Last year I made a video aimed to look back at the last decade of American Horror Story through the lens of their declining ratings and their network's tendency to use the show to test out their many attempts at streaming platforms. While those things certainly played a part in the decline in American Horror Story's brand over the years, the truth is that a lot of the show's issues stem from the belly of the beast itself. In this two-part follow-up to that video, I'm diving deep into the casting and writing process of each season of American Horror Story to try and pinpoint exactly when the show dove off the deep end. This video is going to be super-sized, so grab a snack as we time travel through what I have defined as the three eras of American Horror Story that have occurred thus far. Seasons 1 through 4 make up the Golden Age, seasons 5 through 8 represent the Silver Age, and then seasons 9 through 11 and so on represents the Bronze Age. The Golden Age is characterized by the consistent casting of namely Jessica Lange, Lily Raebe, and Frances Conroy, who appeared in those first four seasons consistently alongside Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson, who would remain as mainstays well into the Silver Age. It also has a strong sense of visual style and cohesion in its cinematography amongst those first four seasons, largely thanks to the choice to film those seasons on film cameras rather than digital and also due to the work of longtime American Horror Story cinematographer Michael Goy. The Golden Age also gets its name due to the amount of awards recognition these seasons got, especially compared to the seven seasons that have followed. The Silver Age begins with Hotel and the departure of Jessica Lange, the Academy Award-winning icon that delivered some of the show's greatest and most memorable performances, as well as the show beginning to take larger swings with its themes and its casting. The Silver Age is also where a lot of fans began to notice the show starting to drop off in its quality. Hotel, Roanoke, Colt, and Apocalypse are often cited by fans as having rushed and unsatisfying conclusions to varying degrees. This complaint is almost exclusively given to the seasons that aired after the show's Golden Age. The Bronze Age then would be the most recent three seasons from American Horror Story 1984 all the way to AHS NYC. It will also include the upcoming 12th season recently announced to be titled Delicate. This separation between The Silver and Bronze Ages is partly defined by the departures of Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters in season nine after having appeared in all eight of the previous seasons. They would both return for double feature though, only to bow out once again for NYC. The mainstays of the Bronze Age are Billy Lord and Leslie Grossman, the only two actors to appear in all three of the most recent seasons. The Bronze Age may as well just be the most inconsistent when it comes to casting, but it also notably includes a couple AHS Legends returning to the franchise like Lily Rave and Dennis O'Hare in two out of the three seasons that have made up the Bronze Era so far. This Bronze Age for me is where I started to see a much larger drop off in American Horror Story fans having nice things to say about the show and where a lot of fans jumped ship. This drop off may be similar to the drop off that occurred between the Golden Age and The Silver Age with Jessica's departure. This time it may be attributed to Sarah and Evan's now inconsistent appearances, but truly there's much more at play in the Bronze Age. But now with all of those eras defined, let's start talking about those creative choices that led to this drop off in quality and where's the best place to start but the beginning? Season one came out of the gates swinging with the casting of Jessica Lange in the season's main ensemble with her instantly iconic portrayal of Constance Langdon. At this point in her career, Lange was already established as one of Hollywood's most awarded and respected artists having won two Academy Awards, an Emmy Award and being tied as the sixth most nominated actress at the Academy Awards. Connie Britton, Dylan McDermott and Dennis O'Hare all had on the rise in television careers of varying degrees at the time of their casting this season. Connie Britton being most known for her role in Friday Night Lights, Dylan McDermott for the practice and Dennis O'Hare for his role in True Blood. And the last two actors credited as main cast members this season are relative newcomers at the time, Taissa Fermiga and Evan Peters. AHS was Taissa's first role in the industry, although her older sister Vera Farmiga had been making a name for herself in the industry for years at this point. As for Evan Peters, he was already working in the industry but to say that American Horror Story was his breakthrough would be an understatement. It would be hard to imagine the heights he's now reaching in his career without his early roles in American Horror Story. Although they weren't credited as main cast members, Murder House also saw the introduction of some of the series' most beloved cast members. Sarah Paulson as Billy Dean Howard, Francis Conroy as Myra O'Hara, Lily Rabe as Nora Montgomery, Jamie Brewer as Adelaide, Zachary Quinto as Chad, and even Adina Porter in a small role as one of Ben Harman's patients. So here's our debut ensemble for the first go round of American Horror Story. Out of these six main actors, four of them would go on to have memorable roles and define the golden era. But before we dive into how the show's casting evolved from this stellar ensemble, let's see who was present in the writer's room during