American Horror Story is creepy, but it isn’t scary. A dysfunctional family moves into a haunted house in Los Angles. Ben Harmon (Dylan McDermott), a psychiatrist whose wife caught him in bed with one of his students, thinks moving his family to his new home will provide a New Start. Harmon’s wife, Vivian (Connie Britton), is dealing with her husband’s infidelity and a miscarriage. Their daughter, Violet (Taissa Farmiga), has “issues” and is cutting herself with her father’s razor blades. Jessica Lange plays the creepy next door neighbor. The former owners of the haunted house died in a murder-suicide situation. The most intriguing character is the housekeeper, Moira. When Ben looks at her, she’s a young woman in a sexy French maid outfit (played by Alex Brenkenridge). Yet when Vivian and Violet see Moira, they see an elderly woman (Frances Conroy). None of these characters is sympathetic so it’s hard to work up much emotion when creepy things happen to them. I’ll watch a couple more episodes to see if the guys behind Nip/Tuck and Glee can entice me to stay with American Horror Story.
I agree, George. We gave up after one episode. There are too many other things to watch and books to read to waste our time on this.
I’m still on the bubble with AMERICAN HORROR STORY, Jeff. I’ll hang in for a couple more episodes before I decide to stay or go.
I have the first two episodes on my DVR. I’m not sure whether they’re worth the watch now. I was already leery anyway. I tend to record most new series and give them a shot before deciding to give up. Find good stuff that way. Some crap also.
Our DVR is in the 70% range, too, Randy. But we’ll probably end up dumping plenty of the New Season shows that have garnered dreadful reviews.
We’ve already dropped a few things (like TERRA NOVA) and have gone through a lot of what we’ve recorded. However, Jackie switched us from HBO to Showtime so we now have HOMELAND, NURSE JACKIE and THE BIG C to catch up on, as well as several movies.
TERRA NOVA (like FALLING SKIES) was a huge disappointment, Jeff. Can’t anyone do SF on television any more? HOMELAND seems to be the best show of the New Season.
they wanted to make Terra Nova be LOST with dinos, I think. Too bad.
Exactly, Rick! LOST with dinosaurs…that’s a Hollywood High Concept.
We switched to Showtime too and I have really enjoyed THE BIG C and NURSE JACKIE. And we have the Borgias to watch also. And Dexter and Homeland.
I watched the first episode and am also on the fence on this one. Mainly because I know these guys from NIP AND TUCK, which was a freaky mess after a while. This shows signs of the same writing.
The plots were certainly tangled in the first episode of AMERICAN HORROR STORY, Patti. But I’m willing to hang in there for a couple more episodes to see if things shake out. My daughter thinks DEXTER is one of the best programs on TV.
Although the first episode I saw of Dexter has me worried. It seems like the writers have already skewered religion with the Lithgow season.
The Fresh Air television critic, David Bianculli, thinks DEXTER and BREAKING BAD are the two best TV series, Patti.
I would certainly agree with Breaking Bad. But I might put Justified, Mad Men and The Good Wife ahead of Dexter.
Diane thinks THE GOOD WIFE is the best program on TV, Patti. I’m partial to MAD MEN, but it’s been on hiatus too long.