 Last year I made a video aimed to look back at the last decade of American Horror Story through the lens of their declining ratings and their network's tendency to use the show to test out their many attempts at streaming platforms. While those things certainly played a part in the decline in American Horror Story's brand over the years, the truth is that a lot of the show's issues stem from the belly of the beast itself. In this two-part follow-up to that video, I'm diving deep into the casting and writing process of each season of American Horror Story to try and pinpoint exactly when the show dove off the deep end. This video is going to be super-sized, so grab a snack as we time travel through what I have defined as the three eras of American Horror Story that have occurred thus far. Seasons 1 through 4 make up the Golden Age, seasons 5 through 8 represent the Silver Age, and then seasons 9 through 11 and so on represents the Bronze Age. The Golden Age is characterized by the consistent casting of namely Jessica Lange, Lily Raebe, and Frances Conroy, who appeared in those first four seasons consistently alongside Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson, who would remain as mainstays well into the Silver Age. It also has a strong sense of visual style and cohesion in its cinematography amongst those first four seasons, largely thanks to the choice to film those seasons on film cameras rather than digital and also due to the work of longtime American Horror Story cinematographer Michael Goy. The Golden Age also gets its name due to the amount of awards recognition these seasons got, especially compared to the seven seasons that have followed. The Silver Age begins with Hotel and the departure of Jessica Lange, the Academy Award-winning icon that delivered some of the show's greatest and most memorable performances, as well as the show beginning to take larger swings with its themes and its casting. The Silver Age is also where a lot of fans began to notice the show starting to drop off in its quality. Hotel, Roanoke, Colt, and Apocalypse are often cited by fans as having rushed and unsatisfying conclusions to varying degrees. This complaint is almost exclusively given to the seasons that aired after the show's Golden Age. The Bronze Age then would be the most recent three seasons from American Horror Story 1984 all the way to AHS NYC. It will also include the upcoming 12th season recently announced to be titled Delicate. This separation between The Silver and Bronze Ages is partly defined by the departures of Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters in season nine after having appeared in all eight of the previous seasons. They would both return for double feature though, only to bow out once again for NYC. The mainstays of the Bronze Age are Billy Lord and Leslie Grossman, the only two actors to appear in all three of the most recent seasons. The Bronze Age may as well just be the most inconsistent when it comes to casting, but it also notably includes a couple AHS Legends returning to the franchise like Lily Rave and Dennis O'Hare in two out of the three seasons that have made up the Bronze Era so far. This Bronze Age for me is where I started to see a much larger drop off in American Horror Story fans having nice things to say about the show and where a lot of fans jumped ship. This drop off may be similar to the drop off that occurred between the Golden Age and The Silver Age with Jessica's departure. This time it may be attributed to Sarah and Evan's now inconsistent appearances, but truly there's much more at play in the Bronze Age. But now with all of those eras defined, let's start talking about those creative choices that led to this drop off in quality and where's the best place to start but the beginning? Season one came out of the gates swinging with the casting of Jessica Lange in the season's main ensemble with her instantly iconic portrayal of Constance Langdon. At this point in her career, Lange was already established as one of Hollywood's most awarded and respected artists having won two Academy Awards, an Emmy Award and being tied as the sixth most nominated actress at the Academy Awards. Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott and Dennis O'Hare all had on the rise in television careers of varying degrees at the time of their casting this season. Connie Britton being most known for her role in Friday Night Lights, Dylan McDermott for the practice and Dennis O'Hare for his role in True Blood. And the last two actors credited as main cast members this season are relative newcomers at the time, Taissa Fermiga and Evan Peters. AHS was Taissa's first role in the industry, although her older sister Vera Farmiga had been making a name for herself in the industry for years at this point. As for Evan Peters, he was already working in the industry but to say that American Horror Story was his breakthrough would be an