American Horror Story: Asylum

The new season started last night, and I for one was impressed. The first episode was excellent, and the premise has a lot of potential.

However, what fuck with the scheduling? Due to a logjam at 10pm Weds I set my DVR to record the 11pm rebroadcast. I oh-so-cleverly set my recording to go until 11:02 because I like the “next week on” teasers and get annoyed when they’re cut off.

My tape starts with about 45 seconds of the end of the 10pm premiere, goes to commercial, shows the “coming this season trailer” and then finally gets to the start of the 11pm airing maybe 4 minutes late. My scant 2 minute cushion isn’t nearly enoughly to compensate, and it cuts off before the last 45 second on the front of my recording kick in. And the jump between the two makes no sense; I clearly missed something. Worse, there is no rebroadcast at all; not more AHS airings until the new episode next week.

What the fuck, FX? At this point I think I might just illegally download the show this season as a fuck you to such an asshole move. It’s fine if your show goes long; Breaking Bad and Justified go long too. But their padding is scheduled, and they rebroadcast during the week. You guys seriously suck.

My series recording was scheduled for 65 minutes, so it may be your local cable provider futzing up the schedule.

I loved it, although I hope Even Peters doesn’t do that awful accent all season.

I like it, in a guilty pleasure sort of way.

Jessica Lange is amazing. That is all.

I loved it. Especially prick boy Adam Levine (doing a great impression of himself) getting his arm ripped off..

I think it’s a nifty idea to use many of the same actors as last season in totally different roles.

I really enjoyed the first episode. Jessica Lange keeps impressing me, and I feel like I’ve discounted her acting career despite multiple awards and nominations.

Exorcism definitely not on the caliber of the Exorcist, but not bad. Obviously our young nun had inherited the demonization of Henry.

Not clear on characters’ names yet, but old, creepy doctor is truly twisted. Loved his supper scene with the “whore”. Then having her dress up as Sister, whoa! Was anyone surprised by the revelation? I have to admit that I was.

The caning was a tad gratuitous on the tushy department. Just saying.

What the heck happened to Chloe Sevigny? That diabtribe about masturbation was either poorly written or poorly acted. Maybe both. She’s so sexy, how did that go so wrong?

“My mother used to put me to be with mittens on.”

I laughed out loud.

Old creepy doctor was the farmer in “Babe”, I just realized. I don’t know if I like this season of AHS. I was terrified by Rubber Suit Man last year. This year, it’s turning into the Crazy Jessica Lange show and more gross than creepy.

Whoops, that was (I liked touching myself so much) “My mother put me to bed with mittens on.”

Disturbing but I just can’t look away. I will say that the first season was much easier to swallow.

Agreed. This season is completely different thnt the first so I like them both, but in completely different ways. I also agree with the comment that it’s turning into the Crazy Jessica Lange Show, but that is a-ok with me. This time around it’s all about the visuals and the oddness and the “how far will they take it” aspect.

On a side note, when they play the “Dominque” song (which is often) I always picture a scene from Everybody Loves Raymond where Ray is mocking Deborah’s visiting sister by singing that song with a towel on his head.

Ha! Me too! That’s the first thing I thought of! Ray with a shirt on his head!!

Last season wasn’t overly grounded in reality, but season 2 has taken a sharp turn into the fantastical. Aliens in episode 1 and demons in episode 2? Well, I’m still definitely a fan but maybe ease off the supernatural and extraterrestrial just a tad.

I can’t help thinking that “spanking boys” is the personal kink of the gay show-runner if only because they keep putting girls in “about to be spanked” situations and then not getting spanked, while the boys get prolonged spanking scenes.

I think we all know who the true serial killer is, don’t we?

I love the “Jessica Lange is Crazy Show,” no matter the premise. I don’t know if I buy her accent completely. Evan Peters’ is better.

I was coming in to post something similar. I remember watching the first episode of Season 1, with the two boys going down in the basement, and I was practically hiding behind my couch. So far this season (and I know its only two episodes in) I haven’t yet felt the urge to cover my eyes. Maybe it’s me – maybe haunted houses are just intrinsically scarier to me than serial killers, demonic possession, and sadistic doctors.

All that said, I am still enjoying the show – just in a different, and less heart-racing, way.

I was much more interested in the first season than I am in this year’s. I think the problem is that there was no slow, creeping dread this year. No period where we got to know some of the characters and come to care about them a bit. Instead, we were just thrown into the asylum and presented with disturbing things happening.

It could also be that the supernatural is a bit more over the top this season, as pointed out above, with demons and aliens on top of each other with no coherent thread between them.

Regardless of the reason, I don’t find myself caring about any of the characters this season. It makes the show feel a lot more voyeuristic, where I’m just watching bad things happen to people, one after the next. Not sure I’m going to stick around for the long haul this time.

Same here!

And I’m also still enjoying the show, anyway. I’m definitely willing to give the season more than a couple of episodes to find its groove…

I just watched episode 3, and though the show has some hilariously fun bits (Satan-Nun wanting to stay to watch the Christians getting eaten by lions and drunk Jessica Lange), it is getting way too OTT for my taste. Aliens, demons, zombies, Dr Mengele chopping bits off people, serial killer, batshit insane people, nuns who whip people with their pants down - I think that subtle is much scarier. If it keeps going in this vein, I won’t keep watching.

It’s a show from the Glee and Nip/Tuck people. I think “subtle” is pretty much off the table.