John Landgraf called Emmy nomination day a “kick in the teeth.” But he meant it in the best way possible — and the fact that the normally unflappable FX boss was mixing his metaphors on Wednesday morning is perhaps all the evidence you need that even he was gobsmacked by the programmer’s stunning haul this year.
FX scored 93 nominations at the 76th Emmys, including a record-breaking 23 nods for “The Bear” (the most ever for a comedy — and yes, it’s still a comedy, more on that in a moment) and 25 for “Shōgun,” this year’s top nominee. That put FX within striking distance of tally leader Netflix (107) and above HBO (91).
“Our prior record total was 56,” Landgraf told PvNew, referring to the 2016 tally that included “The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.” “And I think we hoped and had some optimism that we might break that. I wasn’t looking for something in the 90s. I thought, maybe, it was conceivable we might break 80. But even that seemed a little too optimistic. So this one really caught us by surprise and in the best possible way.”
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Among other standout nods was best comedy series recognition for “Reservation Dogs” after the show’s first two seasons were snubbed. “To talk to [co-creator] Sterlin Harjo and hear what it means to him that ‘Reservation Dogs’ got a nomination after three seasons and what it means to him and everybody who worked on that show — the entire community that made it — you just feel this tremendous sense of gratitude to the voters at the Academy and this tremendous sense of pride for the talented artists,” he said.
“The thing that I’m proud of is, we don’t field that large of a team,” he added. “What we lack in volume we try to make up for in love and dedication. The level of care and attention and personal commitment we put behind each individual show and each individual creator work. It’s their work. It’s not ours. We’re here to try to lift them up. The fact that they were able to achieve this in our system and with our support is something that really feels good.”
Other shows adding to FX’s number spanned several genres: comedy “What We Do in the Shadows,” limited series “Fargo” and “Feud: Capote vs. The Swans,” and unscripted “Welcome to Wrexham.”
PvNew spoke to Landgraf on Wednesday morning about FX’s victories (a big win for senior VP Lauren McMahon, the head of awards, who must truly need a moment to digest it), as well as what’s to come with “Shōgun” and “Fargo” — and yes, that question about the genre of “The Bear.”
This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.
Let’s talk about “Rez Dogs” first, because that was one where it felt like the entire industry and every reporter was really pushing for it.
I’m sorry that the that the Academy doesn’t give out an Emmy for most impactful television criticism. Because I have to say, this is one where the show earned it of course, but the critics really lifted this one up. We’ve had that before, we had a big groundswell of support for “Better Things,” which was a much beloved show that never made it into this circle. It often doesn’t happen, so I don’t at all take it for granted. I’m really grateful that the voters saw fit to recognize the show. It’s not only a great show, it’s a historic show.
FX has had some rough years at the Emmys, but things really turned around in 2024. Is this serendipity? A confluence of big shows all premiering in the same timeframe? How do you account for this year’s success?
The artists do the work, and these are their nominations. What we have is the ability to support them, the ability to make bets on what we believe in and who we believe it. In this particular case, none of that would exist without Disney. If the FX network had continued to be a basic cable network owned by Fox, today would not happen. A lot of this really comes down to the fact that Dana [Walden] and I have had amazing support inside this company. It’s been a real journey for all of us, but I don’t think there was any other way that you were going to get a brand like FX across the chasm from being a basic cable network in a in a business model that was in such a decline without our partners at Hulu, without our partners at Disney. They gave us the resources to bet on these shows and bet on this talent. So I really attributed to the transition that we were able to make to streaming along with the Walt Disney Company, which we’re now part of.
What does it mean to you to have three shows nominated in the comedy category?
If you went through and just listed all the successful comedies FX has had, from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” forward, it’s a murderer’s row of amazing comedies across multiple different genres. That’s what’s really happy to me, is that “Reservation Dogs” and “What We Do in the Shadows” and “The Bear” are really different shows. Each of them has its own extremely distinctive voice that sort of emerges from the intent and the voice of their creators, their writers and producers. That’s just a wonderful feeling. A pride that I’m sure how any of us feels when we have a loved one who gets long overdue recognition.
“The Bear” to be the most-nominated comedy ever. Did you think that could happen in this era of so much competition?
I used to think those records were in the past, not the future, given the proliferation of competition. But that’s the thing that’s amazing about this business. New artists and new voices come along. So you end up, out of seemingly nowhere, [“The Bear” creator] Chris Storer comes along, and then here he is.
As for Season 4 of “The Bear,” we understand it has been shot back-to-back with Season 3. Could you could bring it back sooner if you wanted to?
We couldn’t bring it back sooner because of all of the film projects the actors are on right now. We started a show with a team of great actors. Now we have a show with a team of movie stars. They do have to go back for a chunk of production. And we actually haven’t seen all the scripts yet. We’ve seen most of them, but not all of them. I would say one of the things I just really like about “The Bear,” which is something I used to like about television, is the sense that things came back every year. When you loved something, when you had an experience with it, it was a part of the year that you looked forward to. Now, not only do you often only get a very short period of time with a show, because it’s not a network show with 22 episodes that airs over 30 weeks, but very few shows come back annually. So I’m actually incredibly proud and grateful to the team at “The Bear” that have dedicated themselves — despite of all the other hoopla they’ve been dealing with — to bring this thing back annually. I can’t say for sure, but my guess is it’ll come back the same time next year.
