Across all the best streaming services, you’re bound to run into one of Ryan Murphy’s many TV shows – his most recent being the Netflix show Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story. So with his dramatization of the Menendez brothers sitting among the top of the best Netflix series, I’ve taken it upon myself to rank 11 of Ryan Murphy’s shows on streaming.
Ryan Murphy has a huge catalog of TV shows and is most known for his earlier works like Glee and his numerous anthology series such as American Horror Story and Feud – as well as experimenting with limited and miniseries.
Ranking your favorite movies and shows is never easy as we’ve come to learn here on the streaming side of things at TechRadar. There are a lot of Ryan Murphy shows out there, so narrowing down the final entries was the most challenging part but when it came to the ranking system, it wasn’t as difficult as I had anticipated. From The Lyle and Erik Mendez Story to American Crime Story, let’s get into my ranking of 11 Ryan Murphy shows from worst to best.
11. American Horror Stories
Where to stream: Hulu (US); Disney Plus (UK); Binge (AU)
The rare occasion where I didn’t even make it past the first episode. With American Horror Stories, the show is a direct spin-off/ companion series to American Horror Story, adopting a similar anthology approach for each episode as opposed to entire seasons. But in contrast to its iconic counterpart, it totally failed to meet the mark for me.
Each episode offers a new story and characters placed within the world of American Horror Story, serving as extensions to the lore of the original series – especially its Murder House and Coven seasons. Aside from the terrible acting that put me off pursuing the show further, the show’s writing and premise feel as though it’s trying too hard to build on the lore of American Horror Story, whose storyline is already very saturated with its almost ‘multiverse’ style foundation. The last thing it needed was additional characters and plotlines, hence why I found it difficult to watch.
10. Monsters
Where to stream: Netflix (US, UK & AU)
I was very close to putting Murphy’s Monsters anthology dead last. However, I got further with this than I did with American Horror Stories. When its first season became the most-watched show on Netflix at the time, I felt enticed by everyone’s reactions on the internet to give it a go and while I made decent progress with it, I didn’t quite make it to the last episode. As for The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, I made even less progress.
While Ryan Murphy can put out some brilliant shows, Monsters is a prime example of how little Murphy cares for facts and the real-life subjects that inspire his fictional recreations. On paper, a fictionalized anthology account of famous serial killers is a million-dollar idea, but when its objective is too focused on creating attractive and hyper-sexualized ideals of people who have done terrible things, it crosses into perversion territory.
9. The Politician
Where to stream: Netflix (US, UK & AU)
I made a little more progress with The Politician (the entire first season I shall mention), but the first episode of its second season was what made me say goodbye. You’d think that a big Hollywood name like Gwyneth Paltrow would do the show a favor, but like the previous shows in this list, it was just another flop for me.
Following the story of a young aspiring politician, Ben Platt is a student at a private school who fights to become student body president hoping it will advance him to Harvard. The first season shows his involvement in his first political race and was the perfect set-up for succeeding seasons to chronicle his political journey building up to what could’ve led to a US presidential race for a final season.
8. Ratched
Where to stream: Netflix (US, UK & AU)
To my knowledge, this is the only Ryan Murphy series that takes an existing character from a movie and gives them an entirely new back story that’s separate from the events of their original movie. In the case of Ratched, Murphy takes the character of Nurse Ratched played by Louise Fletcher in the 1975 movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
As a standalone mini series, it works. But where it fell flat for me was how it ended on a mini cliffhanger with the intention of continuing with a second season, only for it to be officially canceled as of February 2024. Ratched is a prime example of a disposable Ryan Murphy show. Most of the time I find that his shows can’t get past a first or second season because of how directionless his ideas are, which is disappointing and gives the impression that he puts material out for the sake of it instead of having a genuine purpose.
7. Hollywood
The number seven spot goes to Murphy’s Netflix limited series Hollywood, which I’ve watched at least twice. Despite it being a rather average watch, I’m glad it was designed to be a miniseries and didn’t fall into a similar trap to Ratched.
Set in 1940s post-war Hollywood, Murphy’s miniseries explores how the deconstruction of power dynamics and social standards would have been received in cinema’s golden era. With a blend of fictional characters and fictionalized versions of real-life actors of the time such as Rock Hudson and Anna May Wong, the show depicts its characters challenging racism and homophobia to make room for a new age of cinema – even if it appears on the nose at times.
6. American Crime Story
Where to stream: Netflix (US, UK & AU)
Another anthology series from Murphy, but one that examines the ins and outs of some of America’s most famous and scandalous crimes. Like Monsters, you have to take the show with a pinch of salt since we all know how Murphy likes to ignore the facts, but at least American Crime Story doesn’t jump at the chance to sexualize heinous criminals.
