Fox Plays Down Early Success of NBC's 'The Voice,' Says 'X Factor' and 'Idol' Are the 'Gold Standard'

With the stakes high for Fox in the battle of singing competition shows, the network had to say something about a strong new rival for its “American Idol” and “X Factor.”Peter Rice, chairman of entertainment for Fox Networks Group, took time during the network’s unveiling today of its fall lineup to talk about competition from NBC’s “The Voice,” Entertainment Weekly reported.Rice indicated the network isn’t particularly concerned about the surprising early success of “The Voice.” “There’s always competition on television,” he said, adding: “We feel we have the gold standard in both ‘Idol’ and ‘X Factor.’ In Simon Cowell we have the absolute star of the genre at the pinnacle of his game. There’s an excitement and a buzz around [‘X Factor’] that we’ve never seen before. We had more people show up for the audition than we ever had on ‘Idol.’”Rice added that Fox will give “X Factor” the heaviest promotion of any of its new programs, including strong promotion during the baseball playoffs and World Series.


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Exec Producer Out at CBS's 'Early Show'

The executive producer of CBS’s “Early Show” announced today that he is leaving the show, TVNewser reported. The network said it will announce a replacement in a few days.David Friedman is out after exec producing the show since January 2010. He will leave in the next few weeks. His exit follows the departure from the network by his father, Paul Friedman, who was CBS News executive VP until a management shakeup in February.The website added that CBS News President David Rhodes sent a note to the staff regarding Friedman's exit, saying, “David is a strong producer who has worked very hard and we intend to help him find the right place at CBS or elsewhere.”