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Home , American Crime Story, American Horror Story, CCH Pounder, Charlie Day, Denis Leary, Dylan Walsh

THANKS TO SINGULAR VISIONS, SUBVERTED GENRES, INTRICATE PLOTS AND DEEPLY FLAWED CHARACTERS, THE ONLY THING “BASIC” ABOUT FX THESE DAYS IS ITS CARRIAGE STATUS.

By Graham Flashner

photographsVE By STE SCHOFIELD

32 EMMY CEO, FX NETWORKS AND FX PRODUCTIONS

33 Premiered: March 12, 2002 Created By: Stars: , , CCH Pounder, Benito Martinez, , Kenneth Johnson, Catherine Dent, Michael Jace, Cathy Cahlin Ryan, David Rees Snell, ,

IT’S ABOUT: !e Strike Team, an anti- drug unit operating inside the LAPD but outside the rules. ow many networks INSIDE DISH: Shawn Ryan wrote the pi- could legitimately use “Fearless” as a branding FX Networks and FX Productions — the viewers lot while under contract to the WB show statement? !e word implies a willingness to who seek them are willing to leave their com- Angel. “In my mind, there was zero take great risks, to challenge and provoke view- fort zones. !at goes to the heart of the “Fear- for this,” he says. “I hoped it ers. In an industry where playing it safe is the less” mandate. would be a good enough writing sample norm, it’s almost impossible to deliver on that “Our aspirations are not to be safe or con- that, if I got fired off Angel, I could kind of promise. ventional or predictable,” Landgraf says. “People get another job.” Once the sold, But the FX network — where charlatans, who watch this channel want to be surprised. !e Angel creator-executive producer David pimps, bikers and spies have all run free — has alternative to being put off is never being sur- Greenwald graciously let Ryan out of his never played it safe. Twenty-one years after its prised.” contract. “If he hadn’t, !e Shield never humble beginnings in a Manhattan apartment, FX Landgraf has been guiding creative at FX would’ve been made,” Ryan says. is a powerhouse, home to some of the since 2004. He’d previously co-founded Jersey most daring and innovative shows on television. Television, following half a decade as vice-pres- PRASHANT GUPTA/FX PRASHANT IMPACT: !e show transformed FX from “!ey take risks, and with risk comes great ident of primetime series at NBC. At FX, series an anonymous niche cable channel into reward,” says executive producer development has increased five-fold under his a bona-fide HBO challenger. Spotlight- (Nip/Tuck, ). “!ey swing watch. Determined to avoid the network-style ing the most charismatic, seriously for the fences — sometimes they win, some- micro-management that he believes dilutes the flawed TV protagonist since a certain times they lose. But when they land, it really re- creative process, he’s drawn raves for his writer- mob boss, !e Shield was verberates.” friendly, hands-off approach. !e Sopranos of cop shows. Popular with critics and viewers, FX shows “Mostly, writers need to feel supported and have nabbed twenty-seven Emmys and another protected,” Landgraf says, likening the role of his ICONIC MOMENT: Detective 163 nominations. Last year, in its first season, creative team to that of a coach. “Unless they can shoots his partner dead in the last — a limited series inspired by the Coen hear that I understand what they’re trying to do, scene of the pilot. When he first read brothers’ 1996 film — earned eighteen Emmy why the hell should they listen to me?” the scene, Michael Chiklis threw the noms and took the award for outstanding “!ey’re always trying to find something script across the room. “It jolted me,” . Meanwhile, an average of 1.46 million that’s a little bit new, and it always comes back he recalls. “I yelled to my wife, ‘I have to viewers tune in to FX nightly — and the darker to character,” says Justified creator–executive do this!’” Says Ryan: “Had I known the the show, the more they like it. !e network’s producer . He’s also an executive series was going to go as long as it did, most popular series, , was an producer on !e Americans, of which he says: I might’ve [held off on that plot point] operatically violent take on a motorcycle gang. “It’s a spy show, but in typical FX fashion, it’s a till the middle of season one.... We took !e depravity-soaked fourth-season premiere show about married KGB operatives. !ey’re that moment very seriously of the American Horror Story anthology, Freak the bad guys, and yet they’re the center of the over the next seven sea- Show, delivered the highest ratings in FX’s history. show. [Landgraf] kept asking questions about sons — it’s the original “!ey were the first basic cabler to appro- the marriage. He had an idea that one of them is sin that comes back priate what made HBO such a game-changer,” more into the marriage than the other. It gave Joe to haunt Vic and says Mary McNamara, television critic for the Los [Weisberg, the show’s creator and an executive his team over the Angeles Times. “!ey do risky, hard, R-rated, producer] a place to go for the next season.” years.”— G.F. out-there shows. Even the comedies are out If there’s a formula for FX shows, it’s this: in- there — very graphic, very adult. You don’t bring tricate plots, flawed characters, genres turned on the kids to FX.” their heads and authentic worlds where the dark- !e channel’s shows are not for the faint of est depths of human nature are revealed. !ese heart, but — according to John Landgraf, CEO of shows reflect the singular visions of creators

