According to The Hollywood Reporter, FX CEO John Landgraf recently spoke with KCRW’s The Business and made the unsurprising claim that, on average, every show that FX has ever made is better than every show that Netflix has ever made. “Netflix has made 14 shows,” Landgraf explained. “Take any 14 shows we’ve made—they’re better. Any 14 shows—on average, our shows are better.” Landgraf walked his claim back a little bit, clarifying that some Netflix shows are “great” and that he’d be “proud to have made … Orange Is The New Black.” And yet, any 14 of his shows are better. Any 14. This is the kind of bold claim that’s perfect for a snarky write-up, so let’s put it to the test.
In order to avoid any biases, we’ve put all of FX’s original shows into a random number generator. We’ll pull one out at random, compare it to a random Netflix show, and then decide a winner. After 14 rounds, we’ll be able to definitively declare whether or not FX is better than Netflix.
The random FX shows we’ve selected are Terriers, Louie, Fargo, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Archer, The Shield, Justified, The Americans, You’re The Worst, season two of American Horror Story, Wilfred, those “FX has the movies” commercials, syndicated episodes of How I Met Your Mother, and that marathon of every Simpsons episode (which wasn’t even on FX). That’s a pretty tough lineup, but Netflix has Hemlock Grove and Marco Polo, both of which are certainly something. To be fair, though, even against Daredevil, Wet Hot American Summer, and BoJack Horseman, FX still has Terriers. We hate to back up Landgraf’s self-aggrandizing claim, but Terriers was really that good. Now, if Netflix were to do something bold like revive Terriers, then this would be a real fight. (And no, we didn’t rig this just so we could ask Netflix to bring back Terriers, but seriously, Netflix should bring back Terriers.)