American Horror Story's inaugural installment. The first two episodes of Murder House were spearheaded by both of the show's creators, Ryan Murphy and Brad Fauciuk. This would eventually become a tradition with Ryan and Brad having written every single premiere episode of the series with the exception of the next season, Asylum. In total, Ryan and Brad wrote three episodes each during this season. Rounding out the writer's room is Jennifer Salt who helmed two episodes this season, James Wong who's also credited for two episodes, Tim Minier who also wrote two of this season's episodes, and finally Jessica Scharzer is the final writer credited for writing on Murder House with two episodes including the season finale. Every single one of these writers has an interesting relationship with American Horror Story and Ryan Murphy as a whole. James Wong was credited as co-executive producer for both Murder House and Asylum before being promoted to executive producer for seasons three through season nine but AHS was far from his first gig. His big break came when he served as a writer and executive producer on The X-Files but you may also know him as the writer and director of both Final Destination and Final Destination Three. Tim Minier would also later become executive producer on American Horror Story from seasons two through nine. Tim also had a history writing on The X-Files but his big break came as a writer and producer on Angel, a spin-off to Buffy, The Vampire Slayer. Since coming aboard American Horror Story, Tim Minier seems to have become one of Ryan Murphy's right-hand people as he not only served as executive producer on Feud and Ratched but he's currently show running both 9-1-1 and it's Lone Star spin-off. Jennifer Salt is another one whose career did not begin with American Horror Story. In fact, her career wasn't in writing at all. Jennifer Salt had an impressive career in film and television in front of the camera, most notably playing Eunice in the ABC sitcom Soap which ran for four seasons. In the 90s, she shifted her career away from acting and pursued producing and television writing, working on a handful of shows before being introduced to Ryan Murphy as a writer and later executive producer on Nip Tuck. She'd also serve as executive producer on American Horror Story for six seasons and she was an executive producer and writer for Ratched. Before American Horror Story, Jessica Scharzer made a name for herself for directing an episode of The L Word but since writing for Murder House, she's served as a co-executive producer and writer for four seasons of American Horror Story and wrote two films Nerve with Emma Roberts and A Simple Favor. And she also wrote and co-executive produced Nine Perfect Strangers on Hulu. On Rotten Tomatoes, Murder House proved to be a hit out of the gate and is certified fresh with a 72% from critics and an 84% from audiences. On IMDb, fans gave this season's episodes an average of 8.2 stars out of 10. The critics' consensus on Rotten Tomatoes reads, Convoluted yet effective, American Horror Story is strange, gory and twisted enough to keep viewers hooked. Definitely an impressive premiere season deserving of awards recognition but we'll talk about the awards once the Golden Era is all wrapped up. But now it's time to talk all things season 2 as things are about to get a lot darker. Of the six main cast members of season 1, only two would carry on as main cast members in season 2's Asylum. Just Kalang returned as Sister Jude and Evan Peters came back as Kit Walker. Sarah Paulson, Lily Raib and Zachary Quinto were upgraded this year into the main ensemble and they were joined by acclaimed and established actors Joseph Fiennes and James Cromwell. And Lizzie Brochere, sorry if I'm pronouncing that wrong but she's a French actress who had just recently began to break through in the US after years of working in France. You can see the formula evolving a bit now with Asylum but Asylum's cast is mimicking that balance that Murder House had of Hollywood royalty, rising stars and relative newcomers only now it's got the added element of upgrading cast members who were guest stars in a previous season, most notably Sarah Paulson who as you know would stay built as a main cast member for the next seven consecutive seasons. Taking a peek behind the curtain at the writer's room for American Horror Story Asylum you may be surprised to learn that between seasons 1 and 2 American Horror Story's writers did not have any changes. This is the only season where the writer's room is identical to the one that came before it. However, throughout the Golden Age the writer's room remains fairly consistent especially when compared to some of the major shake-ups that happened later on in the Silver and Bronze Ages. The formula worked again as American Horror Story Asylum was another big hit for FX among fans and critics alike. On Rotten Tomatoes, Asylum built upon Murder House's already impressive run with a certified fresh score of 84% from critics and 89% from audiences. On IMDb, Asylum is the highest rated season of the series with an average of 8.5 stars out of 10 for each of the season's episodes. The critics' consensus reads American Horror Story Asylum crosses boundaries to shock and scare with sexy subplots and some innovative takes on current social issues. Let's see if the formula works a third time around as one year later FX would air the third season of American Horror Story entitled Coven. Moving from the cruel conditions at the Briarcliff Manor to the mystical mysteries of Ms. Robachow's Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies, Season 3's Coven has what I believe is the series' most star-studded all-star