Best Television Network for 2013: FX

Shows like ‘Sons of Anarchy’ and ‘American Horror Story’ helped lead FX to another stellar year creatively with ratings soaring even higher….

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

With hundreds upon hundreds of choices for television viewers to go to now including services like Netflix and Amazon Prime now taking up space in the medium as well, the outstanding performance of an individual network is still something to behold. Gone are the days where our viewing preferences boiled down to only a few cable networks and the big four (NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX) because now there are top options on channels far and wide across your cable or satellite provider.

In 2013, there were a few notable networks that produced a huge list of great programming choices, which in this new market of television isn’t easy to do. Writers and show runners are at a premium and in very high demand given the fact that in many ways television has surpassed movies in terms of story telling, script development and even acting.

In today’s best of 2013 we pay homage to the best network on television today in terms of creativity, top original programming and the most shows we were lining up for to watch and then go back and watch again on our DVR’s.

Best Television Network for 2013: FX

The original programming on FX is beyond reproach lately and the best part about this network is they aren’t slowing down as some popular series begin to expire. Leading the pack for FX this year was Kurt Sutter’s outlaw opus ‘Sons of Anarchy‘ that put on another stellar season complete with the biggest ratings the network has ever had.

‘Sons of Anarchy‘ may not be the darling of the award shows like the Emmy’s and Golden Globes, but I chalk that up to washed up old coots not knowing a great show if it jumped up and bit them on the ass. Sons is the most criminally underappreciated series when it comes to gold statues being handed out, but it doesn’t take away from just how truly monumental this show is for 13 episodes each year. Sadly, Sutter’s ‘Hamlet on Harleys’ comes to an end with season seven in 2014, but FX isn’t one to be deterred because they’ve got plenty to fall back on after Sons of Anarchy is gone.

American Horror Story has become one of the best shows on television year over year, and the latest installment titled ‘Coven’ might be the top version yet. With stars like Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett on board, American Horror Story is a force unto itself and as long as creator Ryan Murphy can keep re-inventing his actors and story lines, there’s no reason to believe this show won’t have several more years and incarnations to come.

FX also had a break out hit in 2013 with the series ‘The Americans‘, which was a critical darling all year long. The series will return in February 2014 with new episodes. Also let’s not forget ‘Justified‘, which sits right alongside Sons of Anarchy in the ‘award shows somehow forget what great television is all about’ category. Add in another breakout hit in ‘The Bridge‘ and FX just continued to churn out more and more of the top shows with the best writing and outstanding acting in 2013.

FX will hit the ground running in 2014 as well with new series like ‘The Strain‘ set to debut next year and even though Sons of Anarchy will come to an end next year, the network has already locked up creator Kurt Sutter for his next project as well.

All in all, FX had a fantastic year and unless something crazy happens they can probably lock up the crown for best network in 2014 as well with the amount of work they’ve already put in ahead of time for the year ahead.

Honorable Mention: Netflix

What was once a ‘rent a movie and return it whenever you want’ company has now turned into a true powerhouse in the television market. Netflix has been developing some seriously great shows over the past year including the Kevin Spacey led political drama ‘House of Cards‘ as well as the series ‘Orange is the New Black‘, which has been applauded as one of the best new shows of the year by virtually ever television reviewer out there.

Add in the return of ‘Arrested Development‘ and the idea to put out an entire season’s worth of material in one lump sum, thus allowing fans to binge on a show as opposed to waiting week to week to watch and Netflix became a real player in the television landscape in 2013.

Let’s also not forget outside of what they’ve already aired that Netflix managed to land some serious power for their network in the coming years with the new deal they signed with Marvel to develop three new superhero series including Daredevil and Jessican Jones. If you don’t already have Netflix, it’s well worth the investment to pick it up and there’s no way you’ll be disappointed with the amount of new material already available not to mention what’s coming up in 2014.

Honorable Mention: AMC

I’ve been hard on AMC all year because in my opinion they have not done very well at the whole long term planning thing. Unlike networks like FX that continue to snap up show runners and top flight scripts to develop, AMC seems content to depend on the same series that have been popular for them already and try the ‘spin off’ method instead. In my humble opinion, the spin offs they have planned for Breaking Bad (Better Call Saul) and The Walking Dead (no name yet for that one) are just the sad attempt at trying to cash in on an already popular project.

At the same time I’ve criticized AMC, no one can doubt what they did in 2013. Breaking Bad closed out its run on the network with over 10 million viewers for the finale in a season that was universally hailed as one of the best of the year. The Walking Dead is shattering ratings records left and right and routinely going head to head with network programming (and winning!). Also despite my personal disposition to Chris Hardwick, AMC’s off shoot shows ‘Talking Dead‘ and ‘Talking Bad‘ became great compliments to the series they covered while also getting some pretty impressive ratings along the way.

It will be interesting to see what AMC can pull off next year, but 2013 was very good to the network and you can expect a lot of awards coming their way in the next few months.