understatement. It would be hard to imagine the heights he's now reaching in his career without his early roles in American Horror Story. Although they weren't credited as main cast members, Murder House also saw the introduction of some of the series' most beloved cast members. Sarah Paulson as Billy Dean Howard, Francis Conroy as Myra O'Hara, Lily Rabe as Nora Montgomery, Jamie Brewer as Adelaide, Zachary Quinto as Chad, and even Adina Porter in a small role as one of Ben Harman's patients. So here's our debut ensemble for the first go round of American Horror Story. Out of these six main actors, four of them would go on to have memorable roles and define the golden era. But before we dive into how the show's casting evolved from this stellar ensemble, let's see who was present in the writer's room during American Horror Story's inaugural installment. The first two episodes of Murder House were spearheaded by both of the show's creators, Ryan Murphy and Brad Fauciuk. This would eventually become a tradition with Ryan and Brad having written every single premiere episode of the series with the exception of the next season, Asylum. In total, Ryan and Brad wrote three episodes each during this season. Rounding out the writer's room is Jennifer Salt who helmed two episodes this season, James Wong who's also credited for two episodes, Tim Minier who also wrote two of this season's episodes, and finally Jessica Scharzer is the final writer credited for writing on Murder House with two episodes including the season finale. Every single one of these writers has an interesting relationship with American Horror Story and Ryan Murphy as a whole. James Wong was credited as co-executive producer for both Murder House and Asylum before being promoted to executive producer for seasons three through season nine but AHS was far from his first gig. His big break came when he served as a writer and executive producer on The X-Files but you may also know him as the writer and director of both Final Destination and Final Destination Three. Tim Minier would also later become executive producer on American Horror Story from seasons two through nine. Tim also had a history writing on The X-Files but his big break came as a writer and producer on Angel, a spin-off to Buffy, The Vampire Slayer. Since coming aboard American Horror Story, Tim Minier seems to have become one of Ryan Murphy's right-hand people as he not only served as executive producer on Feud and Ratched but he's currently show running both 9-1-1 and it's Lone Star spin-off. Jennifer Salt is another one whose career did not begin with American Horror Story. In fact, her career wasn't in writing at all. Jennifer Salt had an impressive career in film and television in front of the camera, most notably playing Eunice in the ABC sitcom Soap which ran for four seasons. In the 90s, she shifted her career away from acting and pursued producing and television writing, working on a handful of shows before being introduced to Ryan Murphy as a writer and later executive producer on Nip Tuck. She'd also serve as executive producer on American Horror Story for six seasons and she was an executive producer and writer for Ratched. Before American Horror Story, Jessica Scharzer made a name for herself for directing an episode of The L Word but since writing for Murder House, she's served as a co-executive producer and writer for four seasons of American Horror Story and wrote two films Nerve with Emma Roberts and A Simple Favor. And she also wrote and co-executive produced Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu. On Rotten Tomatoes, Murder House proved to be a hit out of the gate and is certified fresh with a 72% from critics and an 84% from audiences. On IMDb, fans gave this season's episodes an average of 8.2 stars out of 10. The critics' consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads, Convoluted yet effective, American Horror Story is strange, gory and twisted enough to keep viewers hooked. Definitely an impressive premiere season deserving of awards recognition but we'll talk about the awards once the Golden Era is all wrapped up. But now it's time to talk all things season 2 as things are about to get a lot darker. Of the six main cast members of season 1, only two would carry on as main cast members in season 2's Asylum. Just Kalang returned as Sister Jude and Evan Peters came back as Kit Walker. Sarah Paulson, Lily Raib and Zachary Quinto were upgraded this year into the main ensemble and they were joined by acclaimed and established actors Joseph Fiennes and James Cromwell. And Lizzie Brochere, sorry if I'm pronouncing that wrong but she's a French actress who had just recently began to break through in the US after years of working in France. You can see the formula evolving a bit now with Asylum but Asylum's cast is mimicking that balance that Murder House had of Hollywood royalty, rising stars and relative newcomers only now it's