cast. Let's just take it one by one. Jessica Lange, Lily Rave, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters all return for their third season. Taissa Farmiga and Dennis O'Hare return after not taking part in Asylum. Frances Conroy is finally included in the main ensemble after spending two seasons as a special guest star who, by the way, fits the description of Hollywood Royalty as well with her own string of impressive accolades. And then we have American Horror Story newcomers Kathy Bates and Emma Roberts in the roles of Hollywood Royalty and Rising Star, respectively. Kathy Bates was already a highly decorated and respected figure in Hollywood, having won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Annie Wilkes in Misery, along with Golden Globes, Emmys, Sag Awards, you name it. At this point in Emma Roberts' career, she was making a name for herself in a handful of mature roles after spending her childhood on Nickelodeon. I think Coven went hand-in-hand with her then-recent role in Scream 4 for redefining her career. As since then, she has consistently worked with Ryan Murphy and she has consistently acted in a string of horror projects over the last decade. In my head, the next person is a main cast member this season, but in reality, they are billed as a recurring cast member. But Angela Bassett makes her American Horror Story debut this season as well, marking another heavy hitter inducted into the American Horror Story universe. This year in real life, she's just recently won her second Golden Globe Award, but she had already won her first all the way back in 1993 for What's Love Got to Do With It. Gabby Sidibe, who is also questionably not billed with the main ensemble, was a star quickly on the rise at the time of her being casted as Queenie. She broke into acting with the 2009 film Precious, which earned her an array of nominations, including Academy Awards and Golden Globes. Patty Lupone and Stevie Nicks also made memorable guest appearances, both iconic and highly awarded in their respective fields as well. Leslie Jordan also made his first appearance in Coven, marking his first of many memorable roles in the series. There isn't one cast member in Coven that sticks out as a newcomer to Hollywood, which is partly why I view this season as so elevated when it comes to its talent. That's not to say that newcomers aren't talented, and there are many instances of newcomers being standouts in a season. But this cast for the most part are extremely practiced and professional in their craft, and they substantially elevate these characters and the world of Coven to great heights. It seems like they grabbed the most powerful actors from Murderhouse and Asylum, and then threw in new legendary actors that they were hiding away in a secret vault. I could fall on over this season's cast for 20 minutes if you let me, but I think you get the picture, so let's now see how the writer's room evolved in this transition from Asylum to Coven. Now, just like last season, none of the writers that took part in Murderhouse and Asylum departed for Coven, however this time we did get one new writer in Douglas Petrie. He wrote two episodes this season, and then he kind of dipped from the franchise as a whole. He's definitely an anomaly of these early seasons, but his contributions to Coven were great. Nonetheless, he wrote the Axeman Comet and the finale entitled The Seven Wonders. Again, this consistent writer's room, combined with another upgrade in casting, proved to be frutuitous for FX and American Horror Story. On Rotten Tomatoes, Coven just barely inches out Asylum's critic score with a certified fresh score of 85%, however the audience score for Coven dropped a bit this season to 75%. The critic's consensus reads, a noteworthy ensemble cast combined with a creepy storytelling and campy outrageous thrills make American Horror Story Coven a potently structured frightfest. On IMTB, users gave Coven's episodes an average of 8.07 stars out of 10. Clearly everything American Horror Story was doing seemed to be working, and one year later another installment would premiere on television sets across the globe, American Horror Story Freak Show. Jessica, Sarah, Evan, Francis, Dennis, Emma, and Kathy all returned as a part of the main ensemble, and Angela Bassett was upgraded into a main cast member as well this season. That's a total of eight of the strongest cast members carrying over from one season to the next, and that's something that you just don't see happening with recent seasons. Freak Show only inducted two newcomers into the pool of American Horror Story main cast members, that being Michael Chiklis and Finn Witrock. Michael Chiklis had a notable and Emmy-winning television career at the time, and Finn Witrock's career was just starting to gain traction after years of working in film and on stage. His star was definitely on the rise when Ryan Murphy scooped him up in roles in both The Normal Heart and Freak Show in the same year. Given where he's at now, it seems like another instance of the series giving a significant boost to a rising star. Not only does Freak Show mark the end of the Golden Age, but fans were gobsmacked when it was announced that the season would be Jessica Lange's final. At the time, Lange had this to say. When I originally agreed to do this, it was for one season, so I've never done this kind of television before. Then I had such a great time doing it the first year, when they approached me to do it again, I thought, well okay, maybe we can do it season to season. Instead, I agreed to do three more seasons. I have no regrets or second thoughts about that decision, but there's always an end to everything. In the Golden