34Michael EMMY Chiklis given free rein to succeed — or fail — on their own Ryan, who’d been engrossed by the corruption terms. And that, more than anything, may be the scandal at the LAPD’s Rampart division in the late key to the network’s success. and was looking to reinvigorate a genre he “!eir best shows are the result of a writer felt had gone stagnant. saying, ‘Here’s a story I have to tell, but I doubt “I had spent three years as a writer on [CBS’s] anyone will let me tell it,’” says Shawn Ryan, cre- Nash Bridges, which was a very old-fashioned ator–executive producer of !e Shield. “Lo and ‘hero cop’ story,” Ryan says. “!e lead had to be behold, here comes FX to let you tell it.” impeccable in every way professionally, he had to “!ey bet on the people they believe in,” get the bad guy at the end of every episode, he says Rob McElhenney, the creator, an executive did everything by the book. I was trying to write Premiered: July 22, 2003 producer and a of It’s Always Sunny in Phila- one script that would be the antidote to all that.” Created By: Ryan Murphy delphia. “!ey’ve cultivated an environment that Of the two shows, Dope had the inside track. Stars: Dylan Walsh, Julian McMahon, seeks out talented people, and they give them a As Schrier says, “From a marketing standpoint, Joely Richardson, John Hensley, Roma green light to do whatever they want.” it was a much sexier sell. !e sense was, if we’re Maffia, Kelly Carlson Says Landgraf: “Really talented people have going to make a lot of noise, we’ll do it with Dope. a lot of options for where they work. !ey don’t But then !e Shield pilot came in, and the execu- IT’S ABOUT: !e narcissistic Miami skin have to adapt to us — our job is to adapt to them.” tion was fantastic, and Michael Chiklis was unlike culture, as seen through the eyes of two any other cop you’d seen on TV.” jaded plastic surgeons. FX had so little currency at the time, Chiklis’s ll this acclaim seemed highly agent didn’t even want him to read for the role of INSIDE DISH: While the show is justifi- unlikely back on June 1, 1994, when FX detective Vic Mackey. Even after Chiklis prevailed, ably famous for its plastic surgery porn, debuted as fX, the fledgling cable net- he had few illusions about the show’s prospects. Murphy says FX bought a show that, work of parent company 20th Century “My expectation was that I would have a pardon the pun, cut much deeper. “I told Fox. Operating out of a large apartment in Man- great piece of tape to be able to show people in them I wanted to do a show about a love hattan’s Flatiron district, it aired a mixed bag of the community when I was up for other roles,” he affair between two men that was not live talk shows, pet shows, reruns of popular Fox says. Instead, !e Shield blew up all expectations, sexual, a show about the lasting bonds series and some forgettable originals. debuting on March 12, 2002, to a then-record of male friendship,” he says. “!ey look In the early ‘00s, HBO was the undisputed basic cable audience of 4.8 million. But the acco- beyond the obvious to something that king of groundbreaking television. It was the hey- lades were just beginning. can be more personal to you.... And day of !e Sopranos and , and !e Chiklis became the first star of a basic-cable because they saw that I was passionate, Wire was just over the horizon. Beholden only to series to win the Emmy for outstanding lead ac- they banked on me. !ey let me direct paid subscribers, HBO had no competition when tor in a drama. !e coup de grâce came at the the pilot, even though I hadn’t done it it came to content that pushed the boundaries of Golden Globes, when he duplicated his win and before. !ey trusted my vision.” MICHAEL BECKER/FX MICHAEL sex, violence and language. !e Shield edged out !e Sopranos for best dra- Over at FX Networks, president matic television series. Recalls Schrier: “We never IMPACT: It built on the momentum — a former HBO marketing exec who’d become dreamed of winning awards. All we were hoping generated by !e Shield and proved president of FX in 1998 — was driven by what was that people would watch the show.” that FX was in the original scripted most saw as a pipe dream: to duplicate the suc- !e Shield ran for seven seasons and is programming game for keeps. It riot- cess of HBO, but on a basic-cable channel. widely recognized as one of the best dramas in ously turned the medical genre inside “At that point, the business model of FX was TV history. It put FX on the map and forever al- out, with a heady mix of dark comedy flawed, because there was nothing in prime- tered the basic-cable landscape, proving that an and outrageous incidents inspired by time,” he told journalist Jason Matloff in 2002. ad-supported network could go head-to-head true-life cases. “!e only scripted series we had was Howard with premium channels in producing sophisti- Stern’s , and his goal was not cated, edgy, adult programming. !e FX playbook ICONIC MOMENT: !e show’s premise necessarily quality.” would eventually be adapted by cable channels becomes crystal clear early in episode Liguori hired (now president of like AMC, TNT and USA, as well as by Netflix and one, when Dr. Christian Troy (McMahon) TNT and TBS) to run the entertainment division. Amazon — all competing to win viewers with dissects the physical flaws of a hot Eric Schrier, who’d been working with Reilly at original scripted programming. aspiring model he’s just bedded. With Brillstein-Grey, followed him to FX as his assis- brutal candor, he rates her an eight out tant. Schrier has since risen to co-president of of ten, and the former homecoming original programming for FX and FX Networks, roving it wasn’t a one-trick queen is crushed. “I don’t want to be but the jump was not considered a viable career pony, FX followed !e Shield with the pretty — I want to be perfect,” she says. move at the time. Shortly after his arrival, a prom- outrageous medical satire Nip/Tuck Troy later says, “When you stop striving inent agent rang him up. “He said, ‘When you’re and ’s post–9/11 firefighter for perfection, you ready to get back in the business, give me a call,’” show Rescue Me, which artfully blended emo- might as well be Schrier recalls, laughing. tional drama and wry comedy in a way seldom dead.” Liguori was committed to getting an original seen on television at that time. — G.F. scripted drama on the air, so the network ordered !e latter series was Leary’s introduction to two pilots: Dope, a Traffic-esque drama about John Landgraf, who had over for the de- the L.A. drug trade (starring Jason Priestley), parted Kevin Reilly. Leary remembers their first and !e Barn, a gritty cop show that became !e story meeting vividly: “I had done a ton of mov- Shield. It was written by a then-unknown Shawn ies; Peter Liguori had done Larry Sanders at HBO.

