Why the beloved cult TV show 'You're the Worst' never would've worked on network TV

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Byron Cohen/FX

Chris Geere.

FX's brazen, sexually charged relationship comedy "You're the Worst" is entering its third season on Wednesday at the height of its popularity.

Although the show debuted in 2014, it's exploded in the past year. In 2016, the comedy was nominated for 10 awards, including nominations from the Television Critics Association and the Critics' Choice Television Awards. That increased attention has been very noticeable to those involved with the show, too.

"Social media-wise the 'You're the Worst' page didn't really have many hits. Now we know the names of fans because they contact us every day," star Chris Geere told Business Insider recently. "They're called 'Worsties.' So we now have the Worsties, who are our wonderful family. And also everyone at FX, who once upon a time were the scary headmasters who we didn't want to talk to because we didn't want to lose our jobs, are now friends... They support our storylines and us as individuals."

In many ways, "You're the Worst" is the kind of comedy that could only exist on a cable channel like FX. But its growing popularity after two seasons can also be a lesson to the big broadcast networks, which have begun to realize that comedy audiences are far tougher to capture than they used to be, and shows probably need more than just a few episodes or even a season to find them.

"We would've been dropped by halfway through the season probably. It wouldn't even go on there," Geere said of the chances for "You're the Worst" on broadcast TV.

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On "You're the Worst," Chris Geere plays Jimmy, a narcissistic writer who's dating iconoclastic music PR girl Gretchen (Aya Cash). They're able to work through their romantic relationship, but only after some requisite fireworks and begrudging compromise. Jimmy and Gretchen's world of drugs, house parties, bars, and sex is a surprisingly unvarnished look at the reality common to many single 20- and 30-something Americans.

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Byron Cohen/FX

Chris Geere and Aya Cash.

"I think the most comforting thing we can ever gauge from watching TV is empathy," Geere said. "People want to know that others are as f---ed up as we are. And so for us to portray people who are so messed up - as Gretchen says in one of the episodes, 'wear our stains on the outside.' Whereas a lot of people, myself included at times, sublimate too much, we keep everything inside. We don't want to share and these people are like, 'Nope, this is my s---, deal with it.'"

Season three picks up just after Jimmy expresses his love for Gretchen, which seems to mark a new chapter for the couple.

"I think the L-word has changed everything for them because they're now having to be responsible for things they never wanted to or never had to do," Geere said. "They've become a family. It's just two of them at the moment, but they're a family. You got to think of the other before you think of yourself, and these two don't do that."

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