Scandal-free Fox = a quiet day at TCA

Brad Garrett breathed some much-needed life into a seriously energy-free TCA day for the Fox network on Monday. I guess a combination of the heat, hangovers from the Sunday night TCA awards and the lure of the long-awaited trip home for critics seemed to just leave the group dead on Monday.

The day started out with an eerily quiet Q&A with Fox chief Peter Liguori.In the post-presentation scrum of reporters on stage, at one point Liguori looked at the group and we looked at him, and I think I heard crickets. Finally, standing directly in front of him, I jumped on the grenade and asked him about ABC’s troubled The One, which drew out the first (only?) good quote of the day, when Liguori fired a shot at his ABC counterpart, Steve McPherson (see our main site for the story).

After lunch, Garrett came through with some yuks in a session for his new comedy, Til Death, which also features Eddie Kaye Thomas, who is best known as Paul Finch, or “Shitbrick,” from the American Pie movies.

In addition to a fun Bill Cosby impersonation, Garrett brought the funny when talking about his movie career, which includes a recently-shot role in Music and Lyrics, in which he stars with High Grant and Drew Barrymore.Garrett:  “I have a very weird career, I’m very picky and not in demand.”

Garrett also said he learned one thing after he ripped Ryan Seacrest and other Fox talent at the upfront presentation in New York in May. “You probably shouldn’t do comedy during the day,” he joked.  “They have a much bigger career than I do, so I think that’s why they were fine with it.”

–Ben Grossman