Reality chief Simon Andreae is departing Fox. Producer Corie Henson is set to join the network as its new head of unscripted.
Andreae oversaw the development of Utopia, which Fox featured on two nights of its fall 2014 schedule and promoted heavily going into the season. But ratings for the show started out low and continued to decline as the season progressed. Foxcanceled it in early Novemeber after fewer than two months on the air. Andreae departs with a deal to produce for the network in-hand.
Henson most recently was executive VP of unscripted television at Electus, where she oversaw series such as Running Wild with Bear Grylls, Breaking Greenville and The Raft. Previously, she served as VP of alternative series at ABC Entertainment. She is slated to officially come aboard at Fox in February.
“Corie has the perfect combination of broadcast and producing experience to help us move our unscripted brand forward,” Fox Television Group Chairmen and CEOs Dana Walden and Gary Newman said. “Seeing the tremendous work that she, Chris Grant and the team at Electus have done, Corie clearly knows what it’s like to be on the creative side of the business, but also has a proven track record of developing and shepherding big, broad network hits.”
A former Discovery Channel executive, Andreae leaves Fox after 15 months on the job, having been hired to succeed 18-year veteran Mike Darnell, now at Warner Bros.
In November, ABC fired reality chief Lisa Berger, another former cable executive, who had been at the network for only 13 months.
