FX's John Landgraf Apologizes to Audience

 

dfThe CEO of FX John Landgraf started his move with a confession. “We’d rather fail spectacularly and nobly than succeed in a quiet, middling way,” he said at the Television Critics Association.

Campaign of Networks to Retire Live and Same-Day Ratings

Landgraf pointed out that there were merely too many good programs for those accumulated in the Beverly Hilton ballroom to be consumed and covered.  He however, joked and said that he was sorry for adding still more and thanked them for not booing him off the stage as outcome.

While the program mugging has the potential to overwhelm castigator,  FX and the nearly year-old FXX continue to build up their original offerings, making the network group the biggest provider of original fare in cable television, his aspiring push is being reaped, innovatively and commercially.

Here is the proof. FX freshly picked up a basic-cable record 45 Emmy nominations, while FXX has beat its forerunner Fox Soccer by over 500 percent from both total viewers and adults ranging 18-49. It is anticipated to get a momentous height from the forthcoming addition of the Simpsons library.

Landgraf managed topics from rivalry to satisfaction. For the course of 45 minutes or so onstage. Here are the highlights.

FX’s Risk-Taking Brand

Landgraf pointed among other things to the network’s keenness to take risks, whether that has meant having a bet on a new format (the anthological miniseries American Horror Story) or on bold voices (Louie).  He quote “We’re looking for people with the creative chutzpah,” Landgraf emphasized that with the abundance of excellence in television, viewers want to be wowed. As he discerns it, his networks’ contribution will carry on to be to push against the boundaries of storytelling, even if sometimes their approach makes viewers uncomfortable: We’d rather fail spectacularly and nobly than succeed in a quiet, middling way”.

That Late-Night Stab

Landgraf offered a stimulating dose of honesty when asked about the short-lived late-night experiment with W. Kamau Bell. He recognized that his weekly and then nightly show lacked stability: “It was brilliant sometimes,” he said, adding that in order to win in a crowded landscape “it has to be consistently excellent.” He then continued saying that they had made a bet on a young comic, and that he and his show weren’t yet ready to battle with rivals such as The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report.

American Horror Story update

The network chief presented a sneak peek at the fourth season of Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s horror anthology, subtitled Freak Show. It will be set in the 1950s, and will “have a really different look than previous incarnations,” according to Landgraf. The series will mark a list of new and returning stars as well as what the exec called the same really unique and original characters — “some of them strange but very compelling.”

Other Series’ Futures

Landgraf said that he was very delighted with the “amazing ratings consistency” of Tyrant, but noted that unlike other networks FX doesn’t make decisions about future seasons prematurely.

We will be happy to hear your thoughts

Leave a reply