Julian McMahon and 35 Dylan Walsh But this was the first time ever a guy gave us two rewriting the rules of how a basic-cable channel or three notes off the pilot, and each one, we could operate. thought, ‘Wow, why didn’t we think of that?’” “We had an incredibly strong opinion about With three hit shows on the air, it seemed what we wanted to do, and in most cases it dif- Landgraf had slid into the cushiest job in televi- fered from the rest of the market,” Landgraf says. sion. Even so, he remembers a moment of fore- “Broadcast networks had to be broad and popu- boding: “I’m the schmuck that has to try and re- list. Populism at that time was defined as unob- place !e Shield, Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me. What jectionable, safe, peppy, bright — not the dark, have I done?” edgy, idiosyncratic stuff. We rejected that from Premiered: August 4, 2005 At the debut of !e Shield, FX was the only the beginning. We wanted to give people a reason Created By: Rob McElhenney basic-cable channel buying original scripted to seek out our channel by putting things on the Stars: McElhenney, , Glenn programming — it would be another five years air that were not only great, but were very differ- Howerton, Kaitlin Olson, Danny DeVito before AMC became a major player with Mad ent from what others might put on the air. And we Men. Much as had were willing to take big risks — and willing to fail IT’S ABOUT: A group of who run crashed the Big !ree in 1986, upstart FX was — to achieve that.” a dilapidated Irish bar in south Philadel- phia, not very successfully.

