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Back in 2020, when television executives still regularly, and often very helpfully, took questions from the press at gatherings of the Television Critics Association, FX Networks chairman John Landgraf told the room that his network’s brand had “hit a ceiling” on basic cable. Integrating with Hulu, and adding some 30 million new homes, he said, would “make the FX brand actually more valuable, really, because I think it’s going to penetrate more deeply into American culture.”
It was a bittersweet moment for an old-school TV executive who watched the rise of Netflix with distaste and famously took his time—a great deal of time—nurturing shows rather than spewing them out to see what sticks. Almost six years later, FX still stands out as one of the only premium brands in television, the home of such diverse and awards-worthy shows as Atlanta, Better Things, Reservation Dogs, The Bear, and The Lowdown. You have to admire an executive willing to take an enormous swing like Shogun, which delivered strong numbers and received a record-breaking 18 Emmys in its first season.
But as Shogun goes into production on its second season, Landgraf and FX find themselves contending with ever-growing challenges, just like everyone else making television these days. By the end of the year, Hulu will be integrated into Disney+ (FX is moving to Burbank this month). In a world full of noisy distractions, some Hollywood insiders wonder if Landgraf can continue to make just a few series a year with the same slow, deeply considered process. As acclaimed showrunner Noah Hawley (Fargo, Alien: Earth) has grown restless with the lengthy development process, will others start thinking they could get richer faster at Netflix or Apple, or find a bigger platform on HBO Max? How many of them can even find a place on FX’s schedule, when Ryan Murphy takes up precious slots every year, even as several of his projects have faltered lately? And does Landgraf want to stick around as the business goes through a brutal contraction—especially as Netflix, the company he blames the most for degrading the quality of television programming, stands poised to acquire HBO?
No one is remotely suggesting that Landgraf, 63, lacks respect or support from co-chairman of Disney Entertainment Dana Walden and C.E.O. Bob Iger. But given the ongoing transformation of the business, they aren’t sure there will be room for a man who still weaves with a handloom in the midst of an industrial revolution. He’s long been critical of Netflix, accusing the streamer of using misleading metrics to claim that many from its ever-bigger geyser of shows were hits. In 2019, he threw some shade publicly at the streamer, telling the gathering of television critics that “there’s a value in focus and care in what one does.”
“John hearkens back to a time when linear television mattered,” said one talent rep. FX is still obligated to debut some of its shows on the FX cable channel, but in today’s world, “entertainment programming is a solid second place to sports and live events.” Another source with a lot of business at FX told me, “I don’t think he believes in the concept of streaming. He thinks the money from Netflix ruined what was great about the business. He’s right. We’ve got a lot of crap on TV as a result. John wishes he could snap his fingers and go back to a time when he could make television for less money. It kills him to spend $10 million an episode.” At the same time, this person continued, “He’s getting pushed to do bigger stuff. And it’s very hard to replicate what happened with Shogun.” Another source with close ties to FX told me, “For years, John’s been saying putting out new shows is like pissing in the ocean.”
Fighting Harder
Speculation that Landgraf might be moving slowly toward an exit is contradicted by FX sources, who say he’s in the early phase of a “multiyear” contract. (They won’t get more specific than that—and Landgraf declined to comment for this story.) And it’s possible that Landgraf has inadvertently fed some of the anxiety that he might exit by exuding a certain wistfulness that is not exactly new. “I’m 61 years old and a little burned out,” he told The Hollywood Reporter a couple of years ago. “These are hard jobs.”
Several sources close to the situation think they detect signs of fatigue, or possibly fatigue coupled with frustration. And the question that they pose is not just whether Landgraf wants to stay, but whether there will still be space for bespoke storytelling as Hollywood’s digital transformation continues apace. “He loves his job, he loves programming really high-level stuff—and selective stuff and not tonnage—but the world is changing,” said one veteran talent rep. “Eventually, everything at Disney is going to be consolidated under Disney+—in a year, in my opinion. So then where does he go?”
This person noted that “they pay [Landgraf] a lot of money” for a few new shows a year and wondered whether such an arrangement would continue to make sense for Disney. A Disney veteran framed the question this way: “Inside of Hulu, he made FX a special place. How do you do that inside Hulu inside Disney+?” (After some name-changing shenanigans, Warner Bros. Discovery ultimately put the letters H, B, and O first when naming its streamer.)