got the added element of upgrading cast members who were guest stars in a previous season, most notably Sarah Paulson who as you know would stay built as a main cast member for the next seven consecutive seasons. Taking a peek behind the curtain at the writer's room for American Horror Story Asylum you may be surprised to learn that between seasons 1 and 2 American Horror Story's writers did not have any changes. This is the only season where the writer's room is identical to the one that came before it. However, throughout the Golden Age the writer's room remains fairly consistent especially when compared to some of the major shake-ups that happened later on in the Silver and Bronze Ages. The formula worked again as American Horror Story Asylum was another big hit for FX among fans and critics alike. On Rotten Tomatoes, Asylum built upon Murder House's already impressive run with a certified fresh score of 84% from critics and 89% from audiences. On IMDb, Asylum is the highest rated season of the series with an average of 8.5 stars out of 10 for each of the season's episodes. The critics' consensus reads American Horror Story Asylum crosses boundaries to shock and scare with sexy subplots and some innovative takes on current social issues. Let's see if the formula works a third time around as one year later FX would air the third season of American Horror Story entitled Coven. Moving from the cruel conditions at the Briarcliff Manor to the mystical mysteries of Ms. Robachow's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies, Season 3's Coven has what I believe is the series' most star-studded all-star cast. Let's just take it one by one. Jessica Lange, Lily Rave, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters all return for their third season. Taissa Farmiga and Dennis O'Hare return after not taking part in Asylum. Frances Conroy is finally included in the main ensemble after spending two seasons as a special guest star who, by the way, fits the description of Hollywood Royalty as well with her own string of impressive accolades. And then we have American Horror Story newcomers Kathy Bates and Emma Roberts in the roles of Hollywood Royalty and Rising Star, respectively. Kathy Bates was already a highly decorated and respected figure in Hollywood, having won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Annie Wilkes in Misery, along with Golden Globes, Emmys, Sag Awards, you name it. At this point in Emma Roberts' career, she was making a name for herself in a handful of mature roles after spending her childhood on Nickelodeon. I think Coven went hand-in-hand with her then-recent role in Scream 4 for redefining her career. As since then, she has consistently worked with Ryan Murphy and she has consistently acted in a string of horror projects over the last decade. In my head, the next person is a main cast member this season, but in reality, they are billed as a recurring cast member. But Angela Bassett makes her American Horror Story debut this season as well, marking another heavy hitter inducted into the American Horror Story universe. This year in real life, she's just recently won her second Golden Globe Award, but she had already won her first all the way back in 1993 for What's Love Got to Do With It. Gabby Sidibe, who is also questionably not billed with the main ensemble, was a star quickly on the rise at the time of her being casted as Queenie. She broke into acting with the 2009 film Precious, which earned her an array of nominations, including Academy Awards and Golden Globes. Patty Lupone and Stevie Nicks also made memorable guest appearances, both iconic and highly awarded in their respective fields as well. Leslie Jordan also made his first appearance in Coven, marking his first of many memorable roles in the series. There isn't one cast member in Coven that sticks out as a newcomer to Hollywood, which is partly why I view this season as so elevated when it comes to its talent. That's not to say that newcomers aren't talented, and there are many instances of newcomers being standouts in a season. But this cast for the most part are extremely practiced and professional in their craft, and they substantially elevate these characters and the world of Coven to great heights. It seems like they grabbed the most powerful actors from Murderhouse and Asylum, and then threw in new legendary actors that they were hiding away in a secret vault. I could fall on over this season's cast for 20 minutes if you let me, but I think you get the picture, so let's now see how the writer's room evolved in this transition from Asylum to Coven. Now, just like last season, none of the writers that took part in Murderhouse and Asylum departed for Coven, however this time we did get one new writer in Douglas Petrie. He wrote two episodes this season, and then he kind of dipped from the franchise as a whole. He's definitely an anomaly of these early seasons, but his contributions