INSIDE DISH: !e story of Sunny’s no- frills, no-budget beginning is TV legend. !e pilot was reshot on a (very thin) FX What to Expect on FX... and FXX dime with high-end consumer cameras. !e cast shared a single trailer. !ere !e first quarter of 2015 brought lots to watch on FX, with returning faves were no sets, music was licensed from a It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Archer, !e Americans and Justified air- library — “cheesy mood music from the ing their latest seasons (for Justified, sadly, it was the last). Making its debut ‘60s”, says FX honcho John Landgraf — on FXX was Man Seeking Woman, a surreal dating comedy starring Jay and episodes were shot in an unthinkable Baruchel and created by Simon Rich. But there’s plenty more coming in the three-and-a-half days. “It had a lo-fi months ahead. Here’s what to watch for: aesthetic appeal, in keeping with its intent to deconstruct the ,” Landgraf says. Limited Series

IMPACT: !e show legitimized comedy : !e People vs. O.J. Simpson is Ryan Murphy’s ten-part limited series on FX. It was the first basic-cable series starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., as the embattled former NFL star, Courtney B. Vance as defense at- sold into syndication (FX’s Archer torney , as attorney , as attorney recently became the second) and the and as prosecutor . first produced in-house by the newly created FX Productions. A version of the American Horror Story returns this fall for its fifth installment, AHS:Hotel, with Grammy winner show has even been made in Russia. In in her regular-series acting debut and as the male lead. its third season, Sunny gained a wide college audience after airing on , Fargo returns in the fall for a ten-episode second installment, this time as a period piece set in and the DVD sales have been extremely 1979. Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, Ted Danson, Patrick Wilson and Jean Smart will star, with Nick profitable. “It’s proven itself in every Offerman, and Jeffrey Donovan recurring. market to be vastly stronger than any- one expected,” according to Landgraf. Dramatic Series

ICONIC MOMENT: !e Christmas party !e Strain, and Carlton MCELHENNEY/FX;PATRICK MICHAEL GIBSON/FX; MATTHIAS CLAMER/FX scene in which Frank Reynolds (DeVito) Cuse’s sci-fi thriller about a mysterious claws his way out of a black leather viral outbreak in , returns for a couch where he’s been hiding — and thirteen-episode second season this sum- tumbles out buck naked, gasping for mer. !e most-watched new cable drama air. “!at’s probably the moment I hear of 2014, it is also the first drama series the most about,” McElhenney says. “It produced entirely by FX Productions. showed that Danny is up for anything and just does not give a shit.” — G.F. Tyrant, the Middle East-based political fam- ily drama, also returns for a second season this summer, from Emmy-winning executive producer Howard Gordon.

