Prison Break not Getting the Hook -- Officially

"Prison Break" did not get "the hook," as one TV critic suggested at the press tour, Fox programming chief Kevin Reilly said emphatically.

Rather, it has "played out" and gotten to the point where "everyone feels enough stories were told creatively," he said, stating the obvious since, at four seasons, stars Wentworth Miller and Dominic Miller seem to have run out of prisons to be thrown into and break out of.

"We wanted [the series] to finish strong and not just gimp out next season," Reilly said.

And in conclusion, "Prison Break has had a hell of a run and is just at the end of that run," he said.

It's returning for the second half of this last season on April 17.

On the flip side, Fox's decision to pick up its sitcom "Til Death" was all about the deal, not about whether it had creatively run its course.

"The situation on 'Til Death" is pretty straightforward and apropos to the conversations earlier about economics," Reilly said.

"You're going to see every one of these companies make certain strategic decisions to address the economics...At a certain deal, it makes sense for us to keep ['Til Death'] in certain time periods. We were able to make that deal and so we're going to have places where we can program it and keep originals on the air versus just repeats or some sort of filler."

New promo campaign: "'Til Death': Better Than Filler'."

By Lisa de Moraes  |  January 13, 2009; 5:30 PM ET Winter TV Press Tour 2009
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