The Roy family at the center of Succession is a kind of portmanteau of the Murdoch family (owners of the News Corp empire, encompassing Fox News, the Fox Broadcasting Company, and numerous publications) and the Redstone family (majority shareholder of the ViacomCBS empire, which includes numerous TV networks as well as Paramount Pictures). Paterfamilias Logan Roy (Brian Cox) is past his prime, and in the series' very first episode, he almost dies.