Ryan Murphy may be a titan of television, but the producer-director-writer has had a string of recent misfires that is too long to ignore. The prolific Murphy has created TV shows of almost every genre, ranging from horror (American Horror Story) to true crime (American Crime Story) to procedural (9-1-1), and more.

Murphy’s first foray into the legal drama, however, landed with a resounding thud, as Hulu’s All’s Fair premiered to a shocking 0% on Rotten Tomatoes this November. While critics blamed lead actress Kim Kardashian’s wooden acting and an awkward tone, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that All’s Fair follows a worrisome trend when it comes to Murphy’s latest offerings.

Ryan Murphy’s Recent Shows Keep Failing Because They Prioritize Meanness Over Camp

When it comes to television, Ryan Murphy is the king of camp. With outrageous characters getting themselves into even more outrageous situations — all the while dressed fabulously — Murphy’s shows are a decadent, rich dessert in the TV landscape. But instead of saccharine sweetness, always expect a healthy dose of acidity in his small-screen offerings.

Murphy loves himself a mean girl, and right from his first series, the incredibly underrated teen drama Popular, he gave us a vicious ice queen in the ruthless social-climbing cheerleader, Nicole Julian (Tammy Lynn Michaels). From there, he’s given us myriad takes on this trope, from Emma Roberts’s petulant sorority president Chanel Oberlin in Scream Queens to snarky cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch) in Glee.

However, whereas the meanness in these shows complemented Murphy’s signature camp, it has run amok in his most recent series, and this could be a big reason why Murphy projects like All’s Fair, Monster, and Feud have either been failures from a critical or viewership standpoint.

All’s Fair revolves around divorce lawyers, so verbal mudslinging is expected. Sarah Paulson’s scorned character, Carrington Lane, is always ready to deploy a vicious barb, and as a result, she’s the best thing about the series. But she’s playing into the camp, whereas the show has dark, upsetting, and downright nasty subject matter that clashes with the frothy vibe it appears to be going for.

The show has a revolving door of female celebrities playing vengeful soon-to-be-ex wives, from Judith Light to Jennifer Jason Leigh. While some of these storylines are indeed fun, episode 2’s case involving Dee Barber (Elizabeth Berkley) sees her shockingly take her own life after her lawyers deliver her bad news.

Most recently, episode 4, “Everybody Dance Now,” centers on the sexual assault of a main character. There are some powerful scenes, but it’s a little hard to revel in the soapy storylines of divorcees when serious subject matter like suicide and rape are callously thrown in there.

Then there’s Murphy’s incredibly controversial Monster, a Netflix anthology series that examines “monstrous figures,” specifically serial killers. In particular, the most recent season, Monster: The Ed Gein Story, found itself under fire for what many believed to be a lurid and exploitative portrayal of violence.

Now, Murphy was not involved in The Ed Gein Story — co-creator Ian Brennan took over sole showrunning duties — but the backlash didn’t start with Monster season 3. Murphy found himself in hot water with real-life figures attached to the Monster stories, including family members of Jeffrey Dahmer’s victims and the Menendez family, for exploitation of tragedy for entertainment and salacious creative liberties.

Despite the backlash, All’s Fair has been breaking streaming records while Monster: The Ed Gein Story also performed very well, but Feud: Capote vs. The Swans came and went without much fanfare in season 2. Not even its starry cast, from The White Lotus‘s Tom Hollander to Oscar nominee Naomi Watts, could help it make a splash.

Like All’s Fair and Monster, Feud season 2 also dipped too deeply into the meanness well that it essentially fell in. Whereas Feud season 1, which examined the rivalry between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, was a skewering (yet still campy and fun) examination of how Hollywood treats aging actresses, Capote vs. The Swans portrayed the titular author and his former New York socialite friends as vapid backstabbers with nothing to their characters beneath their polished exteriors.

Murphy Is Wasting His Talented Female Collaborators

If Ryan Murphy is known for one thing besides camp, it’s his ability to attract talented actresses to his projects. Veteran A-list stars, including Naomi Watts, Glenn Close, and Jessica Lange, have starred in his shows, and he has helped turn actresses like Emma Roberts and his frequent American Horror Story collaborator, Sarah Paulson, into household names.

This is because he’s, by and large, given his female stars deep — and deeply flawed — characters to play. Paulson deservedly won an Emmy for her layered portrayal of lawyer Marcia Clark in The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, which showed the brutal sexism Clark had to face just to do her job.

Meanwhile, Lange wasn’t afraid to be unlikable in her depiction of the mercurial Joan Crawford in Feud, but she also showed the vulnerable woman beneath the aging actress’s prickly exterior. Both Lange’s performance and that of her co-star, Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis, deserved more attention, though they were praised.

Murphy’s recent shows certainly aren’t hurting for top-notch female talent, as All’s Fair alone stars Watts, Close, and Paulson. However, their characters and storylines feel dated and stale. The show has a recurring motif of having the lawyers sit around and discuss “women’s issues,” from dating on the apps to plastic surgery.

With cliché-ridden dialogue that includes phrases like “kissing frogs,” the characters ultimately fall flat, and their generic nature makes these roles undeserving of the actresses who play them. A big draw for many viewers was the casting of Glenn Close, but her first collaboration with Murphy is a waste of her talent.

Her character, Dina Standish, serves as both a mentor to the other lawyers and Allura Grant’s (Kim Kardashian) divorce lawyer. She does have some strong scenes opposite Ed O’Neill, who plays her ailing husband, Doug. But for every raw moment about grappling with sickness in a marriage, Close has just as much wooden dialogue about how her younger lawyer friends keep her young.

All’s Fair appears to be giving Close’s Dina more of a meaty storyline, as she has a sketchy past that is tied to the assault of her friend, but this suffers because of how problematic it is. Meanwhile, as delightful as Paulson is in the legal drama, Carrington Lane isn’t good for much more than some withering insults, which is a disappointment because Murphy has proven what the actress can do.

Despite his misfires, Murphy has proven that he’s a talented creative force, and the fact that he still has a treasure trove of superb actresses wanting to work with him bodes well. He just needs to give them material they can really sink their teeth into.

There’s Hope For Murphy Fans Yet

It looks like my hopes for better Ryan Murphy content could come to fruition very soon, as the upcoming American Horror Story season 13 will see the return of the witches from Coven, one of AHS‘s best seasons, which features juicy, stellar performances from the likes of Emma Roberts, Jessica Lange, Gabourey Sidibe, Billie Lourd, Kathy Bates, and more.

These women and their Coven characters will be a breath of renewed fresh air, as they’re exactly the sort of nuanced yet fun female roles Murphy’s shows have been sorely lacking as of late. Furthermore, Ariana Grande will be joining the cast, which will be a reunion of sorts for her, Roberts, and Lourd, who all starred together in the deliciously silly Scream Queens.

2026 will see the premiere of a new series under Murphy’s American Story umbrella, Love Story, an anthology about iconic American romances. Season 1 will center on the relationship between John F. Kennedy Jr. (Paul Kelly) and Sarah Pidgeon (Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy). Naomi Watts, who’s becoming quite the regular Murphy player, will play Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

American Love Story is already getting backlash from the Kennedy family, so there’s every chance it will repeat the same mistakes as Monster. But it could very well go the way of Feud season 1, and portray its real-life subjects with heart, vulnerability, and grace. I know Ryan Murphy has it in him.

Release Date

November 4, 2025

Network

Hulu