As ‘Shōgun’ & ‘The Bear’ Help Disney’s FX To Record Nominations, John Landgraf Says Total Is Beyond His “Wildest Imagination”
FX has been setting records this morning with shows such as The Bear and Shōgun helping the Disney-owned network to its best Emmy nomination day ever.
The Bear broke a record with 23 nominations, making it the most nominated comedy ever, beating 30 Rock, and Shōgun led the day with 25 nominations, the most of the day, helping FX to its record haul of 93 nominations.
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This beat its previous record of 56, set in 2016 with help from The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.
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FX’s total was also helped by great showings from Fargo, which received 15 noms for its fifth season, Feud: Capote vs The Swans, which got 10, multiple nominations for What We Do In The Shadows and Welcome To Wrexham as well as a bittersweet nod for Reservation Dogs, which picked up a nomination in the Outstanding Comedy Series category after it ended.
FX boss John Landgraf told Deadline that he was “really proud” of everyone who was recognized this morning and grateful to TV Academy voters.
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“Remember, I started working at a basic cable network 20 years ago that had earned at that time, the first major Emmy nomination for an original series in basic cable history with The Shield, so it’s really been a long journey. But, the last leg of it, absolutely required Disney and Hulu. We still are a basic cable network but all of these shows are available on Hulu and Disney+. It was really Disney’s decision to buy Fox and to support FX, so that it would achieve some level of recognition and excellence in this segment of adult premium programming that made this happen,” he said. “It’s revolutionized our identity and our opportunities in terms of distribution. I’m just grateful to be able to bring those new resources to our creative partners and give them the opportunities to do this work.”
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Landgraf said that these extra resources allowed it to move into historical epic drama for the first time with Shōgun. “We’ve had the opportunity to work with new and different artists in different contexts than we otherwise would have. That’s a result of that decision that Disney took to buy us and give us give us a shot,” he added. “It was a very, very long gruelling process with Shōgun, it was extraordinary to see a community of artists and craftspeople from both North America and Japan come together. I can’t tell you what a what a boost it is for the communities that are formed in order to make these things possible.”
The Bear was always expected to do well, but you never want to be complacent. “I was optimistic, which is a strange way to be in a situation where you really don’t have any control and can’t predict the future but I was optimistic we would have more than 56 nominations, which was that record. I don’t think in my wildest imagination, I thought we’d have more than 90 nominations so that’s been stunning. My thanks go to the people that did the work who were being nominated but also the voters for finding it see and recognizing it,” he said.
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Reservation Dogs also managed to breakthrough, despite not being nominated in the main comedy category in past seasons. Landgraf admitted he was surprised that the Sterlin Harjo-created series did get the nod. “I thought it was very unlikely, to be honest with you, that Rez Dogs was going to get this recognition its final season and I’m really proud of Sterlin and that community and really grateful. In this case, I’m also incredibly grateful to the critics… who just were fierce in their devotion to its commitment to supporting Rez Dogs,” he added.
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Landgraf, who joined FX Networks in 2004, says that he can remember when each of these shows was just a notion. “What’s great about our industry is that you never know. I’ve been doing this a long time, and I only gain more humility,” he said. “I’m just so proud of people. I’m really grateful to the voters who made this happen because of them I get to have an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the work of the people that were nominated.”
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