Ryan Murphy produces so many limited and anthology series, it’s a wonder he has time to get up in the morning.
His newest output, a third installment in his Monster anthology series, focuses on the murderous exploits of Ed Gein (to be played by Charlie Hunnam), the serial killer who ran amok during the 1950s and inspired many pop culture villains.
In celebration of yet another Murphy joint, Watch With Us takes a look at seven of his best series. Since many of his shows are anthologies, we treated different seasons as their own shows.
See if your faves made our list!
7. ‘American Horror Story: Coven’ (2013)
The third standalone season of American Horror Story takes place in present-day New Orleans at a school for witches led by the ruthless supreme, Fiona Goode (Jessica Lange). The ragtag group of women includes newcomer Zoe (Taissa Farmiga), who accidentally killed her boyfriend, Cordelia (Sarah Paulson), the school’s headmistress, and Madison Montgomery (Emma Roberts), a spoiled young actress. The series focuses on the witches’ struggle to survive against forces both from outside and within, as witches are becoming extinct.
In contrast to the previous two seasons of AHS — Asylum and Murder House — Coven features more of a blend of horror and comedy. The fraught dynamics between the witches of the school can be very charged and amusing and, in particular, Gabourey Sidibe as the witch Queenie shines. As Murphy’s shows are known to be, Coven is provocative, vulgar, violent but always entertaining, and the actors could not be better cast in their roles.
6. ‘Feud: Bette and Joan’ (2017)
The first season of Feud stars Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, chronicling the famous rivalry they had during the filming of the 1962 film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? that even continued after the shooting wrapped. The series depicts the two aging stars as they fight to hang on to fame and beauty in their later years, and their struggles against misogyny and ageism.
Showcasing brilliant, award-nominated performances from both Sarandon and Lange, Feud: Bette and Joan was praised for its campy tone and the type of gratuity and indulgence that’s become a trademark of a Murphy production. But the series isn’t just a wickedly delightful look at one of the most famous celebrity fights of all time — it always succeeds as a poignant portrait of the unfair way women are treated in Hollywood.
5. ‘Glee’ (2009-2015)
If you were in high school in the late 2000s, your entire world was turned upside down by Glee. The groundbreaking series pushed the boundaries of representation on TV while offering up some seriously catchy covers of popular songs and scandalous drama. While the show has become somewhat infamous for how ludicrous its plot lines could be, that was always part of the fun. Glee was a musical melodrama, and it’s very clear why fans couldn’t get enough of it.
The show centered on the misfit glee club at William McKinley High School in Ohio (featuring characters played by Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, and Dianna Agron), who are often at odds with other students and teachers who bully them, but often find that conflicts come from within, as the members come from very different walks of life. Ultimately, all the glee kinds are united by their love of music, and every season sees them fight to compete on the show choir circuit to take home the gold.
4. ‘American Horror Story: Asylum’ (2012-2013)
The second season of American Horror Story takes place in 1964 at the terrifying Briarcliff Manor, a Catholic-run psychiatric facility for the criminally insane that mistreats its patients. The series starts with a man named Kit Walker (Evan Peters) being committed to the facility after being accused of being a notorious serial killer, and follows Walker and the other inmates living in the asylum. Simultaneously, a journalist named Lana Winters (Paulson) tries to expose the crimes being committed there.
Asylum is equal parts horrifying and heartbreaking, and features far more disturbing sequences and imagery than what had been previously seen in Murder House. But it isn’t just sex and violence for the sake of it, and the excess of American Horror Story’s second season is ushered along beside first-rate performances and an enthralling narrative with so many twists and turns it’s hard to know what’s coming next.
3. ‘Scream Queens’ (2015-2016)
Possibly Murphy’s most underrated series, Scream Queens only ran for two seasons before it was sadly cancelled, but is first notable for being an early jumping-off point for Glen Powell. Powell played football lunkhead Chad Radwell, boyfriend to Emma Roberts’ sorority superstar Chanel Oberlin. When her elite sorority, Kappa Kappa Tau, is forced to become more inclusive, it’s almost as bad as the fact that the house is being targeted by a serial killer.
Riotously funny and gruesome in equal measure, Scream Queens is a slice of exaggerated bliss and features some great comedic performances in addition to Powell (who always struck as a stand-out in the show long before he made it to the mainstream). If it’s possible for something to be tasteless in all the best ways, Scream Queens certainly qualifies.
2. ‘American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson’ (2016)
The first season of American Crime Story profiles one of the most infamous murder cases of all time: The O.J. Simpson trial for the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson. Based in part on the non-fiction book The Run of His Life: The People v. O. J. Simpson by Jeffrey Toobin, the series stars Cuba Gooding Jr. as Simpson and charts the immediate aftermath of the murder through the trial. The series takes a look at Simpson’s defense in addition to the prosecution, witnesses and the LAPD’s past treatment of Black people.
With a well-written narrative and stunning performances (in particular, Sarah Paulson as prosecutor Marcia Clark and Courtney B. Vance as Simpson’s attorney, Johnnie Cochran), The People v. O.J. Simpson is a riveting and nuanced fictionalization of one of the most heated moments in American pop culture history. In addition to being informative and thought-provoking, the excellent pace and direction make this series not just fascinating but also totally magnetic.
1. ‘American Horror Story: Murder House’ (2011)
After Glee had high school students humming along to covers of “Don’t Stop Believin’” and “Teenage Dream,” American Horror Story arrived to scare them silent. The first season took viewers to the streets of suburban Los Angeles, where the unassuming Harmon family has moved from Boston. But the family’s new home bears terrifying secrets and a dark past that threatens their lives, as well as nosy neighbors with sinister intentions.
Murder House is easily the best of all of Ryan Murphy’s shows: a tight, tense, terrifying horror series with affecting jump scares, nightmarish imagery and a fantastic narrative that keeps you hooked from start to finish. The series marked Murphy’s first of many fruitful collaborations with Jessica Lange, who plays the troubled Constance Langdon, but it features several stand-out performances, including Taissa Farmiga as Violet Harmon and Evan Peters as Tate Langdon, in what would become his breakout role.
Led by Senior Editor and experienced critic Jason Struss, Watch With Us’ team of writers and editors sees almost every movie and TV show from the distant past to the present to determine what’s worth your time and money. Our countless hours of multimedia consumption — combined with years of experience in the entertainment industry — help us determine the best movies and TV shows you should be streaming right now. To be considered “the best,” these films and series can be visually engaging, intellectually stimulating or simply just fun to watch, but the one trait they must have is that they are all, in some way, entertaining. We then check which platform they are streaming on and how you can access them as a subscriber. No algorithm nonsense or paid endorsements here — our recommendations are based purely on our love and interest for the films and shows we love.