Sunday, December 4, 2011

Supernatural - The Real American Horror Story

Like many of my fellow bloggers, I'm a fan of horror and fantasy, in addition to science fiction. It goes without saying that I watch Supernatural. The cult favorite is currently in it's 7th season on perhaps the worst channel ever, the CW. If you need to catch up, TNT shows reruns every morning, Monday-Friday.

American Horror Story promo
As Supernatural ages, I have been looking for a suitable replacement so I started watching American Horror Story and Grimm. Created by Ryan Murphy, creator of Nip/TuckAmerican Horror Story is the new, "hip" show on FX about a dysfunctional family who move into a haunted manor in old Los Angeles with ghosts even more dysfunctional than they are. Think of Rose Red, The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, and American Gothic wrapped in one big bait ball. Sounds great, right? Nope. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. After all, Murphy also created the show I loathe most, Glee.

Grimm isn't much better. Grimm is about a detective who is the descendant of a group of hunters called Grimms, who fight to keep humanity safe from supernatural creatures. Hmmm? Despite Grimm's battle to reign supreme over ABC's fairy tale series Once Upon a TimeGrimm is an obvious ripoff of SupernaturalGrimm has had a slide in ratings, but has managed to secure being picked up for a full season.

Grimm 
A show, like a person has three parts: brain (intellect), heart (emotion), and soul (big picture). I can't put my finger on it, but something is missing from both Grimm and American Horror StoryAHS is somewhat witty and has a few good scares and jaw drops, but AHS is boring. Worse yet, AHS is a one-trick pony and couldn't possibly last beyond one season.

Grimm is just bad. I'm not sure how Grimm is beating out Fringe (another great show), other than by the sale of a first born child. There's no watching this dog-faced show, but in the end ratings are king. I guess there's no accounting for good taste.

Long story short, if you want a "real" American horror story, filled with grimm, do yourself a favor and watch Supernatural instead. Please feel free to rip into me if you like either show. I enjoy a healthy debate.

American Horror Story

Grimm

Supernatural (Season 1)

15 comments:

  1. I want to.... but dammit you're right!

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  2. I've never watched Supernatural, mostly because I have a limit as to how many new shows I can follow every year. (Otherwise, that's all I would do.) But don't worry - not a chance I would ever watch something like Glee!

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  3. Very awesome observation! You speak the truth! I really need to watch Supernatural. I used to watch it waaay back in season 1 but then I stopped like a..loser. ;\

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  4. Angry Lurker- Ha, thanks. ;)

    Alex-- If you ever get a chance to watch it on TNT you won't regret it.

    Zena-- It's gotten better over the years. My sister had stopped watching it for a while and then started again. It was good until the 3rd season then it went through the stratosphere seasons 4-5. I think if you catch up you won't be disapointed.

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  5. Now I like AHS. I love the twists, the shocks and I think it gets better with each ep. Is it Supernatural, hell to the no as that is my favorite show along with Sons of Anarchy. I like the idea of the house being haunted by all the people who died there and that they can manifest themselves in corporeal form to fool the living. I find it different and it's actually a show where I hate all of the characters and can't wait to see what gruesomeness lies in wait for them.

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  6. Hit send too soon. LOL I wanted to say that I can see why you don't like it and that I can't stand Grimm, either. What a bad show! And I love the first born comment regarding it's success. That made me choke on my Diet Pepsi.

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  7. Melissa-- Thanks! I think that's a big part of what bothers me about American Horror Story. All of the characters are so unlikable.

    But you make a good point, that it's likely purposeful.

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  8. I never got into Supernatural.

    I would have agreed with you on Grimm were it not for the latest episode (#4). I'm intrigued by what they are doing with the police captain subplot. I'm not sure where they might go with him and that's unusual for me.

