FX’s John Landgraf On Binge Drops Vs. Weekly Airings & Being “Woefully Off” On When Peak TV Would Occur

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FX boss John Landgraf famously said in 2015 that there is “simply too much television” and predicted that the industry would soon hit peak TV.This, however, didn’t happen with his research team revealing that there were 559 original scripted series in 2021, a 5% rise on the pre-pandemic 2019 number.Today, during his virtual TCA exe session, he admitted that he “I might have been woefully off on when the peak might occur” but added that he was right that peak TV was coming and that it would be “bewildering” for consumers.His latest comments come as he talked up the company’s 19 new projects – including Under The Banner of Heaven, Pistol, The Bear, The Old Man, The Patient and Fleishman Is In Trouble – and it’s 11 returning shows including the final season of Atlanta and a fifth season of Fargo.One of Landgraf and his team’s challenge is now to figure out how best to schedule and launch these shows, which are a mixture of linear premieres and original streaming series.Some of these shows will launch with one episode, others might have multiple episodes a week and a few will drop their entire seasons at once. “It becomes about really understanding the cadence of consumption by consumers,” he said. “When they want to watch things, how they want to watch things.”He admitted that this can be confusing for viewers. “If you’re asking me, am I worried about confusion?

The answer is a resounding yes. I’m just trying to sort the best thing to do in each case for each individual show as much as I can.

But there’s no way to avoid the fact that it’s a little just bewildering, frankly, the different releases and the sheer number of releases are hard to keep track of for you, for me, for everyone,” he said.Landgraf said that his