We’ve come to expect certain things from Ryan Murphy, just like we’ve come to expect certain tropes in our scary television shows: parts in jars, dead animals, questionably ethical use of special needs children for creepy effect, Lea Michele. I know Murph-dog and co-creator Brad Falchuk are responsible for Glee and Nip/Tuck, so I figured what I was going to get from An American Horror Story was an uncomfortable three-way between The Practice, Friday Night Lights, and the video for “Enter Sandman,†set to an earsplitting cover of “Can We Still Be Friends?†by a shrill gay teen. And some of that we get.
There’s a lot, isn’t there? A lot going on here, in Amity/Glee/Tuck/Horror/Nipville. And the Harmons are all, “At least it’s not the valley!†Overall, the first episode of True Blood Credits: the Television Show was pretty good. I think from the litany of creepshow clichés already covered, we can expect to see a deranged Santa, a jump-roping child-ghost, and maybe one of those scary fat adult babies in future episodes. Also, I give it extra points for using L.A. instead of Maine (“Thanks, American Horror Story!†— the tourism board of Maine) and for using that Rennie McIntosh font. Now I’m going to be creeped out whenever I see it on one of those tote bags with famous author quotations.