to Coven were great. Nonetheless, he wrote the Axeman Comet and the finale entitled The Seven Wonders. Again, this consistent writer's room, combined with another upgrade in casting, proved to be frutuitous for FX and American Horror Story. On Rotten Tomatoes, Coven just barely inches out Asylum's critic score with a certified fresh score of 85%, however the audience score for Coven dropped a bit this season to 75%. The critic's consensus reads, a noteworthy ensemble cast combined with a creepy storytelling and campy outrageous thrills make American Horror Story Coven a potently structured frightfest. On IMTB, users gave Coven's episodes an average of 8.07 stars out of 10. Clearly everything American Horror Story was doing seemed to be working, and one year later another installment would premiere on television sets across the globe, American Horror Story Freak Show. Jessica, Sarah, Evan, Francis, Dennis, Emma, and Kathy all returned as a part of the main ensemble, and Angela Bassett was upgraded into a main cast member as well this season. That's a total of eight of the strongest cast members carrying over from one season to the next, and that's something that you just don't see happening with recent seasons. Freak Show only inducted two newcomers into the pool of American Horror Story main cast members, that being Michael Chiklis and Finn Witrock. Michael Chiklis had a notable and Emmy-winning television career at the time, and Finn Witrock's career was just starting to gain traction after years of working in film and on stage. His star was definitely on the rise when Ryan Murphy scooped him up in roles in both The Normal Heart and Freak Show in the same year. Given where he's at now, it seems like another instance of the series giving a significant boost to a rising star. Not only does Freak Show mark the end of the Golden Age, but fans were gobsmacked when it was announced that the season would be Jessica Lange's final. At the time, Lange had this to say. When I originally agreed to do this, it was for one season, so I've never done this kind of television before. Then I had such a great time doing it the first year, when they approached me to do it again, I thought, well okay, maybe we can do it season to season. Instead, I agreed to do three more seasons. I have no regrets or second thoughts about that decision, but there's always an end to everything. In the Golden Age, American Horror Story made a name for itself with Jessica Lange attached as a package deal. As she described it, instead of taking it season to season, Jessica instead agreed to do seasons two through four in one decision in what was probably a legally binding contract. But needless to say, at the time, fans were incredibly divided. This is still a point that is frequently brought up in the fandom. A lot of people believe that the quality of American Horror Story left when Jessica did. For some, this was the death of American Horror Story as they knew it. But before we discuss how Hotel, the first season of the Silver Age, reinvented the series with their biggest piece of stunt casting yet, let's discuss some big changes in the writer's room that occurred during Freak Show. Capping off the Golden Age once again, our main six writers all returned. While Newbie Douglas Petrie came and went like a gust in the wind, Jennifer Salt, James Wong, Tim Minier, Jessica Sharcer, alongside the series' creators Ryan and Brad, stuck around for the fourth iteration. This time though, they got some help from some writers that would actually continue to have a history with American Horror Story. John Jay Gray and Crystal Liu were both new writers on Freak Show, with John Jay Gray writing Bullseye and the season finale Curtain Call, and Crystal Liu writing the episode Test of Strength. John Jay Gray has had a really interesting journey with both American Horror Story and Ryan Murphy in general. He started his career as an assistant to Tim Minier on Angel, he then started on American Horror Story as a staff writer on Coven, he then gets his first episode credit during Freak Show, in Roanoke he's upgraded to supervising producer, he then serves as co-executive producer on Colt and Apocalypse before being promoted to executive producer from 1984 to NYC. While he was climbing the ranks within American Horror Story, he was also serving as supervising producer on Feud, writer and executive producer on Ryan Murphy's procedural 9-1-1 and its spin-off 9-1-1 Lone Star, as well as the American Horror Story spin-off entitled American Horror Stories. I hope this man gets a nice vacation one of these days. Crystal Liu's writing relationship with American Horror Story spans from Freak Show to 1984 and as recently as last year she wrote an episode of American Horror Stories entitled Necro. Depending on who you ask, Freak Show may be considered on the same level as the seasons that came before it, but for others like myself, it's one of the