Insert over used Dark Knight quote here because American Horror Story is now the villain of cable television. It started as a thing of beauty and a break from the mundane, but now is the mundane and audiences need a break.
American Horror Story's first four seasons are awesome and nothing can take that away, but the longer you drag out a series that is visibly in decline the less likely it is to be remembered as a good show gone bad, but more of just a bad show. The questions that are raised here is why was season five so terrible and why does season six not seem any better?
The first thing that comes to mind is the loss of Jessica Lange from the main cast. She was the glue that held the series together, but her exit left a gaping hole. The quick fix to this problem was Lady Gaga, bring her fans over to counter the fans that would leave the series. Bad move. Season five had the least viewed finale out of the series.
The second thing that comes to mind is Brad Falchuk and Ryan Murphy are being stretched to thin between this series and Scream Queens. With the undertaking of another series on the parent station, the duo are not able to cultivate the proper stories for either series. This is also evident in the ratings of Scream Queens and its steady decline from its first episode. So-much-so that many where caught off guard when news of a second season broke, even the target demographic said "Why?"
Either Falchuk and Murphy are burned-out or FOX/FX is trying to squeeze them for everything they can. Whichever may be the case these series are suffering. And when the series suffer the viewers suffer, because if they believe this lower caliber work is still attracting an audience then there is no reason for them to create a better product.
There is still time to fix the problem, but not if the viewers keep taking and taking shovel fulls of fecal matter to the eyes while saying thank you. The only thing people understand is money, don't tune in, they lose money and in no time at all they will quickly fix the problem.
Rich Stile @TheDevilsEyes1