Great Stories of the American West

American Horror Story (AHS) is an American horror anthology television series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the cable network FX. The first installment in the American Story media franchise, seasons of AHS are mostly conceived as self-contained miniseries, following a different set of characters in a new setting within the same fictional universe (which the show occasionally utilizes for crossovers between seasons, and shares with episodic spin-off American Horror Stories), and a storyline with its own beginning, middle, and end. Some plot elements of each season are loosely inspired by true events. Many actors appear in more than one season, usually playing a new character though sometimes as a returning character. Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, appearing in ten seasons and Lily Rabe have returned for nine seasons, followed by Frances Conroy and Denis O'Hare who both appear in eight; Emma Roberts, Billie Lourd, and Leslie Grossman appear in seven, while other notable actors including Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, appear in six, and Adina Porter, Finn Wittrock, and Jamie Brewer appear in five of the seasons. Although reception to individual seasons has varied, American Horror Story has largely been well received by television critics, with the majority of the praise going towards the cast, particularly Jessica Lange, who won two Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performances.