The Future Of Ryan Murphy Shows - Part 3

Last year, I did two blogs (months apart) on the future of Ryan Murphy shows and I thought I'd do another one. Buckle in.

9-1-1/9-1-1: Nashville will form a double bill for ABC on Thursdays during the 2025-2026 TV season. I expected this to be honest. ABC have made it clear that the former show won't end with it's upcoming ninth season while the latter not only has Chris O'Donnell and Jessica Capshaw as series regulars but joining them will include LeAnn Rimes and Kimberly Williams-Paisley.

Although it was announced ages ago as a series, it's only been in recent weeks that actual progress for FX's upcoming anthology series, American Love Story has been made. The casting so far includes Naomi Watts, Paul Kelly and Sarah Pidgeon as Jackie Kennedy, JFK Jr and Carolyn Bessette respectively. No release date has been given, so I'm assuming it'll likely be a 2026 release.

Given the biggest push during Disney's upfronts this week was upcoming Hulu legal drama, All's Fair. The series which has Kim Kardashian, Sarah Paulson, Naomi Watts, Niecy Nash-Betts, Teyana Taylor and Glenn Close certainly delivered a very camp trailer. It's uber glossy, focusing on a group of women lawyers working only to represent women while dealing with the men in the lives. It'll premiere during the Fall and it certainly looks like it could be a lot of fun. Sarah Paulson in particular seems to be playing a more antagonistic role.

Then there's the imminent arrival of FX's upcoming comic book series adaptation The Beauty. You've got the four main leads with Evan Peters, Anthony Ramos, Jeremy Pope and Ashton Kutcher. There's also Rebecca Hall, Vincent D'Onofrio, Isabella Rossellini, Ben Platt and Bella Hadid. It's getting comparisons to The Substance (which may or may not be a good thing) and while a trailer played at the upfronts, it has yet to be released. An airdate has yet to be confirmed.

Then there's everything else. Ryan Murphy has a lot of shows on his plate, has been spreading himself too thin for too long and it's starting to become noticeable that it's almost too much.

Plus side, Monster: The Original Monster with Charlie Hunnam as Ed Gein should release on Netflix later this year. However once that's released, it'll mark the end of Murphy's collaboration with the popular streamer.

As for everything else, both Doctor Odyssey (airing it's last episode tonight on ABC) and American Horror Story (FX) are down to Ryan Murphy in terms of getting future seasons, though it wouldn't surprise me if the former has been cancelled.

Then there's American Crime Story, American Sports Story, American Horror Stories, Feud, Grotesquerie and Mid-Century Modern. None of these shows as of now have been confirmed for further seasons. I'll admit that's a lot of shows to have up in the air in terms of future seasons. I can see some of them being quietly cancelled with others eventually brought back. 

Which Ryan Murphy shows should return and which should be cancelled? Which upcoming ones are you looking forward to?

My Review of Mid-Century Modern - Season 1 (2025, Hulu Series)

 

Written by David Kohan And Max Mutchnick And Suzanne Martin And Adam Barr And Dan Bucantinsky And Tracy Poust And Alex Herschlag

Directed by James Burrows

Bunny (to Jerry/Arthur): "You'll both move in here. We'll be together while we still can, like a family."

Imagine if someone pitched a show that was basically The Golden Girls meets Will & Grace. Then imagine some executive for reasons unknown then decided to commission that show. Something that might have worked in 1985. Something that might have worked in 1998. Is it it something that works for a 2025 audience?

Before I even saw a trailer, I had a somewhat bad feeling about this show. As a premise, it felt very dated and rather niche and much as I love Matt Bomer as an actor, having him in a friends group with Nathan Lane and Nathan Lee Graham seemed an odd choice at best. It's still an odd choice but here we are.

The first opened with the death of fourth friend, George. At his funeral, you've got business owner, Bunny Schneiderman (Lane), who still lived with his mother, Sybil (Linda Lavin) in a lavish house. Then there's the rather caustic, Arthur Broussard (Graham) and ditzy flight attendant, Jerry Frank (Bomer). By the end of the first, both Arthur and Jerry found themselves living with Bunny and Sybil.

Getting back to the comparison of a certain show, each of these characters easily fit into certain roles, though not perfectly. That in itself isn't a bad thing as the show does try to give each of the characters an identity beyond the one show it was compared to. Over the course of ten episodes, I had to admit that I did find myself warming a bit to this series.

These episodes had the difficult task of handling the real life passing of Linda Lavin and to it's credit, the penultimate episode was a nice send off for both Lavin herself and Sybil as a character. Sybil in general had some good moments with the boys along with Bunny's sister, Mindy (Pamela Adlon). The latter character potentially could fill in the Sybil role if this show receives a second season.

