comedy program nominees announced Thursday for the upcoming Emmy Awards.

Berman said she agreed somewhat with critics who felt that the series took too many “flights of fancy” last season, and that Kelley, who is executive producer and writes most of the episodes, had already started to steer the series back into a more personal and emotional direction.

In other Fox news, Robert Patrick, best known for his villainous role in “Terminator 2,” will join “The X-Files” next season as a regular. Patrick will help take up the slack being left by David Duchovny, the drama’s star who will appear in only about half the season’s episodes. Duchovny’s character, FBI Agent Fox Mulder, was abducted in a season-ending cliffhanger to explain his absence.

Though Grushow said he was generally pleased with Fox’s fall schedule, the executive indicated he would like the network to have “more balance,” programming less of what he called “dark science-fiction” and targeting more series toward young women.

Fox, which had abandoned producing original movies, will reenter that arena this season. One of the planned productions will be a hip-hop version of “The Wizard of Oz” that will feature Busta Rhymes, Queen Latifah and several other rap stars.