The FX network has given us some of the best television around for a while now, and with two of their flagship dramas — Sons of Anarchy and Justified — ending their runs it got me to thinking: what are the best shows FX has ever produced?
It could have been a long list, but I tried to narrow it down to the five best. There will be disagreements I’m sure, but it’s hard to argue against any of these shows. All of them were great for their own reasons, and all of them produced some of the best television any network has ever seen.
So, in no particular order, here’s my take on the five best dramas to ever air on FX:
The Shield
It’s a cliché to say a series “redefined” anything, but there’s no other way to explain what The Shield did for the cop show genre. It was daring and fresh when it debuted in 2002 and the characters still resonate today.
It managed to turn Michael Chiklis from the portly, friendly “Commish” into the lean, dangerous, charismatic protagonist Vic Mackey and give television one of its most memorable characters ever. Vic may have been reprehensible but you couldn’t help rooting for him to succeed, right up until his last act of self-preservation made him irredeemable. The Shield also had a brilliant supporting cast led by Walton Goggins and CCH Pounder and left its audience with one of the most tragic series finales in television history.
The Shield is not only the best drama FX has ever produced, it’s one of the best shows any network has ever produced.
Sons of Anarchy
For four seasons, Sons of Anarchy had an argument as the best show on TV. It faltered over its last three, but SOA still has a place amongst the best shows in FX history.
It managed to give audiences one of the most engrossing worlds around, investing them in an outlaw biker gang whose members lacked nearly any redeemable qualities. It speaks to the power of the show’s writing that people cared at all about the members of SAMCRO, but it also speaks to the show’s theme of brotherhood above all else.
It sometimes felt like SOA would throw in shocking moments just for the sake of having them, but when they worked they really, really worked. It also made sure that whenever you think of Katey Sagal, you won’t think of her as big-haired Peg Bundy, but rather as hard-ass Gemma Teller holding a gun to a baby’s head demanding to know where her grandson is.
The Americans
The Americans is only a few seasons old, but it’s already carved out a place in the pantheon of great FX shows. The story of two Soviet spies who have assimilated into American culture at the height of the Cold War, the show mirrors the moves and counter-moves of the United States and the USSR in its methodical, deliberate pacing.
It won’t blow you away with action every week, but The Americans challenges you in other ways. For one thing, the protagonists are Russian spies whose mission is to weaken the United States and steal state secrets. That’s tough for an audience to get behind, but The Americans manages to pull it off. Many of the shows here share a common theme: Main characters who aren’t traditional good guys, but are still compelling enough to leave the audience invested in their stories. The Americans achieves that and more.
Justified
Sure, there have been a few uneven seasons here and there. But Justified continues to be one of the most entertaining shows around thanks to the acting chops of Timothy Olyphant, who should be legally bound to star in any Western going forward, and the always brilliant Walton Goggins, who manages to make people forget about how good he was in The Shield by being even better here.
Justified has also produced some of the baddest bad guys around, from the terrifying Mags Bennett (Margo Martindale) to the sociopathic Robert Quarles (Neal McDonough). All have proven to be worthy foes to Olyphant’s Raylan Givens, the coolest lawman around. That’s the best way to describe Justified: cool. But its own brand of cool, which is no surprise given it’s based on characters from the late Elmore Leonard.
Damages
Glenn Close’s character Patty Hughes rivals only Vic Mackey for the title of FX’s best antihero, and Close played her with such aplomb that Damages vaults its way onto this list. It only lasted three seasons on FX, but it was one of the most well-written, challenging shows on TV that also managed to build around two strong female characters at the core.
The twisting, flashback/flash-forward narratives were always fun to try and unravel as the seasons progressed and things never turned out quite like you expected them to. But it was Close who made this show, chewing scenery, spitting it out, and then chewing it again for good measure. Her performance raised Damages up from being another show about the law into something else entirely.
