Justified Creator Takes L.A. Woman To NBC

• Tweet
• Pin It

Graham Yost is a man always working on something, which is saying a lot considering he’s the showrunner of, arguably, FX’s best drama, Justified. On top of his regular duties on that show, he’s busy creating new shows in his spare time. He has another series coming to FX – a Keri Russel KGB spy drama called The Americans – as well as acting as executive producer for Falling Skies, recently renewed for a third season. But what I really want to talk about is the new project Yost has headed for NBC. It’s a simple idea, but at one time Justified was just a simple idea, and now it’s one of the greatest series I watch. Does Yost’s new project have that potential?

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Yost is working on an hour-long drama about a female spy in 1970s Los Angeles called L.A. Woman. NBC has only ordered a script at this point, which will be penned by Yost. Yost’s track record with NBC isn’t exactly the greatest. His last series, a crime drama starring Jeff Goldblum – Raines – was short lived, and before that his series Boomtown only lasted for two seasons. That’s not bad, but it’s not all that amazing either. If he’d had more success on NBC I would say L.A. Woman stands a good chance of getting a pilot production commitment. His success with Justified speaks in his favor, but that’s not a broadcast network example. The expectations for FX are considerably lower, requiring smaller viewer numbers to be considered a hit.

Then again, this is NBC we’re talking about. They aren’t exactly high in the ratings these days. Low rated shows survive a lot longer on NBC than they would on any of the other broadcast networks. Still, if L.A. Woman were to pull in similar numbers as Justified – the Season 3 finale pulled in 2.66 million viewers – it would be in serious trouble. Even NBC can’t excuse a freshman series from having ratings under 3 million. But what am I even saying? That’s a ways down the road. Let’s just be excited Yost is working hard to bring as many of his ideas to life.