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  9. HI! I just want to say that the only show I watch out of the three you talked about is Supernatural, for obvious reasons. American Horror Story is hurting itself in the fact that the house is the only thing that's scary. It's not flexible like Grimm or Supernatural in which there are many more possibilities. However, Grimm sounded nice, but after watching the trailer for it, I (unfairly) kept sizing it up to Supernatural's episode of the Grimm fairy tales, and I didn't give it a chance. However, with the back story you just gave on it, I don't plan on watching it because i refuse to watch any shows that are obvious ripoffs of my favorite TV shows. What I love so much about Supernatural is that it's all BELIEVABLE. Yes its the supernatural they're hunting, but the brothers make it seem like just another day (and night) job. Plus, the problems they go through can relate to the audience. I dont know why, but there just won't be a another show that can compete with Supernatural.

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  10. Chip-- Let me know if Grimm picks up. I stopped watching it.

    Dynastee-- I couldn't agree more. You have some very solid points.

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  11. Let's see, now. U state u like a healthy debate, yes? Well, for openers, you are SO completely and utterly WRONG with what you say about the TOTALLY AWESOME 'American Horror Story' show (Season 1). In fact, I can PROVE it. In double-blind peer-reviewed carefully-controlled laboratory tests, NINE out of TEN lab rats thought that AHS like TOTALLY kicked butt. Whilst yes, they DID concede that it DOES have one or two teensy tiny plot holes large enough to back a dumptruck into, and that YES, it shamelessly references (homages? rips off?) practically EVERY major touchstone from the Horror film canon, from Kubrick's 'The Shining' right thru to even, yes, Mel Brooks' 'Young Frankenstein' ("How many times have I told you never to interrupt me while I'm WORKING!"), they felt that this show was EXTREMELY well written, subverted (most) expectations, cleverly inverted horror tropes and cliches, and well, was simply the TOPS in their nightly forced viewing schedule. So there. As for MYSELF, I am 48, and have made it my own personal life's ambition since the mid-80s (demented and sad as it may undoubtedly well be) to watch EACH and EVERY goddamn Horror film/TV show that I can get my sticky, sickly eyeballs upon, NO MATTER how crapulescent, intelligence-insulting and just plain SHIT they are (and, let's face it, that accounts for 97.653% of this AWESOME yet much-abused little genre), and I found this show to be HUGELY inventive, and MORE than kicked the ass of any show u care to mention (tho I admit I have yet to watch my torrented copies of Supernatural & Grimm), but wtf?!? American Gothic? THAT piece of badly-shovelled horse manure? It was SO shit it even made Carnivale look good by comparison! No offence, but you INSULT this show by even including the latter piece of brain-damaged (tho admittedly STYLISH) drivel in the same goddamn sentence! Bah! Just my humble opinion, mind. Oh, and those of the nine lab rats I mentioned, as well. :-D

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  12. P.S: Perhaps you are allowing your (quite reasonable & sane) abhorrence for 'Glee' to cloud your judgement re: AHS? Tho mind u, as my darling flattie so eloquently put it earlier this very eve whilst she & I revisited our fave new show: "Why so surprised one of the creators of THAT craptastic shitfest made this totally awesome one, dear LoreNZo? Glee is, after all, merely a Horror series of a different hue - one that set out to defile popular music." Bless her wee cotton dimples.

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  13. Lorenzo-- I do appreciate a healthy debate! Thanks for your opinion. I like when people disagree with me b/c it gives me something to think about.

    I will say that you have a point with regard to AHS. As the series marched on it continued to grow on me, kind of like a bad fungus, but I did end up semi-liking it towards the end.

    As for Glee, I don't know if my bias towards Glee affects my view on AHS. I've never really liked Ryan Murphy (even pre-Glee). Admittedly, I like him less post-Glee, but I never liked Nip/Tuck either.

    The characters he develops are so unlikable that it's hard to invest in his shows. I'm sure that's purposeful.

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  14. i love Supernatural. these is awesome show. i saw every episode (seasone1-9), but now these 10 year old serial is ending these year. :') but excited to watch season 10 final ending :)
    BTW i never show other shows Grimm, American Horror Story so no words for them.

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    1. Hi, thanks for your comment. 'Supernatural' is still going strong. The first few eps have been really great so far. I can't believe it's been going on for 10 years.

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