On the rumors of American Idol deals with producer Nigel Lythgoe, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler

What Peter Rice says: "No one has signed a deal yet. There are no signed deals with anybody. There has been tremendous speculation. I can tell you that much of the information that has been written is accurate and some of the information is wildly inaccurate."

What Mr. Rice means: Yes, all those people will be on American Idol this season, but I can't actually say that. Until I can, continue to idly speculate and drive hits to your various web sites with false rumors.

On the Fox fall pilots

What Mr. Rice says: "I think, in an overall view, we're in the talent business."

What Mr. Rice means: There are no 'Til Death-like shows on tap, so that's something, right?

On Fringe, the J.J. Abrams-produced science-fiction show that airs on Thursday nights

What Kevin Reily says: "We have no intention of screwing with Fringe because the show's doing great."

What Mr. Reilly means: We'll move it around if it continues to struggle and then eventually cancel it.

On whether or not Fox came close to hiring Conan O'Brien

What Mr. Reilly says: "I don't think we have to go into the Conan thing."

What Mr. Reilly means: We can make more money rerunning Seinfeld than we can with Conan and all his Twitter followers combined. Sorry, millenials!