Age, American Horror Story made a name for itself with Jessica Lange attached as a package deal. As she described it, instead of taking it season to season, Jessica instead agreed to do seasons two through four in one decision in what was probably a legally binding contract. But needless to say, at the time, fans were incredibly divided. This is still a point that is frequently brought up in the fandom. A lot of people believe that the quality of American Horror Story left when Jessica did. For some, this was the death of American Horror Story as they knew it. But before we discuss how Hotel, the first season of the Silver Age, reinvented the series with their biggest piece of stunt casting yet, let's discuss some big changes in the writer's room that occurred during Freak Show. Capping off the Golden Age once again, our main six writers all returned. While Newbie Douglas Petrie came and went like a gust in the wind, Jennifer Salt, James Wong, Tim Minier, Jessica Sharcer, alongside the series' creators Ryan and Brad, stuck around for the fourth iteration. This time though, they got some help from some writers that would actually continue to have a history with American Horror Story. John Jay Gray and Crystal Liu were both new writers on Freak Show, with John Jay Gray writing Bullseye and the season finale Curtain Call, and Crystal Liu writing the episode Test of Strength. John Jay Gray has had a really interesting journey with both American Horror Story and Ryan Murphy in general. He started his career as an assistant to Tim Minier on Angel, he then started on American Horror Story as a staff writer on Coven, he then gets his first episode credit during Freak Show, in Roanoke he's upgraded to supervising producer, he then serves as co-executive producer on Colt and Apocalypse before being promoted to executive producer from 1984 to NYC. While he was climbing the ranks within American Horror Story, he was also serving as supervising producer on Feud, writer and executive producer on Ryan Murphy's procedural 9-1-1 and its spin-off 9-1-1 Lone Star, as well as the American Horror Story spin-off entitled American Horror Stories. I hope this man gets a nice vacation one of these days. Crystal Liu's writing relationship with American Horror Story spans from Freak Show to 1984 and as recently as last year she wrote an episode of American Horror Stories entitled Necro. Depending on who you ask, Freak Show may be considered on the same level as the seasons that came before it, but for others like myself, it's one of the hardest to get through. Freak Show did find its fair share of a claim closing out the Golden Era, but that didn't come without some criticism. Freak Show sits certified fresh with a 77% from critics and a 68% from fans on Rotten Tomatoes. While it fared better with critics than Murder House, with fans it's clear that Freak Show was the first truly divisive season of American Horror Story. Nowadays, the divisiveness is expected, but with their first three seasons having an audience score in the 70s and 80s, this 68% sticks out like a sore thumb. The divisiveness is softened by Freak Show's average INDB score of 8.05, which is another reflection of the fans' general reception of the season, which to me means that, while the season as a whole may have left the fans wanting more, from episode to episode Freak Show provided a consistently solid season for most of the fans. The critics' consensus reads, though it may turn off viewers unaccustomed to its unabashed weirdness, Freak Show still brings the thrills thanks to its reliably stylish presentation and game cast. With that, we are about to close the door on the Golden Age and enter a brand new era. We are now entering the Silver Era of American Horror Story. The Silver Era dealt with the absence of Jessica Lange and would eventually begin to experiment more with the show's format in hopes of rebounding from television audiences quickly cutting the cord in favor of rising streaming services. But let's place ourselves back in 2015, Freak Show has wrapped up and despite record breaking ratings, there was a general error in the fanbase that the fourth iteration was weaker than the first three seasons. That slight taste of disappointment within the fandom, combined with a key ingredient to the show's DNA departing in Jessica Lange, AHS was in a unique position where it now had to reinvent itself and potentially push the boundaries of its anthological format even further. For Season 5 themed around the terrifying Hotel Cortez, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk managed to secure a new type of star to fill the hole in the cast. Joining the main ensemble of American Horror Story Hotel would be none other than Lady Gaga herself. For a lot of fans, this was dream casting. At this point, Gaga had spent eight years being one of the biggest pop stars on the planet, scoring numerous number ones and six Grammys already. At that point, in my opinion, her character dominates the season in a cast that is almost as stacked as Coven's ensemble. It was truly the first time in Lady Gaga's career that she was given material that she could really showcase her skills in. Gaga has a similar presence on screen to that of icons like Jessica Lange and Angela Bassett, where you just know you're watching a skilled performer exceeding at their craft. And especially in hindsight, it's clear that Lady Gaga was meant to be an actress. To me, this was the best decision the show could have made at the time to deal with the departure of such a talent in Jessica Lange. Lady Gaga would end up winning her first Golden Globe for this role. And for some fans at the time, Lady Gaga's casting restored their faith in a Jessica