Getting back to the show itself, there's a slew of different guests a week, all of whom worked well with the main characters. The likes of Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Billie Lourd, Richard Kind, Zane Phillips and Rhea Pearlman get some nice moments. In particular, Kind's Carroll and Phillips's Mason had quite the impact on both Bunny and Jerry respectively as did Billie Lourd, who played Jerry's daughter.

As for the humour, don't let the occasional swear fool you. It's not a very risque show in that regard. A fair amount of the jokes managed to land but a fair chunk of them also failed to hit the mark. Matt Bomer in particular did falter a bit at first, compared to his co-stars but somewhat improved as the show went on. 

- The episodes are titled Bye George, Working Girls, Turbulence, Never Have I Ever, Hello Fisty's, Maid Serviced, Love Thy Neighbour, Sour Pickleball, Here's To You Mrs Schneiderman and The Show Must Go On.

- COVID factored into the fourth episode with the reveal that Jerry and Arthur once slept together.

- I did like the political plot of the seventh episode while the boys let a pretty but lazy houseboy (Adam Hagenbuch) play them off each other.

- Hulu released all ten episodes at once and although he's a producer, Ryan Murphy didn't write or direct a single episode for the show.

- Standout music: The main characters dancing to What A Man was rather funny, I'll admit. There's a bit of dancing in the show.

- Chronology: 2025 Palm Springs for the majority of the show though the fifth episode is set in Fire Island.

Some misgivings to one side, I think I liked Mid-Century Modern a bit more than I thought I would. It's far from perfect, a lot of the jokes don't land and Matt Bomer does feel odd within this group setting but there's potential there. Now whether it not it'll land for everyone else, I'm not so sure.

Rating: 6 out of 10 

The Future Of Ryan Murphy Shows

I've been wanting to do this particular blog for a while now and with the increased amount of shows that Ryan Murphy is involved in, here's a rundown of what to expect.

911: Season 8 of the long running firefighter show will return to ABC from September 26th and will be paired with another Ryan Murphy production, making Thursday nights a Murphy double bill. Expect more of Buck/Tommy and maybe Eddie, lol.

911: Lone Star: Season 5 of the hit show got delayed and pushed to the Fall on FOX. The date has yet to be officially confirmed but there are rumours that this might be the final season for the popular spin off series. Season 4 ended with TK and Carlos tying the knot.

All's Fair: Kim Kardashian clearly enjoyed working with Ryan Murphy and vice versa because now they're working on an all female led law firm drama for Hulu. The better part though would be Jon Robin Baitz executive producing this and the castings of Glenn Close and Halle Berry. Expect this to debut in 2025 with filming due to start shortly.

American Horror Stories: Last October, FX on Hulu premiered the first four episodes of the third season as part of their Huluween event. Expect the remaining five episodes in October with leprechauns, clones, things under the bed, werewolves and the backrooms being the order of the day.

American Horror Story: It's been three months since the second half of Delicate wrapped but there's been no word on Season 13 as of yet. My guess is that it's been pushed to 2025 and FX have yet to officially decide whether it'll be the final season or not. I'm sure we'll know in due course the fate of this long running series.

American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez: Ryan Murphy just loves his anthology shows and this is another one for FX. Airing with a double bill from September 17th, the show will delve into the rise and fall of disgraced NFL player Aaron Hernandez. Josh Andres Rivera will play Hernandez with the cast also including Patrick Schwarzenegger, Jake Cannavale, Lindsay Mendez and Tony Yazbeck to name a few.

Doctor Odyssey: If you wanted a show that looked like Grey's Anatomy met 911, then this series might be for you. The cast includes Joshua Jackson, Sean Teale, Philippa Soo, Don Johnson and Callum Swan. The premise being on a cruise liner does have a lot of potential and I don't doubt it'll put the naughty in nautical as well. Premieres September 26th on ABC.

Grotesquerie: Potentially filling the void for American Horror Story and even American Crime Story, this upcoming detective horror show rounded out its cast with Niecy Nash, Leslie Manville and Courtney B. Vance. It's also added both Travis Kelce and Nicholas Alexander Chavez to the cast. An airdate for FX has yet to be confirmed but expect it late 2024.

Mid-Century Modern: Of all the upcoming shows, this might be the one I'm the least excited for. It's also potentially not going to happen as only a pilot episode has been commissioned for Hulu so far. Basically, Matt Bomer, Nathan Lane and Linda Lavin are in a Golden Girls knock off, playing variations of Rose, Dorothy and Sophia. There's also a role for a hot pool boy that's yet to be cast. I'd be shocked if this gets picked up as a series. 

Monsters: The Lyle And Erik Menendez Story: The follow up from the successful Dahmer series has both Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez playing the Menendez brothers as well as Chloe Sevigny and Javier Bardem as their parents. The series will premiere on Netflix in late 2024.

I'll catch up with most of not all these shows over the next year. Some I'm looking forward to more than others.