American Horror Story
Season 1, Episode 1 – Pilot
Directed by Ryan Murphy
Written by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk
Starring Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott, Taissa Farmiga, Jessica Lange, Jamie Brewer, Frances Conroy, Evan Peters, Denis O’Hare
FX
Air Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2011 10pm

American Horror Story, the new series from Glee creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, seems to be heading in a potentially interesting direction if the pilot episode is anything to go by. But I won’t be going along with them.

First off I’m not exactly the biggest fan of Murphy (whose other crimes against pop culture include creating Nip/Tuck and writing and directing Eat, Pray, Love) or any members of the American Horror Story cast, including Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton (although she was good on Spin City and Friday Night Lights), and Jessica Lange. It’s a mixed bag of overrated talent that grates my nerves whenever any of them are on screen and it doesn’t help the actors that the characters they play are unsympathetic and the material dull and pretentious. By the way, this is supposed to be a haunted house story.