Tag Archives: Brad Falchuk

FX ready to tell ‘American Horror Story’ (poster & teaser inside)

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Earlier this summer FX picked up a 13-episode order for its next original drama series. American Horror Story comes from Nip/Tuck creator Ryan Murphy and his Nip/Tuck and Glee collaborator Brad Falchuk. Deadline reports: “Described as a psychosexual thriller, [the show] centers on a therapist and his wife who, dealing with the aftermath of the husband’s adultery, move along with their kids into a new house that seems to know all about their fears and plays on them.” Now check out this all star cast extracted from a press release:

American Horror Story revolves around The Harmons, a family of three who move from Boston to Los Angeles as a means to reconcile past anguish. The All Star cast features Dylan McDermott (The Practice) as “Ben Harmon,” a psychiatrist; Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) as “Vivien Harmon,” Ben’s wife; Taissa Farmiga as “Violet,” the Harmon’s teenage daughter; Jessica Lange (Tootsie, Blue Sky, Grey Gardens) in her first-ever regular series TV role as “Constance,” the Harmon’s neighbor; Evan Peters (One Tree Hill) as “Tate Langdon,” one of Ben’s patients; and Denis O’Hare (The Good Wife) as “Larry Harvey.” Guest stars for the series include Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under) and Alexandra Breckenridge (Dirt) as the Harmon’s housekeepers; and Jamie Brewer as Constance’s daughter.

AHS promises to be an extremely chilling TV series with intention to genuinely frighten audiences. Murphy describes it as a “feel-bad” show, as opposed to his “feel-good” show Glee. He and Falchuk were inspired by classic horror films Rosemary’s Baby and Don’t Look Now. Industry members who have seen the pilot were spooked and amazed by its originality.

Says FX president John Landgraf: “We’re thrilled to welcome Ryan and Brad back to their original home. They have shown an uncanny ability to bring original series to the air unlike any that have come before, and to reconcile ’wildly entertaining’ with the ’creatively ambitious.’ Once again, American Horror Story is a wholly unique and original take on its genre with richly drawn characters. The ability to put together a cast of stars such as Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton, Denis O’Hare, Frances Conroy and Oscar-winner Jessica Lange speaks to the quality of the writing and storytelling. This series is going to blow audiences back in their seats, and we can’t wait to have it on our air.”

Others who have seen the pilot say that it’s filled to the brim with character and plot development. One critic says, “The first episode has more stuff crammed into it than some shows have in their first season.” This may not be such a great thing because viewers typically don’t like to get suffocated by too much in the very beginning. At the TCAs, Murphy admitted that pilot “has like eight cliffhangers” but he went on to reassure potential viewers that he has “an obligation to the audience in the next two [episodes] to explain a lot of those things that are set up.”

Over the summer FX has been running a super creepy yet intriguing marketing campaign to amp anticipation for the series. Short commercials featuring AHS “clues” can be screened at this YouTube channel. This week the cable network finally released a standard teaser clip featuring the main cast in the haunted (?) mansion. What’s up with Denis O’Hare vanishing up in flames and who’s that stalker-ish man (?) in the black latex suit grabbing at Connie Britton? This same question can be asked about the bizarre poster pasted above. The teaser video is after the break.

I will certainly give this show a try, and I think you should too. I trust Murphy and Falchuk’s creative vision and so I expect AHS will find its groove at some point during its first season run. The cast is stacked and the intrigue is there. Tune in to see what American Horror Story is all about when it premieres October 5 at 10PM on FX.

[Via FX; Deadline 1, 2] Continue reading FX ready to tell ‘American Horror Story’ (poster & teaser inside) →

Correction: Lea Michele, Chris Colfer, Cory Monteith are NOT leaving ‘Glee’, spin-off plans halted

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It’s time to make a Glee about-face. Shortly after Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy told The Hollywood Reporter that the show’s stars Lea Michele, Chris Colfer, and Cory Monteith would not be returning to the FOX musical comedy for season 4, fellow co-creator Brad Falchuk set things straight at Comic Con: “Here’s the exact thing: [Rachel, Kurt and Finn] are seniors, so they’re graduating, but because they’re graduating that doesn’t mean they’re leaving the show. If you have Lea Michele under contract, you don’t say, ‘We’re gonna let you go.’” He added, “It was never our plan or our intention to let them go. They are not done with the show after this season.”

So the three of them will be back for season 4! Now why did Murphy say that they wouldn’t come back? What’s up with the co-creator contradiction? In a post-Comic Con interview with Deadline, Murphy revealed that he was indeed investigating a spin-off starring the three actors. He was hoping that the Glee trio would graduate from McKinley High and move to New York City (an idea planted in the season 2 finale) to explore their career in the arts. In fact, Murphy went so far as calling the Juliard School to make it a backdrop for the new show. However, things started to fall apart when one or more of the actors became resistant about moving to a different city to shoot the show. And as of now, spinoff plans have halted. In Murphy’s own words:

We’re not talking about it, we’re not pitching it. We’re not doing anything for the next several months except for this third season. I would prefer and I know Brad would prefer and I think the actors will prefer to roll up our sleeves and do a really good season and if there is a spin-off, talk about it in April. Could we do a spin-off? To be quite honest with you, maybe. Some of the actors that we discussed doing spin-offs do not want to do a spin-off. It’s hard to do a spin-off on a show where an actor says no. And if there’s no spin-off, then we’ll announce that there’s not. But as of now, I can tell you I’m not working on it.

It all break down like this: Rachel, Kurt, and Finn are graduating at the end of season 3. They will be back for season 4 (and potentially seasons 5, 6, and 7 since they all signed seven-year contracts). What role they will play in that season is still to be determined. And a spin-off series might happen sometime after season 3. Gleeks, you can relax now.

While we’re at it, let’s put a neat little bow on the Chord Overstreet story. Falchuk spilled that Overstreet (who played Sam Evans) was offered a deal to return for ten episodes next season with the possibility of becoming a series regular in the same way Harry Shum Jr. (Mike Chang) and Darren Criss (Blaine) worked their way from guest star to regular status. In the end Overstreeet declined the offer. “We wanted him back because we like Chord personally and had some good stories planned for him and with Mercedes,” revealed Falchuk. “He decided he would have opportunities elsewhere that he would like to pursue, and we can’t force him to work, so we wished him well.” It has been confirmed that Overstreet will not return for any episodes next season. So long, Trouty Mouth.

[Via EW; TVLine; Deadline]