36Rob EMMY McElhenney, Danny DeVito, , Kaitlin Olson and Charlie Day robably no show better Landgraf had ever seen. epitomized that philosophy than the “Rob wanted to make the darkest sitcom quirky dark comedy It’s Always Sunny ever,” Landgraf recalls, “one that did everything in in Philadelphia, which survived a rocky the opposite way of a traditional sitcom. He want- to become the network’s most endearing ed to make a show about a bunch of unrepentant (and enduring) series. In so doing, it also fulfilled jerks and narcissists who live a kind of scummy, one of Landgraf’s top priorities: to launch FX as a low-grade life.” comedy destination. McElhenney concurs: “I wanted to make the As a former producer of Reno 911! — Com- characters as deplorable as could be and see how edy Central’s low-budget Cops spoof — Land- many fans would stay with us.” Premiered: September 3, 2008 graf knew how to make comedies inexpensively; Landgraf gave McElhenney $400,000 to re- Created by: he just needed a unique concept. It arrived in the shoot the pilot, a quarter of what an average net- Stars: , , Ron form of a twenty-six-minute video starring cre- work sitcom could cost. !e financial risk was low Perlman, Maggie Siff, , Mark ator Rob McElhenney and his actor pals Char- enough that FX could absorb the hit if the show Boone Junior, Tommy Flanagan, !eo lie Day and Glenn Howerton. It was like nothing failed. Rossi, , Dayton Callie, , David Labrava, Drea de Matteo, Nico Nicotera

IT’S ABOUT: !e saga of SAMCRO, a fic- tional SoCal outlaw motorcycle club. Fans What to Expect on FX... and FXX affectionately dubbed the show “ on Harleys.” “It’s no secret that Kurt bor- Comedy Series rowed from Shakespeare,” Landgraf says. “A young man trying to make his way in !e stars as a comedy the world comes to understand the brutal legend reluctantly paired with Josh Gad as an edgier wiles of power... not realizing he’d been be- up-and-coming star, in a behind-the-scenes look trayed by his mother, stepfather and father at a fictional late-night sketch-comedy show. !e in the most profound ways.” April 9 premiere on FX marks Crystal’s return to series television. INSIDE DISH: When Kurt Sutter created über-matriarch Gemma Meadow, Sagal — his wife — jumped at the opportunity to take on a dramatic role. “I had never played — with Emmy-winning star-writer-executive producer–director Louis C.K. — returns to FX anyone in that outlaw world,” she says. April 9 for an eight-episode fifth season. IMPACT: FX’s most popular show human- Married, which stars Nat Faxon and Judy Greer in the titular state, returns for a thirteen-episode ized a subculture that had never been ex- second season on FX. plored dramatically on television. “!ere’s an old quote: ‘Good people only dream of Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll brings Denis Leary back doing what bad people do,’” Landgraf says. to FX this summer as a washed-up rock singer “We pay our taxes, we don’t kill anybody, sparring with his lead guitarist (John Corbett) in this we don’t live on the — but there’s raucous comedy. “All the music we play is created something fascinating about following by us,” Leary assures. people who do, à la Walter White and .” RAY MICKSHAW/FX RAY HARBRON/FX ; PATRICK ; MICHAEL YARISH/FX

ICONIC MOMENT: Gemma brutally mur- !e League returns to FXX this fall for its seventh and final season. ders her daughter-in-law, Tara (Maggie Siff), mistakenly believing she’s sold her You’re the Worst, with stars Aya Cash and Chris Geere, moves from FX to FXX this fall for a son out to the Feds. “We’re seeing her own thirteen-episode second season of dark and twisted romantic comedy. conscience grabbing her,” Sagal says. “!e killing wasn’t premeditated, but she really And Pilots Worth Waiting For believed that Tara had turned the entire club in.” Baskets stars Zach Galifianakis as Chip Baskets, who dreams of becoming a professional clown. Of course, Gemma was Created by Galifianakis and Louis C.K., the series will premiere in 2016 with Jonathan Krisel as misinformed, and she . paid the ultimate price for her sins in season Better !ings finds (until recently of Louie) exec-producing and starring as an seven. — G.F. actress trying to raise three daughters by herself. Louis C.K. cowrote the comedy pilot for FX Networks. —G.F.

