This week FX premiered Impeachment: American Crime Story—the highly anticipated third installment in Ryan Murphy’s Emmy-winning anthology. The only problem? No one can figure out how to watch it. Despite an oversaturated streaming market and the launch of FX on Hulu in March of last year, FX’s buzziest 2021 series is missing from that very hub.
“So Reservations Dogs (FX) is airing only on Hulu, while WWDITS [What We Do in the Shadows] (FX) is airing on FX and streaming on Hulu the next day, and Impeachment (FX) is only airing on FX, and not streaming on Hulu,” Paste magazine TV editor and critic Allison Keene tweeted. “How is a normal person supposed to follow any of this?”
It’s a question that is likely haunting those in charge of answering it. After Disney acquired Fox for $71.3 billion in 2019, the FX-Hulu partnership was billed as a win-win arrangement. FX earned streaming visibility in a landscape turning away from traditional models, while Hulu amassed a catalog of series that would bring more subscribers into its fold. But ironically, the streaming rights to the American Crime Story franchise had already been sold to Netflix back in 2016. That move backfired with Impeachment, which isn’t allowed to stream on Hulu and won’t hit Netflix until 2022.
“I don’t remember the last time that there was a really watercooler show that was scripted on a linear cable channel,” FX chairman John Landgraf admitted to The Hollywood Reporter ahead of Impeachment’s release. “I just don’t know whether the pipes are still there to galvanize people’s attention…but we’re going to find out.”
Before FX on Hulu was even a glimmer in Landgraf’s eye, 20th Century Fox struck a licensing deal with Netflix. As reported by Variety, Netflix purchased exclusive global SVOD streaming rights to the American Crime Story franchise in 2016, beginning with The People v. O.J. Simpson. That was followed by 2018’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace, which hit Netflix in January 2019. (Murphy also inked a separate five-year deal with Netflix, which was reported at $300 million.) Given the timeline of Versace’s shift to Netflix, Impeachment isn’t likely to hit the streaming service until well into 2022.
If you’re itching to see Sarah Paulson, Beanie Feldstein, and Clive Owen in action, you’ll need a cable login. With that, Impeachment can be accessed on FX proper Tuesdays at 10 p.m. The first episode can also be streamed on FX’s site or via the FXNOW app. FX is also included in several bundle options, including Hulu + Live TV ($64.99 per month), YouTube TV, and Sling TV.
FX on Hulu, which comes free with any Hulu subscription, houses more than 40 new and legacy FX shows. Currently running FX originals (American Horror Story, What We Do in the Shadows) drop episodes on Hulu the day after their cable premieres. There are also several exclusive FX on Hulu shows that only show on the platform, including the sci-fi series Devs and the Cate Blanchett–led limited series Mrs. America.
Well, yes: American Crime Story is one of multiple successful FX properties to stream outside of its Hulu hub. Pose—a well-nominated FX series this year with nine Emmy nods—is only available on Netflix. The Americans, another one of FX’s highly awarded shows, is available on Amazon Prime Video. Meanwhile, Feud—Murphy’s 2017 limited series starring Jessica Lange and Susan Sarandon—isn’t located on any major streaming platform.
If you thought watching an FX on Hulu show was complicated, try nominating it. In January 2020, the TV Academy ruled that all FX on Hulu programming, which airs exclusively on Hulu—a streaming platform with its own slate of originals—would be considered FX series for the purposes of the awards. “We have determined that programming for FX on Hulu will be considered FX, partly because Hulu doesn’t have any real involvement in the development, creative, or marketing of the shows,” a TV Academy spokesperson told Variety.
This differs from the rulings for other joint streaming ventures. National Geographic, for instance, produces original content for Disney+ under its own Nat Geo hub. But those shows are nominated for Emmys as Disney+ shows. Additionally, HBO Max and HBO series (which live side by side on HBO’s streaming platform) are nominated as separate entities. “The Academy will have to review on a case-by-case basis,” the spokesperson continued. Distinctions will largely hinge upon whether the streaming platform in question contributes creatively to the series or merely distributes it.
At the time of FX on Hulu’s launch, Landgraf explained that “exclusivity” was key to the brands’ partnership. “I think it’s fair to say that the reason that Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Hulu make original programming is to drive awareness and subscription,” he explained to Vulture. “So a number of shows, at Hulu’s request, [are] going to essentially be exclusive to Hulu to help drive subscriptions.”
More than a year after the hub launched, Landgraf fielded questions about whether exclusive shows, including A Teacher and Y: The Last Man, would ever air on the cable channel. “We’re still figuring it out…. It’s a fluid situation,” Landgraf said at the TCA summer press event. He added, “It’s hard for me to say exactly where that’s going to land [with FX on Hulu], because I think a number of different things are working, and I think we’re still in the process of learning.”
It’s unclear how this education (and Impeachment’s restrictive rollout) will impact Murphy’s upcoming spin-offs, American Love Story and American Sports Story—or their fight to find audiences.
— Unhappy Little Trees: The Dark Legacy of Bob Ross
— The True Story of a Hollywood Partnership Built and Destroyed by Money, Sex, and Celebrity
— Ted Lasso’s Roy Kent on Why the Show Isn’t “Warm and Fuzzy”
— Caftans, Goyard, and Elvis: Inside The White Lotus’s Costumes
— The Chair Is Like an Academic Game of Thrones
— The Best Movies and Shows Streaming on Netflix This Month
— Rachael Leigh Cook on Reclaiming She’s All That
— Watch Kristen Stewart Channel Princess Di in Spencer’s Official Trailer
— From the Archive: Jeffrey Epstein and Hollywood’s Omnipresent Publicist
— Sign up for the “HWD Daily” newsletter for must-read industry and awards coverage—plus a special weekly edition of “Awards Insider.”