For all the plaudits and TV hits FX Networks chairman John Landgraf has earned over the past two decades, perhaps his most significant achievement is this: Even as he transformed FX into a powerhouse of prestige television, he’s done so by prioritizing artists over algorithms and storytelling over spreadsheets. Dubbed the “Mayor of Television,” Landgraf isn’t the typical bombastic, my-way-or-the-highway network boss. Instead, he operates more like the foreman of a hit-making factory — someone who trusts instinct and taste when deciding which creators and stories to bet on.
That philosophy is on full display in FX’s breakout hit The Bear, created by Christopher Storer and now returning for its fourth season. The show’s success is just the latest proof of how deeply Landgraf’s creative sensibility has shaped FX’s identity.
Before taking the reins at FX, Landgraf was an executive at NBC in the 1990s, overseeing iconic series like Friends and The West Wing. Over the years, he’s cultivated a reputation as one of the industry’s most thoughtful and candid executives. He’s the one who coined “Peak TV,” a phrase capturing the content glut he views as unsustainable in the age of streaming. Among showrunners and writers, he’s revered for offering creators room to take bold risks.
Landgraf once likened today’s media consumption habits to the rise of processed food, noting people increasingly prefer fast, packaged bites of content. “Information is entering its ultra-processed period,” he told Fast Company earlier this year. “My thesis for how to compete with that was to make a long-arcing story that was worthy of your attention, that demanded your attention.”
It’s a fitting moment to look back on the shows that helped elevate FX from a scrappy cable upstart to one of the most creatively ambitious networks in television and made Landgraf one of the most respected executives in Hollywood.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005–present): Landgraf picked up this raunchy comedy after its pilot was shot for just $200 on a camcorder. What followed was an unprecedented run for a proudly unhinged sitcom that would end up outlasting just about everything else on TV. It’s the longest-running live-action sitcom in American history. It’s Always Sunny struggled with weak viewership early on, but Landgraf saw potential anyway—an early and defining example of his now-famous instinct to bet on voice over data.
Sons of Anarchy (2008–2014): This biker gang drama became one of FX’s biggest ratings successes of the 2000s. Sons of Anarchy was both a commercial juggernaut and a creative standout, proving FX didn’t have to choose between the two. Landgraf gave creator Kurt Sutter the runway to deliver long, operatic story arcs packed with violence, vengeance, loyalty and moral decay.
Justified (2010–2015): Justified brought the world of Elmore Leonard to life on the small screen. Timothy Olyphant’s Raylan Givens, a cowboy-hat-wearing deputy U.S. Marshal with a rigid moral code, anchored a show brimming with unforgettable characters. Landgraf backed the show’s blend of pulpy genre thrills and sharp writing, elevating it into something far more ambitious than its premise suggested.
The Americans (2013–2018): Landgraf championed The Americans, a Cold War-era spy thriller, through modest ratings and a deliberately slow build. He choose to trust the story over short-term metrics. The result: a drama now widely regarded as one of the best of its era, and a textbook example of Landgraf’s belief in letting quality lead. Landgraf’s loyalty to creators is so well known that showrunners Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields once told Vanity Fair they’d jump off a bridge for him.
American Horror Story (2011–present): Ryan Murphy’s lurid-yet-popular horror anthology proved FX could build franchises while staying unapologetically weird. The show’s aesthetic excess and overall boldness led to spinoffs (like American Crime Story) and dominated watercooler conversations for a decade. Its anthology structure made it especially attractive for licensing, and streaming availability via Hulu (as part of the Disney bundle) helped turn spinoff American Horror Stories into one of the most-watched FX-on-Hulu series when it premiered in 2021.
Fargo (2014–present): A bold reimagining of the Coen Brothers’ film, Fargo proved FX could deliver television so stylized it borders on literary. Landgraf took a gamble on the anthology format and gave creator Noah Hawley the freedom to experiment and craft something wholly original. Each season spins a new crime saga—featuring everything from crooked cops to desperate nobodies and cold-blooded hitmen—all told with a novelistic eye for fate, morality and dark humor.
The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016): FX’s dramatization of the “Trial of the Century” was one of its most unexpected triumphs. The series captured how the 1995 O.J. Simpson case became a media circus, with race simmering beneath every headline. Landgraf backed the series when many doubted that a scripted true-crime anthology could work. It became a ratings hit and a template for FX’s ambitions in high-end nonfiction storytelling.
Atlanta (2016–2022): Donald Glover’s love letter to Atlanta was a genre-bending mix of surrealism and experimentation. Across four seasons, Atlanta veered from grounded narratives, like Earn managing Paper Boi’s rap career, to standalone dreamlike episodes, including a satirical horror tale about a recluse. Glover has said that when he pitched the idea as “Twin Peaks with rappers,” FX essentially gave him carte blanche. That trust paid off: Atlanta became one of the most original and creatively fearless shows on television.
The Bear (2022–present): The Bear follows fine-dining chef Carmy Berzatto as he returns home to Chicago to revive his late brother’s struggling sandwich shop. What begins as a chaotic kitchen drama soon evolves into a meditation on grief, anxiety and the relentless demands of creative work. From the beginning, Landgraf supported creator Christopher Storer’s vision, greenlighting a half-hour series that didn’t fit any obvious format. In return, FX landed one of the most acclaimed and talked-about shows of the decade. Disney has credited The Bear with driving Hulu subscriptions and boosting engagement among key demographics, especially younger viewers.
Shōgun (2024): A sweeping historical epic set in 1600s Japan, Shōgun follows a stranded Englishman entangled in a power struggle between rival samurai warlords. It’s one of FX’s most ambitious and visually striking productions yet and another example of Landgraf’s long-game strategy of backing prestige storytelling. The series earned both critical acclaim and strong ratings. By investing in a years-long production that required subtitled viewing and complex world-building, Landgraf again proved FX was willing to take big, calculated risks beyond the usual TV mold.