FX/Robert Zuckerman. When Ryan Murphy took the stage today at FX's TCA presentation, all the critics and reporters asked polite questions, and not one person brought up the whole Glee mess.
No, we're not kidding. Thought we were being sarcastic, right? Usually when a huge group of reporters get together for ten days straight of press, they start their "take no prisoners attitude" right around...now. So we're actually shocked that all that was discussed during the American Horror Story panel was...American Horror Story!
We recently attended a screening of AHS, so when Murphy says that there are eight cliffhangers in the pilot, we can confirm that he is not over-exaggerating. But this show won't go all Lost on you and leave you hanging each week.
"We had an obligation to the audience in the next two scripts to explain [the mysteries]," he says. "By the third episode, all of those big mysteries are settled, and then the audience can just be along for the ride."
While we do love spoilers here at Watch With Kristin, we wouldn't dare tell you what those mysteries are. Just know that they are all creepy and very head-scratching. Basically, we can't wait to find out why all this is happening in that creepy house. But the bigger question is: why does this family remain stay there?!
"We really thought about that a lot, and that was the most important thing we worked on successfully," Murphy says. "It is explained why they are still [at the house] in the episode after the pilot." Another question: Is there a reason this particular family was "picked" by the house or was it all random? "I believe that is dealt with in the third script," he reveals.
Already refusing to watch AHS because you're scared away by gruesome horror on your TV screen? Pump your brakes, because there won't be anything like a high death count each week. "I love horror movies, but I don't like bloody horror movies," he says. "So there's not a lot of blood in this thing and if you look at the pilot there's almost none. There's a ripped out throat or two and dried blood. But it's never going to be a bloodbath."
And for those of you who only know Ryan Murphy as the Glee creator, then you should know beforehand that he created a very crazy show called Nip/Tuck, which was very sexual, bloody, and intense. But don't you dare compare AHS with Murphy's previous work. "I don't think the show is as in your face as Nip/Tuck. Sexually, it's not at all. And blood, it's certainly not. So I was interested when people who have seen it thought that it was more like Nip/Tuck because I don't think it is."
But back to the pilot. Some of the criticism that came after the screening was that so much story was packed into one episode, a notion that Murphy defended vehemently. "The pilot of a show is a blueprint," he reasoned. "I love that pilots have a lot of characters and stories. When you have [a cast] like this, you have an obligation to give them good emotional stories. [We'll have] a two-part Halloween episode, which I feel is very similar to the scares of the pilot. [Then we'll have] the hauntings of the various characters that is much more slow and melodic, and not so startling."
One thing Murphy does know for sure: the last episode of the season is going to be a big one. "We do know where it's going. We do know what that great last episode is," he assures the crowd.