Upfronts 2012: FX Focusing on Launching New Dramas

Net renews animated ‘Unsupervised' for season two

By Andrea Morabito -- Broadcasting & Cable, 3/30/2012 10:06:38 AM

Complete Coverage: Upfronts 2012

New York -- While FX spent the last year prioritizing the launch of new comedies -- Wilfred and Unsupervised as well as the upcoming Charlie Sheen vehicle Anger Management and late night shows with Russell Brand and W. Kamau Bell -- its focus in the upcoming year will be on dramas, said FX President John Landgraf at the network's upfront event Thursday evening.

In addition to its previously ordered pilot for the spy drama The Americans -- which has cast Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys in the leads -- Landgraf said two or three more drama pilots will be announced in the coming months, with the goal of getting two new series on the air by this time next year.

Landgraf also addressed the recent reports of ratings declines at the top 10 cable networks in the first quarter of 2012, and said that FX expected the dip because its inventory of movies was down in the first quarter, and that it did not have to offer make-goods to advertisers as a result. And while Landgraf said he could not speak for other networks, he said, "I don't feel like that's a trend that's going to continue" at FX in 2012.

In other announcements: Despite the series lackluster ratings, FX has greenlit a second season of the animated Unsupervised. The comedy from the writers of Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia drew 510,000 total viewers in its last original episode, according to Nielsen; its lead-in, Archer, drew 1.3 million viewers.

FX held its annual upfront party at Lucky Strike Lanes, where media buyers participated in a bowling tournament alongside network stars like Sheen, Louis C.K. and Timothy Olyphant.