Is there a chance that Season 4 of “The Bear” might be the final season?
We really don’t know. These decisions are really creative decisions. It was Sterlin Harjo who made a decision that “Rez Dogs” was a three-season series. And so it’s really Chris [Storer’s] decision on “The Bear.” It’s about, how much more story does he have to tell? I mean, obviously, I’m hoping he has more than one more season of story to tell. But not to the extent that if there was one great season or three mediocre ones, I’d rather have one great one. You just have to follow the creative.
So let’s get into the big debate. “The Bear” and whether it’s a comedy has become a hot topic in the industry. I know you’ve been asked it before, but is it a comedy? It does feel like it’s become even more of an issue this year.
I’ve been doing this for a long time. I’m in my 60s, and I’ve been doing it my whole adult life. And I’ve never seen a better season of any television series, let alone a comedy, than “The Bear” Season 2. Like, that’s as good a season of television as I’ve ever seen. And there are parts of that season that are very, very funny. We let the voters decide the answers to these questions.
Next year, do you move Season 3 to drama?
I’m not focused on that question right now. Just really focused on how gratified I am that the work they did in Season 2 was recognized.
The other question you get asked every year on “The Bear” is whether you plan to stick to the drop-it-all-at-once model, or if you’d switch it next year to a weekly release?
I don’t think so. Unfortunately, you can’t get to everything for every one of your fans, every one of your consumers that they want. I wish I could take the request from every fan of “The Bear” and give them just the version of it that they want and if they want it weekly, I wish I could give it to them weekly. But I think the show itself that Chris makes is designed to be consumed as a season in many ways. I don’t mean to say they don’t have episodic episodes in every season. He’s made these stunningly brilliant standout episodes of television … that really are among the most original and best episodes I’ve seen. But I think each season is its own distinctive entity. I haven’t been a big proponent of the overall shift in television to a binge model. I really genuinely believe in weekly television, and obviously many or most of our shows go out that way. “Shōgun” went out that way. “What We Do in the Shadows” went out that way. “Reservation Dogs” went out that way. In the case of “The Bear,” though, I am actually grateful to be a part of a streaming platform and to be able to offer it the other way — because I just think that’s the show.
Where do we stand on Season 2 of “Shōgun”?
I was speaking to Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo this morning, congratulating them. They had just stepped out of the writers room, and are happily at work.
How soon do you think production could be ramped up again and, eventually, you could have another season on the air?
We’re hoping to be in production relatively early next year. But it’s a long production period. I think between principal and second unit days of photography, that show shot between 180 and 190 days or more, could have been close to 200.
FX linear finally aired Season 1 of “The Bear.” Are there plans to expose more of the Hulu-only shows on the linear channel in the coming months?
Not my call anymore. The channel is in Debra OConnell’s organization. I’m supportive of that if she and her team decide to do that. I think it’s a good thing.
Back to “Rez Dogs,” you also are developing Sterlin Harjo’s next project, the drama pilot “The Sensitive Kind,” starring Ethan Hawke. Where does that stand?
We haven’t made a decision yet. But I watched the cut of it yesterday. And while I was congratulating Sterlin this morning on the “Reservation Dogs” nominations I was I was also thanking him for the work he’s doing on the cut. So nothing more to say than that at this point.
Any ETA on when you might make a decision on that?
A month or two.
Noah Hawley was back in a big way with Season 5 of “Fargo.” I know he’s busy at work on the “Alien,” series but is there a timetable for another installment of “Fargo”?
Noah is deep in work on Season 1 of “Alien: Earth” right now. We’re in post-production, and we are talking to him and watching cuts every week. We’re pretty bullish on “Alien: Earth” and we’ve told him that assuming, as we hope, “Alien: Earth” is a returning television series, we want him to focus on on at least writing two seasons of it before returning to a possible sixth season of “Fargo.” So it’s going to be a little while, but I’m also an intensely proud of that show. [Noah] is an extraordinary talent. And we’ve been privileged to work with him for more than a decade on three shows now. I love this season myself. Just absolutely loved it. I thought it was original, really moving, funny. It ultimately sort of captured the moment that we’re living through right now in a very poignant way.
So does this year’s tally now raise the bar on future expectations? How bullish will you be for Emmys in 2025 and beyond?
I’ve always been process-oriented. My point of view has always been do your best, work with the best people you can trust, support them the best way you can, stay focused on the actual process, stay focused on the work. The results will take care of themselves. Sometimes the results blow through your wildest expectations. We just really feel privileged to be a part of this industry and a part of the opportunity to help storytellers tell their stories. We try to do that as well as we possibly can, and let the chips fall where the chips fall.
What does it mean to beat HBO in the tally?
HBO is excellent. They’ve always been excellent. They will be excellent. We’re trying to be excellent. We’re trying to compete with the best. I’m really just glad to be in the company of the best. It’s not really about the network or the streaming platform. It’s really about the talent. It’s about the creative. That’s what the Emmys are here to recognize.
