John Phillip Landgraf (born May 20, 1962) is the Chairman of

FX Networks FX Networks, LLC, commonly known as FX Networks, is an American media company built around FX, FXX, and FX Movie Channel, plus their associated production company, FX Productions, and is a subsidiary of Disney General Entertainment Content, ...

. He is also a member of the

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

s board of directors, which is presented by the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

Henry W. Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication The Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication is a constituent college of the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia, United States. Established in 1915, Grady College offers undergraduate degrees in journalism, advertising, public re ...

. Previously he was President and General Manager of FX Network, a position he held since 2005. TV critic Alan Sepinwall jokingly refers to Landgraf as "the Mayor of TV".

Early life

Landgraf was born in California to father John R. Landgraf, Ph.D., a pastor, and Barbara Landgraf (née Joslin). When he was very young, his parents traveled constantly, performing as backup singers for the gospel evangelist Rev. Mel Dibble, who was part of Billy Graham Crusades. When he was 5 years old, his mother completed an M.A. in social work and his father completed his PhD in family counseling. In 1969, when he was seven years old, his parents divorced. After spending much of his childhood moving, Landgraf spent his high school years in

Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and graduated from Skyline High in 1980. In 1984, Landgraf received a B.A. in Anthropology from

Pitzer College Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was founded in 1963 as a women's college in the Claremont Colleges consortium and became coeducational in 1970. Pitzer enrolls approximately 1000 students. Pitzer off ...

, one of the

Claremont Colleges The Claremont Colleges (known colloquially as the 7Cs) are a consortium of seven private university, private institutions of higher education located in Claremont, California, United States. They comprise five undergraduate colleges (the 5Cs)� ...

Career

Early career

During and after college, Landgraf did an internship, worked in sales and eventually worked on the production side of the video production company J-Nex Media, a Los Angeles company that made commercial and industrial video. In 1988, Landgraf was Director of Development at Sarabande Productions, where he eventually became Senior Vice President. From 1994 to 1999, Landgraf was Vice President of Primetime at

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

where he oversaw the development of ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, where t ...

,'' and other popular TV shows that included ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...

'' and '' JAG.''

Producing

Landgraf founded the production company Jersey Television with

Danny DeVito Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is an American actor and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series ''Taxi (TV series), Taxi'' (1978–1983), which won him ...

Michael Shamberg Michael Shamberg (born March 22, 1944) is an American film producer and former Time–Life correspondent. Life and career His credits include '' Erin Brockovich'', ''A Fish Called Wanda'', '' Garden State'', ''Gattaca'', ''Pulp Fiction'' and ...

and Stacey Sher. Jersey Television was responsible for producing shows like

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American Cable television in the United States, cable television channel, channel owned by Paramount Global through its Paramount Media Networks, network division's Paramount Media Networks#MTV Entertainment Group, MTV Ente ...

's ''

Reno 911! ''Reno 911!'' is an American television sitcom created by Robert Ben Garant, Thomas Lennon and Kerri Kenney-Silver for Comedy Central. It is a mockumentary-style parody of law enforcement documentary shows, specifically '' Cops'', with comic ...

'' and '' Karen Sisco''.

FX Network

In 2004, Landgraf was President of Entertainment of FX Network, responsible for original TV shows that included critically acclaimed shows like '' The Shield'' and the

Denis Leary Denis Colin Leary (born August 18, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. Born in Massachusetts, he first came to prominence as a stand-up comedian, especially through appearances on MTV (including the comedic song " Asshole") and th ...

-starring show, '' Rescue Me.'' In 2005, Landgraf was promoted to President and General Manager of FX Network, a position that oversees the management FX, FX HD, the Fox Movie Channel and FX Prods. In this position Landgraf is responsible for the operations, programming, development, scheduling, and marketing of the TV channels he oversees. In 2013, Landgraf launched FXX. During the 2015

Television Critics Association The Television Critics Association (TCA) is a group of approximately 200 American and Canadian television critics, journalists and columnists who cover television programming for newspapers, magazines and web publications. The TCA accepts appli ...

presentations, Landgraf expressed concern that while television is undergoing a golden age, there is simply too much television. In 2023, Landgraf was put in charge of

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly ''The National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as ''Nat Geo'') is an American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. The magazine was founded in 1888 as a scholarly journal, nine ...

and

Onyx Collective Onyx Collective is a content brand owned and operated by Disney Entertainment, which primarily consists of projects from creators of color and other underrepresented groups. The brand was first launched on May 17, 2021, with several projects un ...

programming.

Personal life

In 1997, Landgraf married actress Ally Walker. They have three sons named Walker, Will, and Cal, and live in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. Landgraf plays the flute. He also sang in a barbershop quartet during his time at

Filmography

* 1990: ''Rising Son'' (TV movie) – associate producer * 1992: ''Those Secrets'' (TV movie) – co-producer * 1995: ''

Mad Love __NOTOC__ Mad Love may refer to: Books *''Mad Love'' (French ''L'amour fou''), collection of poems by André Breton *'' The Batman Adventures: Mad Love'', an Eisner and Harvey award-winning comic by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm * Mad Love (publisher), ...

'' – co-producer * 1996: '' Nightjohn'' (TV movie) – co-producer * 1998: ''Mind Games'' (TV movie) – co-producer * 2000: ''Celebrity'' (TV movie) – executive producer * 2001: '' Kate Brasher'' (TV series) – executive producer * 2002: '' The American Embassy'' (TV series) – executive producer * 2001–2004: '' UC: Undercover'' (TV series) – executive producer, 4 episodes * 2002: ''The Funkhousers'' (TV movie) – executive producer * 2003: ''Other People's Business'' (TV movie) – executive producer * 2004–2009: ''

'' – executive producer, 13 episodes * 2004: '' Karen Sisco'' (TV series) – executive producer, 1 episode; writer, 1 episode: "No One's Girl" * 2005–2008: '' 30 Days'' – executive producer * 2007: '' Reno 911!: Miami'' – producer

Awards

* 1984–1985: Coro Fellowship * Chair Appointee to the Executive Committee of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Board of Governors * 2012: NCTA Vanguard Award for Programming * 2013: '' Adweek''’s TV Executive of the Year. * 2014: '' Varietys Creative Leadership Award

Works and publications

References

External links

John Landgraf
at

21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., which did business as 21st Century Fox, was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was formed on June 28, 2013, as the legal successor ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Landgraf, John Pitzer College alumni Television producers from California American television executives Living people 1962 births