American Horror Story
Posted by: Jeff Chatterton
One of the few new TV shows I’ve been interested in this season is American Horror Story, created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk of Nip/Tuck (yay!) and Glee (boo!), starring Dylan “I’m 50!” McDermott. Dylan is therapist Ben Harmon, the unhinged husband and father of a family living in a Haunted House. Think The Shining meets The Others meets Nip/Tuck.
Wife Vivien (Connie Britton of Friday Night Lights) is recovering from a nasty miscarriage and her husband’s subsequent affair. Daughter Violet (Taissa Farmiga, sister of Vera) is an outcast at school who befriends Ben’s teenaged patient (Evan Peters as Tate, who is occasionally made up to look like Zombie Boy from that Mugler/Lady Gaga thing).
The rest of the cast includes Jessica Lange as Constance, a Blanche Devereaux dipped in battery acid, her daughter Addie with Down Syndrome (who sees dead people), and Frances Conroy (the mom from Six Feet Under) as the housekeeper, a sad but sexy seductress (!) in a French Maid uniform. Each episode features one story from the house’s past through flashbacks, and frequently the past interacting with the Harmon’s, who haven’t quite figured out that they’re living in a haunted house.
The show is, much like Glee and Nip/Tuck, simultaneously riveting and cringe-worthy. The Pilot episode was good, not great, but I’m glad I stuck around because once the awkward task of explaining everyone’s backstory was complete, the episodes kept getting better and better. Its found its niche in violent, campy, and often hilarious horror, more like Scream than Saw.
By the time Zachary Quinto is introduced as Chad, the previous owner of the house alongside his muscled (and unfaithful) husband Patrick, I was hooked.
Dylan “I’m 50!” McDermott just did a great interview with Brandon “I’m not 50!” Voss over at The Advocate, one of the questions was about his frequent (and very much appreciated) nudity on the show:
Some have commented that yours is not the ass of a 50-year-old man.
“Well, I was 49 when I did those scenes, so they’re right.”
The show’s sexual content:
“I’ve never been uncomfortable with sexuality. That goes back to my growing up in New York in the ’70s, which was a very sexual time. I was sort of a club kid, and I’d go to places like the Mudd Club and Max’s Kansas City. Being a part of that whole world, sexuality always seemed very normal to me. ”
and playing gay characters:
“I had this idea — I actually brought it up to Ryan Murphy — that I wanted to play Halston. I think that would make a great movie, because his life was so interesting and complex. I was trying to develop that for a while, and Ryan was kind of mulling it over. We’ll see.”
American Horror Story airs Wednesdays as 10 (and is also on Hulu for those of us without cable).
(interview excerpts via The Advocate)