hardest to get through. Freak Show did find its fair share of a claim closing out the Golden Era, but that didn't come without some criticism. Freak Show sits certified fresh with a 77% from critics and a 68% from fans on Rotten Tomatoes. While it fared better with critics than Murder House, with fans it's clear that Freak Show was the first truly divisive season of American Horror Story. Nowadays, the divisiveness is expected, but with their first three seasons having an audience score in the 70s and 80s, this 68% sticks out like a sore thumb. The divisiveness is softened by Freak Show's average INDB score of 8.05, which is another reflection of the fans' general reception of the season, which to me means that, while the season as a whole may have left the fans wanting more, from episode to episode Freak Show provided a consistently solid season for most of the fans. The critics' consensus reads, though it may turn off viewers unaccustomed to its unabashed weirdness, Freak Show still brings the thrills thanks to its reliably stylish presentation and game cast. With that, we are about to close the door on the Golden Age and enter a brand new era. We are now entering the Silver Era of American Horror Story. The Silver Era dealt with the absence of Jessica Lange and would eventually begin to experiment more with the show's format in hopes of rebounding from television audiences quickly cutting the cord in favor of rising streaming services. But let's place ourselves back in 2015, Freak Show has wrapped up and despite record breaking ratings, there was a general error in the fanbase that the fourth iteration was weaker than the first three seasons. That slight taste of disappointment within the fandom, combined with a key ingredient to the show's DNA departing in Jessica Lange, AHS was in a unique position where it now had to reinvent itself and potentially push the boundaries of its anthological format even further. For Season 5 themed around the terrifying Hotel Cortez, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk managed to secure a new type of star to fill the hole in the cast. Joining the main ensemble of American Horror Story Hotel would be none other than Lady Gaga herself. For a lot of fans, this was dream casting. At this point, Gaga had spent eight years being one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, scoring numerous number ones and six Grammys already. At that point, in my opinion, her character dominates the season in a cast that is almost as stacked as Coven's ensemble. It was truly the first time in Lady Gaga's career that she was given material that she could really showcase her skills in. Gaga has a similar presence on screen to that of icons like Jessica Lange and Angela Bassett, where you just know you're watching a skilled performer exceeding at their craft. And especially in hindsight, it's clear that Lady Gaga was meant to be an actress. To me, this was the best decision the show could have made at the time to deal with the departure of such a talent in Jessica Lange. Lady Gaga would end up winning her first Golden Globe for this role. And for some fans at the time, Lady Gaga's casting restored their faith in a Jessica Lange-less American Horror Story. I think Hotel is a point where the casting starts to break the mold that the previous season set forth. While Hotel does have its share of new talent rising stars alongside Hollywood royalty, Lady Gaga at this point in her career does not neatly fit into either of those boxes. So for this season, I'm introducing another classification and that is that of stunt casting. I'll qualify something as stunt casting if the casting of this person alone results in an increase of publicity for the show, either because that person has a large fan base or because this person has made a name for themselves in a different industry than acting. Adam Levine's guest role in Asylum would be the only other previous example that I would classify as stunt casting, but since he was never part of the main ensemble, that's why I glossed over it. But since then, every now and again, American Horror Story has dropped some stunt casting bombshells on the fan base, and we will discuss that when we get to it. But Gaga, while she had begun to dabble in acting, she reached the astronomical level in her career that she was in at the time solely due to her music, and it would be with American Horror Story and after American Horror Story that her acting career would truly begin to flourish, where nowadays I definitely classify her as Hollywood royalty. Besides Gaga, Hotel marked the return of Horror Story legend Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, and Dennis O'Hare. Wes Bentley, who appeared in a guest role as Edward Mordrick in Freak Show, is upgraded into a main cast member as John Low. Matt Bomer similarly is boosted into the main ensemble after guest starring in Freak Show. He also had an established career