Charlie Hunnam “FX said, ‘We want to give you a shot — we don’t unlike the antiheroes in !e Shield or Rescue Me,” have a ton to spend — but we can give you creative says creator Graham Yost. “Raylan’s not shooting and financial ownership down the line, so that if it’s a his partner in the face or beating up his wife. Still, great success, everyone profits,’” McElhenney says. FX gets the show better than anyone.” “Because it was so cheap, they were able to keep it !en there’s the supernatural-themed on the air when it wasn’t doing well.” American Horror Story, which pioneered a new !e cast worked for so little that first season twist on a format that hadn’t been commercially that McElhenney kept his night job waiting tables. successful in decades: the anthology. “Nobody Ratings stayed low for the first three years, but could figure out how to do it the way it had been Premiered: June 29, 2010 once fans caught on, they embraced it in droves. done before,” Landgraf says. “On an episodic Created By: Louis C.K. After season five, Sunny was a bona-fide hit. basis, where you had an impresario like Alfred Star: Louis C.K. Landgraf applied a similar strategy to a suc- Hitchcock or Rod Serling as the common thread cession of offbeat comedies like Wilfred, !e that helped tie it together.” IT’S ABOUT: Louie’s life as a divorced League, the animated spy satire Archer and the AHS exec producer Ryan Murphy, who creat- comic living in New York City with two Emmy-winning Louie, starring Louis ed the show with , found a solution: daughters. C.K. “In comedy,” Landgraf notes, “we had gone the story would change, not by episode, but by from being a pretender to a contender.” season (in 2014 it was revealed that the various INSIDE DISH: Louis C.K. accepted a So successful has comedy been for FX that seasons would somehow all tie together). reduced up-front and per-episode in September 2013, it launched FXX, a come- “Every year, it has to reinvent itself,” Mur- fee from FX in exchange for complete dy-driven sibling featuring six comedies that phy says. “We have to come up with a new cast creative autonomy. With his background launched on FX, plus movies and acquired series of characters, new setting, new legend, new ver- making shorts and indie features, he like Anger Management and . nacular. !at’s what makes it so creative — you knew he could pull it off. “!e more FXX targets the coveted eighteen-to-thirty-four never get stale or tired.” And because the actors money you ask for, the more you have demographic, while FX aims for eighteen to for- only have to commit to a one-year deal (though to be accountable for,” he says. “!e ty-nines. FXM, the revamped Fox Movie Channel, many return for more), the show has been able budget for the pilot was $200K... if I had rounds out the FX cable empire with a focus on to lure a formidable ensemble cast. Freak Show turned in a shitty pilot, no one would’ve viewers twenty-five to fifty-four. stars , Sarah Paulson, Angela Bas- blamed John [Landgraf].” As a one-man Like any TV exec, Landgraf has had his share sett, and Michael Chiklis; Lady Gaga band who writes, directs, stars and of misses. Comedies like Lucky and , and has been announced for AHS season five. even co-edits, Louis C.K. isn’t subject to dramas like Over !ere (created by Steven Boch- “!e fact that we get to come back year af- script or casting approval, and he gets co), !e Riches, Dirt, Lights Out and the critically ter year and they fashion some completely new no notes during filming. “I don’t even acclaimed Terriers (created by Shawn Ryan) failed insanity for us to play out is a plus,” Bassett says. see outlines or scripts,” confirms Land- to catch on. As he’d promised, the network was “It’s thrilling.” KC BAILEY/FX graf, who only gives feedback on the not shy about taking risks. But in those early days, “!ink about the rarity of a new invention in TV cuts. Apart from that, he says, “Soup to the community remained skeptical. formats,” Landgraf marvels. “It happens periodi- nuts — he makes it, we put it on the air.” “People don’t realize we had tons of nay- cally — it’s a rare and wonderful thing when it does.” sayers when we started,” Landgraf recalls. “!ey IMPACT: !e show’s shapeless plotting, thought we were eccentric and kind of crazy. !e stand-up comedy riffs, jazz score and prevailing wisdom was, basic cable can’t afford to o longer content to see FX disdain for continuity make it look and foster shows like network or premium [channels described as the “HBO of basic cable,” sound like no other comedy on televi- do]. One network was very arrogant; they were Landgraf believes his network has carved sion. “Viewers don’t need all the hand- like, ‘What are these idiots doing?’ Now they’re out its own brand. “We’ve taken this little holding,” Louis C.K. observes. “!ey’re throwing in the towel, realizing we kicked their basic-cable network that was not even in the origi- happy to be stimulated by being behind ass, and they’re coming in our direction.” nal programming business twelve years ago, and the eight ball with a story.” we’ve built a juggernaut,” he says. “We’ve only made three drama pilots in the eleven years I’ve been here ICONIC MOMENT: In a poignant and char- X’s recent track record backs that haven’t gone to series.... I think we bat more acteristically uncomfortable 2014 scene up that bravado. Beginning in 2008, FX than .500 in terms of going to series and having [a that Forbes magazine called “the year’s complemented its growing comedy show] stay on the air for its entire lifespan. I know most brutally honest seven minutes of brand with a seminal wave of dramas now that we will always have compelling comedies, television,” an overweight woman (Sarah that, over the next six years, more than main- dramas and miniseries on the air.” Baker) confronts Louie about his dis- tained the bar set by !e Shield. For starters, Even as rivals multiply for the territory that comfort with “dating a fat there were Sons of Anarchy, !e Americans and FX helped define, Landgraf has set his sights on girl.” “It’s the last accepted the -flavored Justified, which a single rival. At the Television Critics Association prejudice,” says Louis C.K. accomplished something no network had man- press tour in January, he pointed out that FX ac- “People who aren’t at- aged — to successfully adapt famed crime writer counted for 213 mentions on 115 year-end best- tractive, they’re shunned to the small screen. (!e show is of lists compiled by critics — second only to HBO’s completely. I thought based on the crime novelist’s short story “Fire in 250. AMC came in third with sixty-seven. it was a worthwhile the Hole.”) Says Landgraf: “It was the TV show I’d “!e race for the best in TV is really only a conversation to been waiting for my whole career.” competition between two channels,” Landgraf have.” — G.F. “Justified was a bit of a changeup for FX, be- told the TCA audience. “!e rest of the pack is cause Raylan [] is a hero, very way behind.”