Several people who work with FX speculated that Landgraf may in part be feeling the effects of the prolonged, very pregnant pause before Disney finally reveals its new C.E.O., an announcement promised sometime this quarter. “It feels like Disney is just waiting for a lot of things with the leadership change,” said one source with multiple shows at FX. “Everything that should be simpler and easier to get through seems clogged.” Another person who does a lot of business with FX concurred, saying, “It feels like John’s having to fight harder and be more strategic or put people through their paces more. I can’t tell if it’s him or Dana or Disney or a combination.”
“That Is His Oxygen”
The quality of FX programming suggests that at least some part of Landgraf’s laborious process is still paying dividends. But that doesn’t make it easy. “I like and respect them, but it’s a crazy fucking process,” said one source who has done significant business at FX. Another person with long experience with Landgraf put it this way: “John acts like a producer. He will call you in and you will have a two-hour meeting about what happens in the third act of Episode 7. One can say, John Landgraf has a big fucking job. Why is he watching the third rough cut of Episode 7? Because that is his oxygen.”
It appears that one reason WME was able to poach Hawley from CAA last spring was that Ari Emanuel and Ari Greenburg swooped in just as the showrunner was getting restive. “After 10 years of content for them, he’s not so sure he needs to hear everyone’s notes and everyone’s dissertation on his work,” said a source familiar with Hawley’s thinking. In November, Hawley struck a reported nine-figure deal that continued his relationship with FX but also allowed him to work across all of Disney Entertainment Television. (Hawley, who declined to comment, also has Far Cry, a third series, in the works at FX, so it makes sense for him to maintain that relationship. And he had enough clout to win a battle over moving production of the second season of Alien: Earth from Budapest to London.)
There’s also an apocryphal story that showrunner Dan Fogelman (Only Murders in the Building, Paradise) has a “no Landgraf” clause in his Hulu deal. Not true, but a knowledgeable source said Fogelman’s attitude is, “‘I know that guy and he gets great stuff, but I don’t need that person in my life. You shouldn’t be counting on me to do shows with FX.’” (Fogelman declined to comment.)
Still, others who work with FX are happy to step forward and praise Landgraf’s methods. Shogun co-creator Justin Marks told me that during the making of the first season, Landgraf actually did call to say, “‘I think it’s a beautiful thing you’re doing in the 10th episode with the absence of Mariko. It’s a great thing, because there was a line in Episode 6 that spoke to the theme. Is there a way you can feel her absence as a presence?’” Marks said that “set up a beautiful challenge” to make the 10th episode stronger. He regards Landgraf as a “muse” who made the series possible.
Producer Garrett Basch, who has had multiple shows at FX (most recently The Lowdown), also told me the long conversations with Landgraf and his team have made his shows better. “If it’s a harder process, you’re working on something good,” he said. “Anyone who can’t handle that process is probably not making anything I’d want to watch.”
Some who have found those long notes discussions trying have wondered whether Ryan Murphy—who has had many shows at FX (including American Horror Story, Pose, Grotesquerie, and the upcoming The Beauty, bowing January 21—still has to participate in the sessions. Landgraf nurtured Murphy in his cradle (Nip/Tuck), but now the producer has what one Disney veteran calls “an extremely cemented” relationship with Walden. “Ryan does what he wants to do,” said a Disney source. “Managing that is tricky.”
Sources said that Murphy sometimes gets to skip the pilot process, which is still in place for other prospective series. And some who are angling for their own shows even wonder whether Walden mandates that some of Murphy’s programs should be on FX—a notion that generates some resentment when there is space for so few new shows each year. But a source familiar with the situation said that Murphy still takes notes from Landgraf, adding that the FX exec never takes on any project that he doesn’t believe in.
Meanwhile, a producer who works with FX said in all of Landgraf’s extensive notes process, there has been no sign of interference from the overlords. “I’ve never heard, ‘Dana had this thought,’ or ‘Bob thinks that,’” he said. And a former Disney exec is confident that Landgraf will be independent and free to work at his own pace for some time. “If Dana gets the [C.E.O.] job, she’ll have her hands full,” he said. “IfJosh D’Amaro gets it, the first thing he does is not going to be whacking John Landgraf. It doesn’t seem like a good first act.”