before getting cast on American Horror Story. Chloe Savignet, who had a recurring role in Asylum, gets the main cast member promotion as well. She too is an established star having an illustrious career, including an Academy Award nomination in the early 2000s for the film Boys Don't Cry. Aside from Lady Gaga, the only completely new cast member this year is Cheyenne Jackson. In the writers room, we lost one of our original six writers for the first time as Jessica Scharcer departed the series after Freak Show. This would have been when she likely sold her screenplay for Nerve with Emma Roberts, and maybe even when things started to happen for her film A Simple Favor. So it seems like she probably just got too busy for her work on American Horror Story. John Jay Gray and Crystal Liu, the latest additions to the Golden Age's writers room, continued to write episodes for Hotel as well. And to make up for losing one writer, Ned Martell was brought on board. He seems to have gotten his start working with Ryan Murphy as an executive story editor on Glee. They then worked together on The Normal Heart, and they'd continued to work together on The People vs. OJ Simpson and Three Seasons of Horror Story. While to me the quality of hotel is an improvement from that of Freak Show, a lot of people have criticized its more experimental storytelling and slower pacing. This less traditional style of storytelling would continue to be something that American Horror Story would try out in a handful of seasons down the line, but the risk of changing things up is that not every fan is going to be on board. The pacing issues and a predictable mystery that drives much of the narrative, combined with an underwhelming finale, gave the fanbase a lot to complain about this season. If Freak Show was the first hint of divisiveness amongst the Horror Story fandom after a season, then Hotel came in like a wrecking ball. If you put a lot of stake in a television show's Rotten Tomatoes scores, which you shouldn't, then American Horror Story Hotel was truly the first season that had both fans and critics split. The series, for the first time, would not achieve the fresh certification and currently sits with a 64% from critics and a barely fresh 60% from audiences. IMDb, like usual, does help slightly, but not as much as it helped with Freak Show, as Hotel's episodes averaged 7.87 stars out of 10. The critics' consensus reads, favoring Garrosh's style over effective storytelling, the fifth American Horror Story strands a talented cast at Ryan Murphy's Hotel. It's time to move on to the next installment in The Silver Age with American Horror Story Roanoke. Between Hotel and Roanoke, seven cast members carried over. They were Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Dennis O'Hare, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Wes Bentley, and Shy Ann Jackson. Lady Gaga, though, would also return in a recurring guest star capacity. Lily Rae would also return as a main cast member in Roanoke, her first role since taking the previous two seasons off. There were two newcomers this season, one of which was Andre Holland, who I'm classifying as a rising star, especially since his casting on this season was timed so well with his breakthrough role in the 2016 Best Picture Winner, Moonlight. Roanoke aired from September to November of 2016, and Moonlight premiered in the US in October. The next newcomer to the scene is someone who could easily be classified as an established actor, but I think it's best that I introduce a new label for him that will come in handy, especially in future seasons. The actor is Cuba Gooding, Jr., and I am classifying him as Plucked from the Murphyverse. For this category, I'm looking for actors who had just recently come off another Ryan Murphy project and seemed to just hop directly onto American Horror Story once that project had wrapped. Cuba Gooding, Jr., of course, had just starred in the premiere season of American Crime Story as O.J. Simpson. Since the two projects were so close together in release and production, it also starts a trend that we will see time to time again of a Ryan Murphy project ending, and one or two of those actors immediately getting cast in the next season of American Horror Story. For the most part, from what I recall, fans were excited about this cast. Since the marketing for this season was so tight-lipped, unless you were following leaks very closely, a lot of this was a surprise to audiences, especially with Lady Gaga's guest appearances throughout the season, and with Gaga carrying over from hotel into Roanoke, albeit in a much more minimized capacity, it did help to continue the illusion of most of the cast carrying over between two seasons with a couple exciting new additions. With Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, Lily Rape, Dennis O'Hare, and then guest appearances by Frances Conroy and Lady Gaga, Roanoke is definitely up there, with