The Death of ‘American Horror Story’ (Part 1: Viewership)

AHS has experienced a decline in popularity since its debut over a decade ago, but how has the show itself contributed to its own inevitable death?

#AmericanHorrorStory #AHS

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[SkylerGaetano]

If you've made it this far congrats!! I have no idea how YouTube will treat this video after I've taken such a long break, but your likes and comments directly affect how often this video gets recommended to other people, so any help in that department is greatly appreciated. I want to express gratitude to those of you who are still interested in my content even when I'm not super active. That being said, I have a couple more videos I want to release this summer before I start covering AHS11, stay tuned!

[NickWright]

It’s hard to believe season 2 “Asylum” was even a part of the same show as the latest AHS season & spin-off.. Asylum had as much intricacy, plot/character depth and overall writing as an award winning MOVIE. Night and day from the most recent season. I’ll forever watch every new season until it ends, but still sad to witness.

[JoshhMarshh]

Jessica Lange's performance in the first 4 seasons was the reason they were my favourite. I sadly haven't enjoyed any season after freak show.

[Truesker]

So sad, double feature started off so damn good, and quickly went downhill. I think everyone would have preferred they gave it a whole season, because that second half of double feature was just horrible.

[ahah]

I’ll continue to watch every season as it’s one of my all time favourite shows but I do have to admit, the seasons are just not as great as they used to be😭 every season used to feel like it’s own universe/world but the newer seasons just seem like any other average show with some horror elements. The writing isn’t as interesting and they seem to have a lot more filler episodes than the first three seasons. For me, season 2 was perfection. Felt like they gave it their all. I wish it could go back to that. Here’s hoping❤️

[TheGamingManiac]

The quality of AHS really dwindled over the years. Honestly doesn't even feel like a "horror" show anymore. Since Coven, I've felt they have never really knew how to end a season either, they have a great setup and never really know where to take it. Its a shame cause it had so much potential

[jacksond]

I loved the earlier seasons so much. They felt so unique and original, like nothing else I had watched before. I also don’t really like horror, but AHS had the perfect balance of scary but not too scary. I’m not sure exactly when I noticed the change, but I do remember thinking how I didn’t like the later seasons as much as the earlier ones.

[simpleplanfan]

Ryan Murphy puts more effort into the ad campaign than he does the actual show. For me, my participation in the show these days starts and ends with looking at the posters/commercials.

[Greycatuk]

I’m in the UK. We don’t have Hulu, FX+, etc etc. Disney+ didn’t give us Double Feature or Stories until months after it’d aired in the US, so everyone found ways to watch illicitly or didn’t bother. International audiences are important too.

[Datníğğa]

I actually cried during parts of asylum that’s how good that season was never felt that way since

[TothanCrawk]

People who say they'll watch the show no matter what need to realize that's one of the biggest reasons they don't feel the need to put the effort into the show that they use to. Maybe if people weren't so complicit, they might actually try to make the show decent again, for their ratings to not go down the toilet if not anything else.

[Datníğğa]

Ahs first 5 season are so good and nostalgic to me I remember watching asylum years back sitting by a fire on a cold October night was such a good season

[thomashavard-morgan]

The first four series were lightning in bottle, thematically, in terms of cast overall aesthetic and timing. In the early 2000's there was nothing on TV like AHS and it coincided with the tumblr generation to create a show that was at the apex of popular and alternative culture. The wheels started to come off with series 4, with a bloated story and an over reliance on shock and a lack of real direction. but it still had Lange arguably it's strongest asset. It's often easy to link the importance of one actress with a series, but the trio of Paulson, Peters and Lange really anchored the show and gave it an identity. After that the show would become hit or miss, without ever capturing it's earliest appeal and once the core trio had departed it was a husk of what it once was. It could have survived with better quality, but the stories just were not there either.

[mango.witcher]

I see what you're saying, but I was a huge fan of AHS and I never had cable. I always bought the season, episode by episode on Google. I never would've stopped if the show continued to be good. I think the writing, storytelling and filmography completely changed. Which lead to the downfall in my opinion.

[kingtryton]

I used to be hooked on AHS always itching to see what the theme of the next season would be. My interest kind of dwindled midway through freak show I just never could complete the season didn’t feel the same anymore. Apocalypse brought back the nostalgia of Coven which in my opinion was one of the best seasons. 1984 was decent. With this new season I really hope they retool and revamp the story to where it feels like an original AHS feature with a great story and plot.

[tom-chii]

I'm surprised to see so many people thinking 1984 was a let down, its honestly my favourite season and the campy but in my opinion good writing was done just as well Coven. It's hard to pinpoint a decline in quality for this show, I thought Cult was a step-down and then Apocalypse really was a disappointment for me. Then 1984 came and I was like oh wait maybe...

then the double feature..

[moxiemaxie]

The real downfall reason is the writing. Writers pull a "Stephen King", who swiftly pushes out stories that start out good but have sucky endings. They need more than a few months to properly flesh out everything

[AlexandriaMorgan]

to me they jumped the ship when Billie Lords character just had to literally just run over the antichrist to get rid of him. no battle. no magic. just a Subaru.

[terriberri]

I love the ideas ahs comes up with, the settings, costumes and actors are great. But they can never stick the landing and always get too lost by the end of the season.

[Absbabs]

No one wants to be handcuffed into clearing their schedule to sit down and watch TV episodes live anymore.