Lange-less American Horror Story. I think Hotel is a point where the casting starts to break the mold that the previous season set forth. While Hotel does have its share of new talent rising stars alongside Hollywood royalty, Lady Gaga at this point in her career does not neatly fit into either of those boxes. So for this season, I'm introducing another classification and that is that of stunt casting. I'll qualify something as stunt casting if the casting of this person alone results in an increase of publicity for the show, either because that person has a large fan base or because this person has made a name for themselves in a different industry than acting. Adam Levine's guest role in Asylum would be the only other previous example that I would classify as stunt casting, but since he was never part of the main ensemble, that's why I glossed over it. But since then, every now and again, American Horror Story has dropped some stunt casting bombshells on the fan base, and we will discuss that when we get to it. But Gaga, while she had begun to dabble in acting, she reached the astronomical level in her career that she was in at the time solely due to her music, and it would be with American Horror Story and after American Horror Story that her acting career would truly begin to flourish, where nowadays I definitely classify her as Hollywood royalty. Besides Gaga, Hotel marked the return of Horror Story legend Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, and Dennis O'Hare. Wes Bentley, who appeared in a guest role as Edward Mordrick in Freak Show, is upgraded into a main cast member as John Low. Matt Bomer similarly is boosted into the main ensemble after guest starring in Freak Show. He also had an established career before getting cast on American Horror Story. Chloe Savignet, who had a recurring role in Asylum, gets the main cast member promotion as well. She too is an established star having an illustrious career, including an Academy Award nomination in the early 2000s for the film Boys Don't Cry. Aside from Lady Gaga, the only completely new cast member this year is Cheyenne Jackson. In the writers room, we lost one of our original six writers for the first time as Jessica Scharcer departed the series after Freak Show. This would have been when she likely sold her screenplay for Nerve with Emma Roberts, and maybe even when things started to happen for her film A Simple Favor. So it seems like she probably just got too busy for her work on American Horror Story. John Jay Gray and Crystal Liu, the latest additions to the Golden Age's writers room, continued to write episodes for Hotel as well. And to make up for losing one writer, Ned Martell was brought on board. He seems to have gotten his start working with Ryan Murphy as an executive story editor on Glee. They then worked together on The Normal Heart, and they'd continued to work together on The People vs. OJ Simpson and Three Seasons of Horror Story. While to me the quality of hotel is an improvement from that of Freak Show, a lot of people have criticized its more experimental storytelling and slower pacing. This less traditional style of storytelling would continue to be something that American Horror Story would try out in a handful of seasons down the line, but the risk of changing things up is that not every fan is going to be on board. The pacing issues and a predictable mystery that drives much of the narrative, combined with an underwhelming finale, gave the fanbase a lot to complain about this season. If Freak Show was the first hint of divisiveness amongst the Horror Story fandom after a season, then Hotel came in like a wrecking ball. If you put a lot of stake in a television show's Rotten Tomatoes scores, which you shouldn't, then American Horror Story Hotel was truly the first season that had both fans and critics split. The series, for the first time, would not achieve the fresh certification and currently sits with a 64% from critics and a barely fresh 60% from audiences. IMDb, like usual, does help slightly, but not as much as it helped with Freak Show, as Hotel's episodes averaged 7.87 stars out of 10. The critics' consensus reads, favoring Garrosh's style over effective storytelling, the fifth American Horror Story strands a talented cast at Ryan Murphy's Hotel. It's time to move on to the next installment in The Silver Age with American Horror Story Roanoke. Between Hotel and Roanoke, seven cast members carried over. They were Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Dennis O'Hare, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Wes Bentley, and Shy Ann Jackson. Lady Gaga, though, would also return in a recurring guest star capacity. Lily Rae would also return as a main cast member in Roanoke, her first role since taking the previous two seasons off. There were two newcomers this season, one of which was Andre Holland, who I'm classifying as a rising star, especially since his casting on this season was timed so well with his breakthrough role in the 2016 Best Picture Winner, Moonlight. Roanoke aired from September to November of 2016, and Moonlight premiered in the US in October. The next newcomer to the scene is someone who could easily be classified as an established actor, but I think it's best that I introduce a new label for him that will come in handy, especially in future seasons. The actor is Cuba Gooding, Jr., and I am classifying him as Plucked from the Murphyverse. For this category, I'm looking for actors who had just recently come off another Ryan Murphy project and seemed to just hop directly onto American Horror Story once that project had wrapped. Cuba Gooding, Jr., of course, had just starred in the premiere season of American Crime