Coven, Freak Show, and Hotel to me as one of the most stacked cast the show has ever had, even though it may not be the first that comes to mind when you think of great American Horror Story ensembles. But it wasn't all happiness and rainbows in the fandom as the negativity within the fandom was definitely building, especially after many fans felt that Roanoke's finale episode was weak and relied on similar tropes that were established in hotels, similarly criticized finale. I mean, both finales did feature Sarah Paulson playing an older version of one of her previous characters, and they both leave the ending relatively open-ended. So it's hard not to draw comparisons, but let's jump into the writer's room to see if any major changes occurred that may have contributed to what the fans felt was a continued decline in the show's quality at this point. Another season, another loss of the original six writers, after Hotel, Jennifer Salt would leave American Horror Story. It's unclear why, but she would later write on Ratchet and also contribute to Season 11 down the line. Everyone else from Hotel did carry over though, and we even get two new additions in Todd Kubrak and Akilah Cooper. Todd Kubrak started as a staff writer in Hotel, and he went on to work on several of Ryan Murphy's projects in either writing or producing roles, including Poe's American Horror Stories, Dahmer, and The Watcher. Akilah Cooper, you may recognize her name from recently writing two remarkable horror films, Malignant and Megan. With those credits, it's clear to see why Roanoke was the only season of American Horror Story that Akilah Cooper would contribute to, but it's nice to know that one of horror's leading screenwriters in the business today had a hand in this season. As I noted at the beginning of this video, Michael Goy, the cinematographer for seasons 1 through 5, departed American Horror Story before Roanoke. I definitely think this was a major shift for the show visually, as while the seasons, following Hotel, still have strong visuals and iconic imagery from time to time, it never quite looks the same as those first five seasons. This is also largely due to the switch away from filming the show on film cameras, as Roanoke is the first season of American Horror Story to be entirely shot digitally. But Roanoke is another season that experiments with the way that the audience is being told the story. Not only was the audience supposed to go into the season completely blind after an intentionally mysterious and misleading marketing campaign, but the season also switches formats halfway through the season. Starting off as a history channel-esque mockumentary about a couple severe haunting in their farmhouse located near the spirits of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, pretty much every character was essentially played by two actors. It was definitely a lot to wrap your head around at first, but it all makes sense when that halfway point comes and those two sets of actors would be forced to return to Roanoke in what would end up as a found footage film of a reality show gone fatally wrong. You either love that they did this or you hate it, but personally I can't imagine the season any other way. Sure it's goofy at times and it's not the most riveting of the seasons. The concept has been done before, but it's got a ton of fun moments and some of the series' scariest and darkest moments as well. When it comes to acclaim, Roanoke did manage to secure a certified fresh rating of 74% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the audience score slipped into Rotten Territory for the first time with a 57%. Like usual, the folks at IMDb are much less harsh, giving Roanoke's episodes an average of 7.7 stars out of 10, just barely below the average that Hotel got the year before. So yes, from the Rotten Tomatoes point of view, these past two seasons are where the show starts to lose some of its prestige, that it had garnered with its first few seasons, and with fans it's clear that from Freak Show to Roanoke, the seasons are becoming more divisive as they go. The critics' consensus for the format-bending Roanoke reads, American horror story Roanoke takes a surprising turn away from the prior AHS formats, revisiting the deliberate pace of earlier seasons on a spookier, smaller scale, even if the true crime format feels overdone. One year later, American Horror Story came back swinging with American Horror Story Cold. After Roanoke, Gaga left the show without a trace, pursuing other alleys than Allie Mayfair Richards. This is the season that I feel that we truly begin to feel the absence of Jessica Lange, and that's simply because there's so much less Hollywood royalty as part of the season's ensemble. Between Roanoke and Colt, American Horror Story lost both Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett, and fan favorites Dennis O'Hare and Lily Raebe also sat this one