The 2024 Emmy Awards will take place on Sunday night, and while there’s no word yet on who the night’s big winner will be, it’s a safe bet that the head honcho of the FX series “The Bear and the Shogun” will be laughing his ass off.
“Bear” leads all comedies with 23 nominations (let’s put aside the debate over whether the show can be considered a comedy for now).
“Shogun” is the show with the most likes, 25 times.
“Bears” is now the most nominated sitcom in history.
You have to go back to the early days of The Sopranos to find another example of a new show getting the same critical acclaim as Shogun.
These shows have a chance to make history on Sunday night, and both are easy to support.
Unlike past awards season juggernauts like “Game of Thrones,” these shows were underdog series that never expected to make such a splash.
The most surprising thing about the success of “Bear” and “Shogun” is that they can be watched for free by the average American cable TV subscriber.
Yes, after years of being dominated by premium cable and streaming channels, the Emmys are making way for a more basic platform — like basic cable.
Now, FX – a small conduit that can do it – is no The most nominated network of the year.
The film belongs to Netflix and received a staggering 107 nominations.
But FX wasn’t far behind with 93 nominations, a feat the network accomplished with a much smaller library of content.
While Netflix and CEO Reed Hastings prefer to throw a slew of pilot projects at the wall to see what works, FX and chairman John Landgraf have taken Different methods.
The current foreign exchange business model is to go all out on a few innovative programs and take huge risks.
In addition to “Shogun” and “Bear,” the network also has nominations for “Reservation Dogs,” “What We Do in the Shadows,” “Fargo” and “Feud: Capote vs. Swan.”
Other critically acclaimed FX shows that released new episodes last year include “The Old Man,” “The Veil” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
If this series proves anything, it’s that FX isn’t afraid to take risks — and clearly, the network’s boldness is paying off.
The situation is reminiscent of HBO’s industry-redefining approach in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
For younger readers who may not have any memories of those years, HBO’s bread and butter used to be boxing matches between lesser-known boxers and movies that had been released a few months earlier.
The network wasn’t known for original programming until the days of “Sex and the City,” “The Larry Sanders Show” and “The Sopranos.”
During that same year, FX (then branded “Fox Gone Cable”) was primarily a rebroadcaster of its parent network’s shows, The X-Files, Married With Children, and occasionally baseball or NASCAR. broadcast.
Now, basic cable channels appear to be following HBO’s lead. The results surpassed even the most optimistic predictions.
It wasn’t that long ago that the idea of FX dominating awards season would have seemed ridiculous.
But by 2024, the network had managed to find the sweet spot between critical and commercial appeal that no other network could match.
Not since “The Wire,” “Deadwood,” “The Sopranos” and SATC all aired on HBO, has a platform offered so much elegance while also appealing to the masses.
With the exception of Reservation Dogs and What We Do in the Shadows, all of FX’s heavy hitters are expected to return for multiple seasons.
If FX takes home dozens of Emmys on Sunday—as many predict it will—then the entire industry may be on alert.
This development could lead to more adventurous, innovative programming and an end to the cancellation-happy approach to programming currently in vogue.
That means a win for FX might really be a win for compelling TV fans.
TV fans, what do you think? Is FX taking up HBO’s mantle?
Hit the comments section below to share your thoughts.