Like his other anthologies, this one looks at a different crime per season starting with OJ Simpson’s infamous trial in season one, and the murder of Gianni Versace and the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal in seasons two and three.
5. Scream Queens
Black comedy and satire is what makes Scream Queens one of Ryan Murphy’s most fun shows to watch. Set in an elitist sorority house on a college campus, a masked serial killer wreaks havoc among the students murdering people left, right, and center. But premise aside, it’s the acting and characterization that are the determining factors behind its number five placement in my ranking.
There’s no arguing that Emma Roberts is the beacon of the show as mean girl Chanel Oberlin, but it’s difficult for me to place a finger on a singular favorite as Jamie Lee Curtis is equally as brilliant as Dean Munsch, just as Keke Palmer sells comedy as Zayday.
Although it’s another short-lived Ryan Murphy series, its premise, characters, and all-star cast is one of his most creative and humorous. Combining slasher elements with a whodunnit story, Scream Queens keeps you on your guessing game more than a game of Clue.
4. Glee
Where to stream: Hulu (US); Disney Plus (US, UK & US)
If you’ve listened to any song and have never said to yourself ‘the Glee version is better’, I’m here to tell you that you’re lying. My conscious bias almost put Glee in the number three spot, but I didn’t allow that to jeopardize an accurate ranking.
While some parts of its writing haven’t aged well at all, there’s no denying how popular Glee was when it was airing, and its overwhelming response from fans resulted in the release of a total of 16 soundtrack albums, including a near-sell-out concert tour. This impact was unprecedented for a TV show.
Not only did Glee produce a mass cult following, but the show introduced us to some of the most iconic characters in television from Sue Sylvester to Rachel Berry, while creating some of the funniest internet memes that have stood the test of time. But what Glee succeeded the most with was its renditions of popular pop songs and homages to music icons – the Britney Spears episode is by far the best one, and I will die on that hill.
3. American Horror Story
Where to stream: Hulu, Prime Video (US); Disney Plus (UK & AU)
While some seasons of American Horror Story haven’t quite hit the mark for me, there’s no doubt that it’s the show that defined the early-mid 2010s and is still going strong to this day. Being the OG anthology show, American Horror Story blends modern horror with its mythology and folklore premises that give the show its spine-chilling edge.
What sets American Horror Story apart from other Ryan Murphy shows is that in addition to having a different premise each season to keep you on your toes, its recurring ensemble cast kept viewers crawling back. Where Jessica Lange and Sarah Paulson carried the show in its earlier seasons, modern scream queen Emma Roberts has kept the American Horror Story flame burning well into the 2020s.
2. Feud
Where to stream: Hulu (US); Disney Plus (UK & AU)
Just missing out on the top spot is Feud, my favorite Ryan Murphy anthology. While there are just two seasons, its premise is one of Murphy’s strongest; a dramatization of drama, focussing on retelling the stories of famous feuds within popular culture.
Its first season hones in on the infamous conflict between actresses Joan Crawford and Bette Davis during the golden age of Hollywood in the early 1960s, starring Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange with support from Kathy Bates and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Season two, which was released in January this year, looks at the relationship between author Truman Capote and the women of New York City high society.
1. Pose
Where to stream: Hulu (US); Disney Plus (UK & AU)
Live! Work! Pose! Everything about Murphy’s drama from its writing to its dance and disco-infused soundtrack is pure perfection, so naturally, it has to come out on top. I’ve watched Pose more than any other Ryan Murphy show, and it goes to show that when he’s not out here disgracing the real-life Menendez brothers, he can write a damn good drama.
Set in the backdrop of 1980s New York City, Pose centers on the underground ballroom culture spearheaded by trans people of Black and Latino communities. After leaving her chosen family, Blanca (MJ Rodriguez) forms her own ‘house’ to give a safe space to vulnerable LGBTQ+ youth. Starting as underdogs, Blanca’s determination and drive are what help her house evolve into one of the most respected entities in ballroom.
Drawing inspiration predominantly from the true stories of ballroom legends in the 1990 documentary Paris Is Burning, Pose is a faithful reconstruction of the trials and tribulations that LGBTQ+ people faced during the final decades of the 20th century featuring the largest trans cast in television history. From the AIDS epidemic to Trump’s Wall Street, and the impact of Madonna’s ‘Vogue’, Pose is both an emotionally gut-wrenching and incredibly uplifting watch.
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rowan.davies@futurenet.com (Rowan Davies)
