With the exception of the acclaimed first season of “American Crime Story,” Ryan Murphy’s TV output has had a rough ride with critics.
At best, they’ve been fairly kind to “Pose” and “Feud” and civil towards “Nip/Tuck” and “Doctor Odyssey”, but otherwise his stuff has often been lambasted including “Scream Queens,” “American Horror Story,” “The Shards,” “The Beauty,” “The Watcher,” “Halston,” and “Ratched”.
Even by his standards though, “Monster” and especially the legal drama “All’s Fair” have been widely slammed with negative reviews even as they proved popular enough to earn renewals.
Speaking with Vanity Fair, Murphy shared his thoughts on the critical response to his work, saying:
“First of all, I think the critics are wrong. If you look at my career since I started, which was Popular, almost everything that I have made was never embraced critically.
I made it for people like me who loved that heightened ’80s soapy procedural thing. The critics called it camp, but camp is a lack of awareness. My work has awareness. The People vs. O.J. was the only time I felt embraced. I don’t rise or fall by [critics’ opinions] anymore.”
Murphy adds that while he used to be affected by the critical response to his work, a mentor’s advice helped him. That advice? “You know what? Just because they put a chalice of delicious poison in front of you doesn’t mean you have to drink it.”
“All’s Fair” is set to return for its second season in November.