out. Roanoke would be the last season that the casting somewhat resembles that balance that we had in the first few seasons. With that being said, Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters stuck around to carry this season, and they were joined by Cheyenne Jackson, and plucked straight from the recently cancelled Scream Queens, Billy Lord is in the mix for her first season of American Horror Story as well. Alison Pill, who had an established career in several television shows and films, rounds out this season's cast in the smallest main ensemble of any American Horror Story season. Colt made up for this though with some pretty great recurring stars and guest stars, including Adina Porter, Leslie Grossman, Billy Eichner, Francis Conroy, Emma Roberts, and Mayor Winningham. But it goes without saying that this main ensemble was pretty underwhelming for fans, and the disappointment was real, especially considering the season's already controversial theme. Let's dissect that a little while we step into the writer's room. Between Roanoke and Colt, Akilah Cooper and Ned Martell would both step away from writing duties, while the remainder of the Roanoke writers did stay on board. Joshua Green and Adam Penn were added to make up for the lost writers though. Joshua Green had been working adjacently with Ryan Murphy since Glee and the New Normal. Adam Penn would stay on American Horror Story as a producer for three seasons, and he also served as a producer for 9-1-1's first season. Adam Penn's got the most credits though for being a pretty prolific editor. He's been credited as an editor on Nip Tuck, Scream Queens, American Horror Story, American Crime Story, Feud, and Pose. Like I mentioned before, fans were wary of a season tackling the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, especially since the season aired less than a year after it had actually occurred. The result is a very reactionary piece of American Horror Story, which is framed by the election but quickly loses focus in favor of an examination of Colt's and Hive mentality with its historical context and tons of hindsight. Colt is at times goofy, at times shockingly realistic and a bit prophetic, but all in all, it's a super unique piece of the franchise that earned its fair share of acclaim and criticism alike. American Horror Story, Colt earned a consistent 72% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, however it was the second season at the time to not achieve a certified fresh status. On the audience side of things, American Horror Story, Colt became the lowest audience rated season of the series with a Rotten score of 52%, even lower than Roanoke's 57%. On IMDb, it would also earn the lowest episodic ratings with an average of 7.3, which again softens that harsh 52% on Rotten Tomatoes. American Horror Story was no stranger to political messages and incorporating historical elements into their plot lines, but never had they ever based an entire season on a current event as recent as the 2016 election was. No matter who you voted for, the scenes in the season that revolve around the election are very polarizing. That being said, the season is strongest when it's not focused on that election and is instead focused on Kai Anderson, their metaphor for the newly elected president, mixed with Charles Manson. I think the season would have been stronger had it not been set during that election and maybe let the metaphor speak for themselves, however I still think that Colt is one of the series most tense, scary, and thrilling seasons warts and all. But there's not a doubt in my mind that a large reason for this season's criticism was the election tie-in, but it's also the first season without Jessica's replacement Lady Gaga, and to top that off, Angela Bassett also departed from the last season. There were a lot of things going against Colt from the get-go, and the material wasn't strong enough to rise above the noise for everybody. With the seasons becoming more and more polarizing as they go on, would Colt be the final nail in the coffin for the once-beloved American Horror Story? If there's one thing we know about Ryan Murphy, it's that he's not going down without a fight, and boy did he come out swinging when he announced that season 8 of American Horror Story would break the anthological mold and would consist of a crossover of the worlds and characters of season 1's murder house with season 3's coven in what would soon be announced to be American Horror Story Apocalypse. So would Apocalypse harken back to those seasons it's based on in Russian a new renaissance of American Horror Story, or will this attempt at pleasing the fans backfire and result in the true death of American Horror Story? Tune into my next video to find out as I continue my journey through the ages and eras of American Horror Story as we transition from the Silver Age into what we are calling the Bronze Age. I'll see you next time.