Story as O.J. Simpson. Since the two projects were so close together in release and production, it also starts a trend that we will see time to time again of a Ryan Murphy project ending, and one or two of those actors immediately getting cast in the next season of American Horror Story. For the most part, from what I recall, fans were excited about this cast. Since the marketing for this season was so tight-lipped, unless you were following leaks very closely, a lot of this was a surprise to audiences, especially with Lady Gaga's guest appearances throughout the season, and with Gaga carrying over from hotel into Roanoke, albeit in a much more minimized capacity, it did help to continue the illusion of most of the cast carrying over between two seasons with a couple exciting new additions. With Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, Lily Rape, Dennis O'Hare, and then guest appearances by Frances Conroy and Lady Gaga, Roanoke is definitely up there, with Coven, Freak Show, and Hotel to me as one of the most stacked cast the show has ever had, even though it may not be the first that comes to mind when you think of great American Horror Story ensembles. But it wasn't all happiness and rainbows in the fandom as the negativity within the fandom was definitely building, especially after many fans felt that Roanoke's finale episode was weak and relied on similar tropes that were established in hotels, similarly criticized finale. I mean, both finales did feature Sarah Paulson playing an older version of one of her previous characters, and they both leave the ending relatively open-ended. So it's hard not to draw comparisons, but let's jump into the writer's room to see if any major changes occurred that may have contributed to what the fans felt was a continued decline in the show's quality at this point. Another season, another loss of the original six writers, after Hotel, Jennifer Salt would leave American Horror Story. It's unclear why, but she would later write on Ratchet and also contribute to Season 11 down the line. Everyone else from Hotel did carry over though, and we even get two new additions in Todd Kubrak and Akilah Cooper. Todd Kubrak started as a staff writer in Hotel, and he went on to work on several of Ryan Murphy's projects in either writing or producing roles, including Poe's American Horror Stories, Dahmer, and The Watcher. Akilah Cooper, you may recognize her name from recently writing two remarkable horror films, Malignant and Megan. With those credits, it's clear to see why Roanoke was the only season of American Horror Story that Akilah Cooper would contribute to, but it's nice to know that one of horror's leading screenwriters in the business today had a hand in this season. As I noted at the beginning of this video, Michael Goy, the cinematographer for seasons 1 through 5, departed American Horror Story before Roanoke. I definitely think this was a major shift for the show visually, as while the seasons, following Hotel, still have strong visuals and iconic imagery from time to time, it never quite looks the same as those first five seasons. This is also largely due to the switch away from filming the show on film cameras, as Roanoke is the first season of American Horror Story to be entirely shot digitally. But Roanoke is another season that experiments with the way that the audience is being told the story. Not only was the audience supposed to go into the season completely blind after an intentionally mysterious and misleading marketing campaign, but the season also switches formats halfway through the season. Starting off as a history channel-esque mockumentary about a couple severe haunting in their farmhouse located near the spirits of the Lost Colony of Roanoke, pretty much every character was essentially played by two actors. It was definitely a lot to wrap your head around at first, but it all makes sense when that halfway point comes and those two sets of actors would be forced to return to Roanoke in what would end up as a found footage film of a reality show gone fatally wrong. You either love that they did this or you hate it, but personally I can't imagine the season any other way. Sure it's goofy at times and it's not the most riveting of the seasons. The concept has been done before, but it's got a ton of fun moments and some of the series' scariest and darkest moments as well. When it comes to acclaim, Roanoke did manage to secure a certified fresh rating of 74% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the audience score slipped into Rotten Territory for the first time with a 57%. Like usual, the folks at IMDb are much less harsh, giving Roanoke's episodes an average of 7.7 stars out of 10, just barely below the average that Hotel got the year before. So yes, from the Rotten Tomatoes point of view, these past two seasons are where the show starts to lose some of its prestige, that it had garnered with its first few seasons, and with fans it's clear that from Freak Show to Roanoke, the seasons are becoming more divisive as they go. The critics' consensus for the format-bending Roanoke reads, American horror story Roanoke takes a surprising turn away from the prior AHS formats, revisiting the deliberate pace of earlier seasons on a spookier, smaller scale, even if the true crime format feels overdone. One year later, American Horror Story came back swinging with American Horror Story Cold. After Roanoke, Gaga left the show without a trace, pursuing other alleys than Allie Mayfair Richards. This is the season that I feel that we truly begin to feel the absence of Jessica Lange, and that's simply because there's so much less Hollywood royalty as part of the season's ensemble. Between Roanoke