Hacker Cinema
American Horror Story
2011 · TV series · 13 seasons
Created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk
DramaMysteryScience FictionFantasy
An anthology horror drama series centering on different characters and locations, including a house with a murderous past, an asylum, a witch coven, a freak show, a hotel, a farmhouse in Roanoke, a cult, the apocalypse and a summer camp.
1 mixed4 neutralfrom 5 commenters
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5 comments on Hacker News
I think your description of television much better fits the mould of 90's network TV (24 weekly episodes per year) than prestige era limited series or narrative arc TV. Foundation could absolutely be done as an anthology show in the vein of American Horror story - where each season covered an era of an unfolding narrative, with characters like Hari Seldon and R.Daniel recurring as audience favourites.
Either way though, there are issues with the adaptation that are quite distinct from eschewing the episodic arc of the original trilogy. It's full of spiritual woo for one, which is entirely antithetical to Azimov's vision. It's also more than fond of sadistic violence. Azimov's whole method as a writer was to have smart characters solve difficult problems intellectually. 'Violence is the last resort of the incompetent' after all.
Sure, it's kind of absurd that the same 4 people would be at the center of so many technological shifts, over a period of 20+ years. But, you really have to accept that as a conceit of the medium.
There are basically only two ways to construct a TV series that has any continuity to it whatsoever. You can either keep most of the main characters together for the entire series, and watch them grow and change, like most series do; or, you can do like American Horror Story does and just scrap everything and start anew every season or so. Some series don't care about continuity, like Seinfeld, so they fall outside the scope of this statement, but, the majority of TV series will be one or the other of these.
And, there's nothing really wrong with this construction, either. Like I said, it's just something you have to accept, kind of like how every TV home or apartment is absolutely massive compared to what real people live in, or how people are able to comfortably fly on airplanes without squishing themselves into the seats or their heads being within inches or less of the roof of the cabin. Or the fact that if anybody coughs on TV, they're usually deathly ill.
I'll have to check out Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, though. I've been putting off watching it for some reason -- maybe because for most of 2020, I felt like I was living in a Black Mirror episode.
Speaking of Netflix series that really get the time period correct, Stranger Things is 100% exactly like what it was like to be a kid in the 80s. Starting from the bowl haircut on Will, right on down to every last detail of the mall from season 3, and battling the Demogorgon in a friend's basement. Absolute 10/10 set design, and I never noticed a single anachronism.
Anthology shows might be a decent balance between the two. At least personally an existing show has to be getting really good reviews for me to care enough to catch up on previous seasons, but if it's possible to jump right into season 3 then I'd be more inclined to check it out.
IIRC American Horror Story had increased viewership in the 2nd and then again in the 3rd season, but it did eventually go downhill. Ryan Murphy shows are also pretty weird though, it would be nice to see the seasonal anthology format in broader contexts. I'm optimistic about the Haunting of Hill House series but that's again horror.
There are only two people living my house. I know what my wife watches well enough to know that she hasn't watched every season of American Horror Story and all of season 1 of Friends. Netflix also shows you what devices streamed video, and I see devices in Germany and around the US which are not mine.
I'm sorry that you feel that way. You have understandably misinterpreted my intent. The title was not intended as bait, nor was the story. Rather, I enjoy writing and was hoping to appeal to readers that have difficulty reading dry material (which is the material I tend to write), while at the same time providing something to relate to in order to put the article into context. The title itself was a play on a television series --- American Horror Story --- that my girlfriend once fell asleep to as I was hacking late one night. The story was intended to augment the actual useful material (code samples and explanations), not obscure it, which it appears to have done.
Please notice that this article is segregated from the rest of my blog with no glaring/obvious links to it. This was intentional. I posted this article in the hope that it would be useful to others, not because I would gain any benefit from doing so.
I will take your comment into consideration for future articles.