Ed Martin Live at TCA: FX's "American Horror Story" Captures Critics' Attention; Another Great Day for Cable at TCA

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In my dispatch Monday from the Summer 2011 Television Critics Association tour I took issue with the fact that so many more critics and reporters cover the broadcast portion of the tour than the cable portion, even though cable series tend to last longer and appeal to more people in the long run than most of the new shows the networks introduce every fall. There's also the simple fact that many cable shows tend to be more interesting than most broadcast series.

As if to prove my point about cable's burgeoning success, the second day of what was once known as the broadcast portion of the tour was actually devoted to cable presentations. In order to have room for presentations about all of NBC's new fall series and several from its cable network group, NBC Universal requested two days on the tour, showcasing all of NBC's new fall series on Monday and presentations by USA Network, MSNBC, Oxygen, Bravo and Telemundo on Tuesday. For some reason NBC's cable networks didn't schedule anything after 2 p.m. yesterday, so FX swooped in and put together a special screening over on the Fox lot of its wildly anticipated new series American Horror Story, followed by drinks and dinner on a nearby lawn, which proved a much needed opportunity for the critics to recover after watching a pilot unlike any they had ever seen before.

American Horror Story

You'll read all kinds of things about American Horror Story during the next few days, as critics continue to process what they saw last night, and again after Saturday, when FX presents a session about the show with series creators Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk and their cast – Dylan McDermott (in a role that requires him to be naked emotionally and physically), Jessica Lange (who steals every scene she's in) and Connie Britton, who is every bit as luminous in AHS as she was in Friday Night Lights.

NBC presented its new shows yesterday, CBS will do the same today, The CW will do so on Thursday, followed by Fox on Friday and ABC on Sunday. I think it's safe to say that nothing critics have seen or will see from any of them will get them talking as much as AHS did last night. Some didn't care for it at all, others thought it was huge fun, and most are still processing the experience. (I'm with them.) Few could stop thinking about it even after expressing their initial reactions. AHS is the story of a family recovering from a major tragedy and an even bigger betrayal that moves into a house that turns out to be haunted by something unspeakably evil, although that seems far too slight a description because there is so much going on, much of it unexplained to characters or viewers. (Think Don't Look Now at its most disturbing or The Shining at its most unhinged.) I'm not willing to predict success for this thing, but I do think that, for a while at least, it's going to stir up more excitement than any other new show coming this fall on broadcast or cable, or any new movie for that matter.

As for the other cable offerings yesterday, USA Network started the day with its now traditional informal breakfast, at which critics casually mingle with stars from a handful of its shows. The stars this time were from Necessary Roughness, Suits and Psych. After only three tours the USA breakfast has become a highlight of the TCA experience for many of us. (Another recently minted and well-received TCA tradition, a cocktail party with personalities and executives from E!, Style and G4, was unwisely scrapped this year, as talent from those networks, along with Bravo, USA Network, Syfy, MSNBC, Telemundo, mun2 and Oxygen were folded into NBC's big party, with interesting if somewhat scattered results.)

The USA breakfast was followed by a lively session with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell and Chris Matthews. A session for Oxygen's The Glee Project came next, featuring the top six finalists from what has become one of the most entertaining, rewarding and heartfelt new series of the summer. Then it was up to the Stardust Room and terrace high atop the Beverly Hilton for a Bravo lunch with cast members from its newest observational reality show, Most Eligible Dallas. NBC Universal's day ended with a surprisingly well attended session featuring talk show superstar Cristina, who after 21 years on Univision will premiere a new series titled Pa'lante con Cristina (Moving Forward with Cristina) on Telemundo this fall.

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