and Colt, American Horror Story lost both Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett, and fan favorites Dennis O'Hare and Lily Raebe also sat this one out. Roanoke would be the last season that the casting somewhat resembles that balance that we had in the first few seasons. With that being said, Sarah Paulson and Evan Peters stuck around to carry this season, and they were joined by Cheyenne Jackson, and plucked straight from the recently cancelled Scream Queens, Billy Lord is in the mix for her first season of American Horror Story as well. Alison Pill, who had an established career in several television shows and films, rounds out this season's cast in the smallest main ensemble of any American Horror Story season. Colt made up for this though with some pretty great recurring stars and guest stars, including Adina Porter, Leslie Grossman, Billy Eichner, Francis Conroy, Emma Roberts, and Mayor Winningham. But it goes without saying that this main ensemble was pretty underwhelming for fans, and the disappointment was real, especially considering the season's already controversial theme. Let's dissect that a little while we step into the writer's room. Between Roanoke and Colt, Akilah Cooper and Ned Martell would both step away from writing duties, while the remainder of the Roanoke writers did stay on board. Joshua Green and Adam Penn were added to make up for the lost writers though. Joshua Green had been working adjacently with Ryan Murphy since Glee and the New Normal. Adam Penn would stay on American Horror Story as a producer for three seasons, and he also served as a producer for 9-1-1's first season. Adam Penn's got the most credits though for being a pretty prolific editor. He's been credited as an editor on Nip Tuck, Scream Queens, American Horror Story, American Crime Story, Feud, and Pose. Like I mentioned before, fans were wary of a season tackling the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, especially since the season aired less than a year after it had actually occurred. The result is a very reactionary piece of American Horror Story, which is framed by the election but quickly loses focus in favor of an examination of Colt's and Hive mentality with its historical context and tons of hindsight. Colt is at times goofy, at times shockingly realistic and a bit prophetic, but all in all, it's a super unique piece of the franchise that earned its fair share of acclaim and criticism alike. American Horror Story, Colt earned a consistent 72% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, however it was the second season at the time to not achieve a certified fresh status. On the audience side of things, American Horror Story, Colt became the lowest audience rated season of the series with a Rotten score of 52%, even lower than Roanoke's 57%. On IMDb, it would also earn the lowest episodic ratings with an average of 7.3, which again softens that harsh 52% on Rotten Tomatoes. American Horror Story was no stranger to political messages and incorporating historical elements into their plot lines, but never had they ever based an entire season on a current event as recent as the 2016 election was. No matter who you voted for, the scenes in the season that revolve around the election are very polarizing. That being said, the season is strongest when it's not focused on that election and is instead focused on Kai Anderson, their metaphor for the newly elected president, mixed with Charles Manson. I think the season would have been stronger had it not been set during that election and maybe let the metaphor speak for themselves, however I still think that Colt is one of the series most tense, scary, and thrilling seasons warts and all. But there's not a doubt in my mind that a large reason for this season's criticism was the election tie-in, but it's also the first season without Jessica's replacement Lady Gaga, and to top that off, Angela Bassett also departed from the last season. There were a lot of things going against Colt from the get-go, and the material wasn't strong enough to rise above the noise for everybody. With the seasons becoming more and more polarizing as they go on, would Colt be the final nail in the coffin for the once-beloved American Horror Story? If there's one thing we know about Ryan Murphy, it's that he's not going down without a fight, and boy did he come out swinging when he announced that season 8 of American Horror Story would break the anthological mold and would consist of a crossover of the worlds and characters of season 1's murder house with season 3's coven in what would soon be announced to be American Horror Story Apocalypse. So would Apocalypse harken back to those seasons it's based on in Russian a new renaissance of American Horror Story, or will this attempt at pleasing the fans backfire and result in the true death of American Horror Story? Tune into my next video to find out as I continue my journey through the ages and eras of American Horror Story as we transition from the Silver Age into what we are calling the Bronze Age. I'll see you next time.


