Why 'The Killing' Is Risky for AMC

As president of Fox Television Studios, a position he was elevated to in August after a decade at the company, he is busy tinkering with TV tradition. FtvS has had its success in cable with hits such as USA's Burn Notice (a stand-alone TV movie aired April 17), E!'s The Girls Next Door and AMC's new The Killing. Now, Madden, 55, and his staff are trying to bring that cable mind-set to broadcast fare, often shaving about 30 percent off a typical budget of $3 million-$5 million per hourlong episode with tighter shoot schedules, shorter seasons, cheaper talent deals, off-the-beaten-path locales, international partners and no pilots. But just because a new economic model is necessary in today's fractured landscape, where ancillary revenue streams are drying up, doesn't mean it's easy: ABC's The Gates and Fox's The Good Guys, for instance, are among FtvS lower-cost broadcast efforts that weren't granted a second season. But Madden, who graduated magna cum laude from Harvard before spending the first 20 years of his career as a producer and studio executive in the film world, is not ready to give up.

The married father of one sat down with THR in his Los Angeles office to discuss his The Shield's beginning, The Killing's risk and the ups and downs of fixing broadcast's economics.