Among the announcements made during FX president John Landgraf’s press tour executive session was the decision by the network to order a fourth season of “Louie.”
The network also ordered an additional seven episodes of Russell Brand’s talk show “BrandX,” to debut in the fall. Landgraf said there would be creative changes to the series, which will be paneled later today at press tour.
Though ratings for “Louie” have never been enormous, it’s done very well in critical acclaim and Emmy nominations, and the deal FX has with Louis C.K. – he gets a drastically smaller budget than a normal cable comedy in exchange for complete creative control – makes financial sense for the network.
During the panel, I asked Landgraf if he would like to cut a “Louie”-style deal with another creator. He said he would love to, and has even had inquiries about it from the Hollywood community, but the problem so far is in finding someone who can do all the jobs C.K. does, since he stars, writes, directs, works on the music and, until this season, did all the editing. He cited “Legit,” an upcoming FX sitcom starring Australian comedian Jim Jefferies, where Jefferies does some writing, but needed help from a pair of other veteran comedy producers.