Louis C.K. /EXCLUSIVE /EXCLUSIVE KAT CONTRERASKAT TASHA BROWN AND ; ON $ SET MAKEUP BY MARILYN ESPITIA MARILYN MICHELLE SCHINDLER ; PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS CHERIE COMBS CHERIE ; ON $ SET GROOMING ASSISTANT /EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS MANAGEMENT; ON $ SET HAIR ASSISTANT LOUISE MOON JARRETT IOVINELLA JARRETT ; ON $ SET GROOMING BY ; ON $ SET HAIR BY LARISSARICCI AND HOLLY HAUPERT HOLLY ; ON $ SET STYLING ASSISTANTS MELIS KURIS MELIS SET MAKEUP ASSISTANT ASSISTANT MAKEUP ON $ SET COSMETICS; BROWN BOBBI USING MANAGEMENT ARTISTS SET STYLING BY BY STYLING ON $ SET OF

HAIR BY ALEX POLILLO/FORWARD ARTISTS MAKEUP BY MAI QUYNH/STARWORKS STYLING BY FRANK FLEMING BLACK LACE TOP AND BLACK RUFFLED SKIRT BY SAINT LAURENT BLACK LACE HEELS BY CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN RED GEM RING BY NEIL LANE 39 OF THE AMERICANS

