LogFAQs > #925479519

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I couldn't be bothered to watch any of AHS after the first season. I found the pay-off to be kind of underwhelming, and I really disliked the "every season is totally different and unconnected but we're mostly keeping the same cast" idea. It just discouraged me from bothering to put the effort in for another season.

AHS s1 was crap (although I liked the setting). Asylum, Coven, and even Freak Show were a lot better. Otherwise I'll mention that I had been skeptical of the self-contained seasons, but they work out really well. Generally speaking, a *lot* of stories are best told in a season of tv rather than a film, but it's hard to pitch doing a one-season show.

Cast-wise, they only really keep a few key actors. Looking at the list, only three actors have been there for the show's entire run. And, in fact, part of the reason why Hotel is so lousy could be because Jessica Lange -- who played a supporting role in s1/Murder House before getting a more prominent role in later seasons -- was no longer with the show.

Also they're not entirely unconnected. There's one season that connects the events of the other seasons, plus there are characters shared between seasons. The biggest example I've seen so far is Pepper, who plays an inmate in Asylum where she was imprisoned for supposedly killing her sister's child -- something that later gets disputed -- and we get her full backstory in Freak Show where she has a somewhat larger supporting role

Otherwise I will say that Slasher -- which I don't recommend at all (although I haven't seen s3) -- claims to use the same concept but they replace much more of the cast. Granted, Slasher doesn't seem to be produced on as consistent of a basis which is probably part of it.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

As for Miss Fisher, my mother actually watches that show a lot (and I think she's got at least a few seasons on DVD). She's hugely into watching mysteries (in the classical British detective sort of mold, including stuff like Murder She Wrote, not so much modern procedurals like CSI - though she did used to watch NCIS with my father when he was still alive).

Speaking of, Murder She Wrote was another thing I enjoyed binging while on my detective kick years ago, but when I tried watching it after a break, the episodes felt a little disjointed. They were still watchable, though, whereas I had trouble getting through Miss Fisher.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

PBS has always been a huge thing for my family. Back when I was younger I used to use it to watch a lot of British sci-fi and British comedy, and my mother watches a lot of British mysteries on it.

I think PBS might have been what got me started on my detective kick. I was flipping through channels and caught an episode of Poirot starring David Suchet ("Cat Among the Pigeons"). ITV's Poirot and Marple were by far my favorite detective shows at the time; I also liked the BBC's Miss Marple. Come to think of it, I'm not sure whether I preferred Marple or Miss Marple. Either way, they *might* have preceded me watching Murder, She Wrote at the time because Angela Lansbury had played Miss Marple and JB Fletcher had numerous Marple overtones.

Although I decried it at the time, I have somewhat mixed feelings about the Murder, She Wrote remake not going through; granted, the actress they had picked (Octavia Spencer) was waaaaay too young for the role. Lansbury was 59 when she was cast as JB Fletcher and the stories worked because she an unassuming, grandmotherly-like character. Spencer was only 40 and looked like she was in her 30s, which would given things a very different vibe.
---

(\/)(\/)|-|
There has never been a Vox link worth clicking and there never will be.