‘American Horror Stories’ Is the Best Version of ‘AHS’

The spinoff fixes so many problems with the franchise simply by limiting the length of the stories

american horror stories is the best version of ahs
FX

(This is a SPOILER-FREE discussion of “American Horror Stories”)

There’s a pattern we’ve seen play out with “American Horror Story” during each of the past several seasons: A compelling start, followed by a steady decline into incoherence. The process has been speeding up — “AHS: 1984,” the most recent season, was off the rails by the midway point.

This is the double-edged sword of the Ryan Murphy brand. The shows under his umbrella are loud, boisterous, audacious, hilarious, intense — and generally just not like other shows. While that uniqueness and that tonally erratic signature is the reason we watch this stuff, it also makes it easier for things to get out of control because it’s really tough to balance all those moods.

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