Don’t worry, you are going to see all your favorite FX shows, network boss John Landgraf says. It just may take a little longer than expected to get new episodes of “Atlanta,” “American Crime Story” and “American Horror Story.”
Landgraf came to the Television Critics Association press tour on Thursday to talk about the continuation of the “peak TV” trend he helped identify and also explain some lengthy hiatuses for shows such as the Golden Globe-winning “Atlanta,” which was a sensation in its freshman year last fall but won’t return for season 2 until 2018.
“There’s an old saw in contracting: ‘Do you want it now or do you want it good?’,” Landgraf told reporters. That said, he added: “We wish we had ‘Atlanta’ in 2017.”
Fans are also going to get the two promised additional installments of the miniseries “American Crime Story,” which broke through to massive acclaim with its first effort, “The People v. O.J. Simpson.” One will examine the murder of designer Gianni Versace, another will look at crime after Hurricane Katrina. The Versace project will be shot first, Landgraf said, admitting that the production pace for both has been moving slower than expected.
“It’s taken us time to get the material together,” he said.
Meanwhile, Landgraf was asked about the news breaking Thursday that Apple is going to invest heavily in new TV production.
“We welcome them as competitors,” he said. But Landgraf added that he may have been short-sighted about the turnaround of “peak TV,” the programming gold rush that has led cable and streaming networks to ramp up production. He had earlier predicted that the trend would peak in 2017.
“I was wrong,” Landgraf said, who added that he was pushing back his prediction of a turnaround to 2018.
Landgraf paid special tribute to “AHS” writer-producer Ryan Murphy, who has become one of FX’s most important collaborators (he’s also behind “Feud,” the Joan Crawford-Bette Davis drama starring Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon). Murphy was a former “enfant terrible” turned major player, Landgraf said.
“The breadth and depth of his artistry has grown over time,” he added.
As for “AHS,” FX knows details of the upcoming seventh season but renewed for two more seasons sight unseeen.
“We’re extending it out of trust and good will,” Landgraf said.