PilotWatch: AMERICAN HORROR STORY

FX Wednesdays @ 10pm

What's it about?
AMERICAN HORROR STORY follows the Harmon family, Ben, Vivien and Violet, who move from Boston to Los Angeles after Vivien has a miscarriage and Ben has an affair with one of his students.  The family moves to a decrepit mansion, unaware that the once noble home is haunted.

So, how was it?
Terrifying. Sexy. Disturbing. Funny. Chilling. Addicting.  All of these words and more could be used to describe the first hour of Ryan Murphy's new show on FX.  Yes, that Ryan Murphy.  The man who created GLEE.  (Of course, he also created the not-quite-so-wholesome NIP/TUCK.)  I could not have been more excited for this show, seeing as how it combines four things that I love: horror, television, an amazing cast, and GLEE (whatever, haters gonna hate).  I was not let down.  (Side note: I was particularly excited because horror has a long tradition of being spectacularly unsuccessful on television, never managing to maintain any sort of longevity.  There has been no show outside of ones that consist of self-contained episodic storylines -- THE TWILIGHT ZONE, THE X-FILES, FEAR ITSELF -- that has lasted more than one season.  The most recent effort, the creepy-fun underrated HARPER'S ISLAND only survived for one year.  Here's hoping we've finally found one that will last.)

While on the surface it seems like Ryan Murphy could not have created two more dissimilar shows, they actually share a surprising amount of DNA.  One finds glee in a largely wholesome yet satirical view of high school.  One finds glee in terrorizing a small group of not-so-innocent people.  They both tackle their subjects with a manic, gleeful energy.  They both delight in over-the-top excess.  When you think about it, it's easy to see how they originated in the same mind.

I found the brief synopsis above on Wikipedia.  It was the most detailed synopsis I could find after extensive searching.  That just goes to show the bizarre, mysterious nature of the show.  Nobody really knew what it would be about before it started, and now, one episode in, nobody really knows (still).  It was like watching someone take a bowl-ful of horror staples and throw them at the wall one after the other to see which would stick.  We got treated to a haunted mansion, creepy kids with Downs Syndrome, baby heads in jars, Southern belles next door, a maid with two faces, demons with leech mouths, two masturbation scenes, sex with a man in a full-leather bondage suit, a burn victim with brain cancer, and much much more.  Some people may be turned off by this, seeing the excess of ideas as a lack of focus.  I prefer to think of it as an experiment from someone who's genuinely excited about this idea, and that makes me excited to see where it's going.  The pilot raised question after question without providing a whit of an explanation, instantly hooking me with its gory, sexy, creepy atmosphere.

But what will really draw me in for the long haul is the cast.  Rarely have I seen such a large cast of such incredible actors all assembled together for the first hour of a new show.  Dylan McDermott (THE PRACTICE) is a believable mess of a person who we both like (he helps crazy people!) and despise (he cheated on his wife after she had a miscarriage!).  Connie Britton (FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS) is a shining presence as a woman recovering from not one but two recent tragedies.  One standout scene in the pilot consisted solely of these two characters finally confronting their issues and venting all the pent-up emotion they've been suppressing for so long.  As portrayed by these two actors it was raw, painful and exhilarating, all without any ghosts or demons.  Taissa Farmiga (Vera's younger sister) is a typical teenage contradiction as the bright-yet-depressed secret cutter daughter of the couple.  Jessica Lange (BIG FISH) electrifies the screen as the Southern next-door-neighbor of the family in her first regular TV role.  She also gets to deliver the pilot's single best line.  Frances Conroy (SIX FEET UNDER) is frightening and mysterious as the Harmon's housekeeper, with much more to her than meets the eye -- literally, as both Ben and Vivien see two completely different versions of her.  And Denis O'Hare (TRUE BLOOD) delivers an eerily unbalanced performance as a former victim of the house.

This show will not be for everyone.  If you don't like being scared, steer clear (especially from one thrillingly-executed sequence in the basement complete with demons, strobe lights, and shrieking violins).  If you don't like messy, ambitiously (over)reaching plots, steer clear.  If you don't like controversial topics such as masturbation and bondage, steer clear.  However, if you enjoy a good hodgepodge of sex and thrills, then this is a must-see.

Rating:
**** Certifiably ADDICTive. A must-see.
Again, not for everyone.  But this instantly became my new favorite pilot of the season, and I could not be more excited to watch this creepily exhilarating show unfold week after week.  The cast, the concept and the direction all have me hopeful that this will be a "horrifying" success.

What about you, Fellow Addicts?  Did you find this show horrifying (in a good way) or horrifying (in a bad way)?  Will you be sticking around to find out the secrets of the house?  Vote in the poll below and then hit the comments!

(For a quick glance at the other pilots coming out, check out my Fall TV Preview.)

What did you think of AMERICAN HORROR STORY?