FX is feeling encouraged by the early returns for its new drama “American Horror Story,” which appears to have snapped the network’s streak of disappointing new drama premieres.
“American Horror Story” drew 3.2 million total viewers, including 2.0 million in the key 18-49 demographic for its Wednesday (October 5) night 10 p.m. premiere. Two subsequent encore airings for “American Horror Story” brought the premiere night tally to 5 million total viewers and 3.2 million viewers in the core demo, per Fast National ratings.
“We’re really thrilled by the premiere ratings performance of ‘American Horror Story,'” states John Landgraf, President and General Manager, FX Networks. “We know that when the Live+7 ratings come in, that of the 13 drama series FX has premiered, ‘AHS’ will rank at least number two all-time in Adults 18-49 behind ‘The Shield,’ and there is a possibility that it could be our highest ever.”
Although new seasons of “Justified” and particularly “Sons of Anarchy” have delivered big ratings for FX, the network’s two most recent new dramas were the critically adored “Terriers” and “Lights Out,” which both had soft premieres and were cancelled after one season apiece.
Created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck and starring Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton, “American Horror Story” may not have delivered the reviews that greeted “Terriers” and “Lights Out,” but Landgraf sees cause for optimism there as well.
Landgraf states, “We”re equally thrilled by the response to last night”s episode on social media, which was unanimously positive and demonstrated that the audience loved the show as much as we do.”
[We’ll quibble with the word “unanimously,” but some readers seemed to like the show more than Sepinwall did.]