FX Networks at TCA: When It Comes to Top Quality TV, HBO and FX are Way Out Ahead – Ed Martin

Pasadena CA amp8211 FX has for the last ten years had plenty to cheer about during its days at the Summer and Winter Television Critics Association tours Ever since it premiered its first scripted drama series quotThe Shieldquot in 2002 the network has had something good to say about its growth and ratings and even its ability to win awards quotShieldquot star Michael Chiklis won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in season oneSince that time the momentum for this network has never stopped with FX continuing to roll out new series that for the most part have been embraced by critics and viewers alike Its39 very busy programming team is now fueling two networks FX and FXX Fortunately their broadcast sibling Fox several years ago decided to turn over one of its two TCA days to them giving both networks ample opportunity to keep all of their talent in front of the press something FX Networks continues to do better than any other cable entityIndeed the FX Networks team and its talent now have such strong ties to the press that publicity chief John Solberg made sure on Sunday to have the ColtsPatriots game and the PackersSeahawks game playing on monitors in the lobby outside the ballroom at the Langham Huntington Hotel where the Winter tour was held amp8211 and he made clear that it was perfectly okay for any TCA members who are also football fans to leave the ballroom at any time to watch some of the actionAs if that weren39t accommodating enough the farewell panel for FX39s longrunning detective series quotJustifiedquot was delayed while the final minutes of the PackersSeahawks game was televised on the giant screens in front of the ballroom that are usually reserved for clips reels and live satellite feeds quotJustifiedquot star Timothy Olyphant hung out on the stage with Solberg watching the action and not quite believing what he was doing while critics were glued to the big screens The room was no longer full of journalists publicists executives and stars Instead it was a room full of football fans It was an experience unlike any other I can recall in my 25 years of covering TCA toursIn addition to the session for quotJustifiedquot FX Networks39 loaded day included panels for the new comedies quotThe Comediansquot starring Billy Crystal and Josh Gad quotSex and Drugs and Rock and Rollquot starring Denis Leary and quotMan Seeking Womanquot starring Jay Baruchel returning comedies quotIt39s Always Sunny in Philadelphiaquot quotArcherquot and quotLouiequot and returning drama quotThe Americansquot Many of these shows along with FX dramas quotAmerican Horror Storyquot quotFargoquot and quotThe Strainquot and FXX comedy quotYou39re the Worstquot are among the critics39 favorite shows personally and professionallyThe big love critics have for so many FX shows was actually a point that FX Networks and FX Productions CEO John Landgraf focused on during his session with the press which kicked off the day quotWe have had a number of great shows over the years but nothing that we could definitively claim as the best show on televisionquot he said quot39Fargo39 was the most critically acclaimed TV show of 2014 on HitFix and Metacritic polls replacing AMC39s 39Breaking Bad39 for the prior two years Its excellence was justly rewarded with an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award for best miniseries plus the AFI and Critics39 Choice AwardsquotFrom an awards standpoint it was a record year from FXquot Landgraf continued quotWe had a basic cable record of 45 Emmy nominations and the most wins ever for us an excellent showing at the TCA Awards the most Critics39 Choice nominations and wins of any network and the most Golden Globe nominations ever for FXquotOne of the things I39m most proud of that39s been so important in this current competitive environment is our track recordquot Landgraf enthused quotWe39ve been doing highquality original series now for a dozen years as HBO has for almost two decades Netflix and Amazon Prime have joined the party and Showtime AMC Comedy Central No matter what anyone thinks the five broadcast networks and PBS are doing just fine The amount of competition is just literally insane In 2014 by our best count there were 353 scripted original series on television in America and in the last five years since 2010 the number of original scripted cable series in prime has doubled from 91 to 180 even as the streaming services have also begun ramping up their slatequotThat39s where the critics come in Landgraf explained quotIn this crazy environment I believe critics play an even more important role Consumers are more dependent than ever for key tastemakers and curators and reviewers and bloggers to guide them to the shows that are worth their limited attention Word of mouth is important but many times word of mouth starts with an independent third party seal of approvalquotTo that point the general perception about TV today among many consumers and perhaps some TV critics is that HBO is the runaway leader in quality and depth and that the other networks and programming services that produce and air the highestquality original programming are in a pack battling it out for second place We think that those who share that perception aren39t seeing the full picture so to test the accuracy of that perception we made a list of every show on TV that earned a spot on any TV critic39s list of the Top 10 shows of 2014 And then we totaled the number of inclusions and sorted that total by each networkquotHBO led all networks with 250 Top 10 inclusions but FX was a close second with 213 as seen in the chart shown above courtesy of FX And even more significantly AMC which led the rest of the pack was a distant third with 74 followed by all the others HBO and FX absolutely dominated the race for quality in television Our research shows at the moment that the race for the best in TV is really only a competition between two channels with all the others in the pack way way behind the two leadersquotSo I would submit if FX was previously considered a part of a group of channels battling out for second place in the perceptual pecking order the factual pecking order is now HBO and FX at No 1 and No 2 and everyone else in the pack battling it out for No 3 And that39s not a swipe at everyone else because I truly respect our very good and formidable competitors and the many many excellent TV shows that are not on HBO or FX It39s just the reality that FX has broken well out of that pack and demonstrably strengthened its position and it and only it is now closing in on HBOquotIt may not fall into the category of what is commonly referred to as top quality television but Landgraf during his session announced that quotIt39s Always Sunny in Philadelphiaquot which just began its 10th season has been renewed for two more seasons The renewal he said quotwill make it the longest running live action comedy in cable history and the second longest running live action comedy in TV history behind 39Ozzie and Harriet39 which ran 13 seasons and tied with 39My Three Sons39 which ran for 12quot I cannot recall the last time I heard either of those classic shows referenced during a TCA panel I surely never expected to hear them spoken in the same sentence as quotSunnyquot It39s just another example of the power of FX Networks39 programmingEd Martin is the Editor of Planet Ed and MediaBizBloggers and the television and video critic for MyersBizNet Follow him on Twitter at PlanetEdCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates at MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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FX Networks at TCA: When It Comes to Top Quality TV, HBO and FX are Way Out Ahead – Ed Martin

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