GROOMING BY ELAIN EDWARDS STYLING BY SAM SPECTOR SUIT BY JOHN VARVATOS SHOES BY CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN

40 EMMY OF THE AMERICANS

GROOMING BY LOUISE MOON STYLING BY MELIS KURIS SUIT BY THEORY

41 BILLY CRYSTAL OF THE COMEDIANS

HAIR BY LARRY WAGGONER MAKEUP BY PETER MONTAGNA CLOTHING HIS OWN

42 EMMY JOSH GAD OF THE COMEDIANS

GROOMING BY BARBARA GUILLAUME SUIT BY HUGO BOSS SHOES BY SALVATORE FERRAGAMO

43 KAITLIN OLSON OF IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA

STYLING BY ASHLEY ZOHAR/THE WALL GROUP JERSEY V$NECK DRESS BY HANEY JEWELRY BY NEIL LANE SHOES BY JIMMY CHOO

44 EMMY ROB MCELHENNEY OF IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA

CLOTHING AND SHOES BY TOPMAN GROOMING FOR MEN OF SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA BY LEAH VAUTROT/ITALENT USING COLORESCIENCE COSMETICS

45 GLENN HOWERTON OF IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA

CLOTHING BY ARMANI SHOES BY FLORSHEIM

46 EMMY CHARLIE DAY OF IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA

CLOTHING BY ARMANI

47 DANNY DEVITO OF IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA

SUIT BY MR. KIM SHIRT BY ANTO SHOES HIS OWN

48 EMMY LOUIS C.K. OF LOUIE

SUIT BY ZEGNA SHIRT BY BLACK BROWN 1826 SOCKS HIS OWN 49 PAMELA ADLON OF LOUIE

STYLING BY MELIS KURIS JACKET BY THEORY SHIRT BY DARI BOUTIQUE PANTS BY CURRENT/ELLIOTT SHOES BY RAG & BONE RINGS HER OWN

50 EMMY DENIS LEARY OF SEX&DRUGS&ROCK&ROLL

GROOMING BY NATALIA BRUSCHI/THE WALL GROUP CLOTHING HIS OWN

51 JOHN CORBETT OF SEX&DRUGS&ROCK&ROLL

STYLING BY MELIS KURIS CLOTHING HIS OWN 52 EMMY KATHY BATES OF AMERICAN HORROR STORY

BLOUSE BY ESKANDAR PANTS BY EILEEN FISHER SCARF BY LOUIS VUITTON SHOES BY CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN EARRINGS BY JACK SUTTON

53 OF AMERICAN HORROR STORY

HAIR BY RANDY STODGHILL MAKEUP BY D’ANDRE MICHAEL STYLING BY JENNIFER AUSTIN MAROON DRESS BY MICHAEL COSTELLO SHOES BY HEY LADY EARRINGS AND RINGS BY L’DEZEN BY PAYAL SHAH BRACELET BY MISAHARA

54 EMMY SARAH PAULSON OF AMERICAN HORROR STORY

HAIR BY LONA VIGI/THE MAGNET AGENCY MAKEUP BY ADAM J BREUCHAUD/TOMLINSON MANAGEMENT GROUP STYLING BY KARLA WELCH/THE WALL GROUP BLACK LACE DRESS BY DOLCE & GABBANA SHOES BY MONIQUE LHUILLIER JEWELRY BY JENNIFER FISHER

55 TIMOTHY OLYPHANT OF

STYLING BY HEIDI MEEK/OPUS BEAUTY CLOTHING BY TOMMY HILFIGER BRACELETS HIS OWN

56 EMMY JOELLE CARTER OF JUSTIFIED

HAIR AND MAKEUP BY ERIC LEONARDOS STYLING BY JOANNA KONJEVOD GOLD DRESS BY JANI & KHOSLA SHOES BY JIMMY CHOO EARRINGS BY JARED JAMIN

57