AUKUS EXISTS TO MANAGE THE RISKS CREATED BY ITS EXISTENCE NATO exists to manage the risks created by its existence, Professor Richard Sakwa once wrote in an attempt to articulate the absurdity of the military alliance's provocative nature on the world stage. At some point Australians are going to have to wake up to the fact that this is equally true of AUKUS. We're told the military alliance exists for our protection, but its very existence makes us less safe. As former Prime Minister Paul Keating recently observed in the Australian Financial Review, this government's justification for the AUKUS alliance and the obscenely expensive nuclear submarine deal that goes with it has been all over the map, first claiming that it's to protect our shores from a Chinese attack, and then pivoting to claiming it's to protect sea lanes from being blocked off by China after Keating dismantled the first claim at the National Press Club two weeks ago. One thing Canberra has struggled to do is to explain exactly why China would launch an unprovoked attack on Australia or its shipping routes. The former couldn't yield any benefit that would outweigh the immense cost even if it succeeded, and the latter is absurd because open trade routes are what makes China an economic superpower in the first place. Luckily for us, the Pentagon Pets cited in the Australian media's recent propaganda blitz to promote war with China explained precisely what the argument is on Canberra's behalf. They say Australia would be at risk of being attacked by China because the US wants to use Australia to attack China. In part two of the infamous joint red alert war propaganda series by the Sydney Morning Herald in the age, Imperial spinmeisters Peter Harcher and Matthew Knot wrote the following, quote, But why would China use its limited resources to attack Australia instead of focusing solely on seizing Taiwan? Because of the strategically crucial role Australia is expected to play for the United States in the conflict. Our geography means we are a southern base for the Americans for what comes next, Ryan says. That's how they're seeing us. They want our geography. They want us to build bases for several hundred thousand Americans in due course like in World War Two. Jennings says Americans would defend Taiwan by fighting from bases in Australia. America has a strategy called dispersal, which means when there is a hint of a crisis, the air force gets out of Guam. The Marines get out of Okinawa. Why? Because they know there is a high chance they will be obliterated. Where do they come? They come here. One risk our government is very concerned about is the phone rings and it's the U.S. president asking for a hundred and fifty thousand Americans to be in the northern territory by next Thursday. Ryan says as many as two hundred thousand U.S. troops could descend on northern Australia, end quote. Interestingly the article also contains a rare acknowledgement in the mainstream press that the presence of the American surveillance base Pine Gap makes Australia a legitimate target for intercontinental ballistic missiles, quote. Distance is no longer equivalent to safety from our strategic perspective, he says. In the first three days of a war, he says Beijing would be tempted to target Australian military bases with a long-range intercontinental ballistic missile attack to minimize our usefulness in the conflict. If China seriously wants to go after Taiwan in a military sense, the only way they can really contemplate quick success is to preemptively attack those assets that might be a threat to them. That means Pine Gap goes, he says, referring to the top secret U.S. Australian base in the northern territory that the U.S. uses to detect nuclear missile launches, end quote. In their haste to make the case for more militarism and brinkmanship, these war propagandists admit what's long been obvious to anyone paying attention, that the only thing putting Australia in danger from China is its alliances and agreements with the United States. The difference between them and normal human beings is that they see no problem with this. Other empire lackeys have been making similar admissions. In a recent article by Foreign Policy, Laoi Institute think tanker Sam Rogavine is quoted as saying, the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal will make it almost impossible for Australia to avoid getting entangled in a war between the U.S. and China. When you build a weapon system that is almost specifically designed to operate thousands of kilometers to our north, and which is perfectly suited to fighting a military campaign against China, he said, then at the final moment, when the call comes from the White House, will you take part in this war or won't you, it will be very difficult, almost impossible, for Australia to say no. The only way China attacks Australia is if Australia's role as a U.S. military asset makes us a target when the U.S. attacks China, possibly over Taiwan or some other internal issue that's nobody's business but the Chinese. We're told we're allied with the U.S. to protect ourselves, but that protection reminds me of an old joke by Willie Barsena.  This obvious point gets flipped upside down by those desperate to manufacture consent for militarism and empire. As we saw in a recent episode of ABC's Q&A, where South Australia premiered Peter Melanoskis, called Green's Senator Jordan Steelejohn an isolationist, my god I hate that word, for questioning AUKUS and said if we're attacked it's because we didn't travel rapidly enough along this self-destructive trajectory. Do you worry because of the AUKUS deal, because of South Australia's role in this, do you believe South Australia becomes a target, Melanoskis was asked by host Stan Grant? No, Melanoskis said, because if Australia becomes a target, that speaks to the fact that we haven't been making the decisions that we should have a long time ago to ensure that we don't become a target, and the best way to do that is to improve our defense posture. Of course this is bullshit, AUKUS has nothing to do with defense. You don't need long range submarines to defend Australia's easily defended shores, you need long range submarines to attack China, Australia's defense posture is an attack posture. Keating expanded on this point in the aforementioned National Press Club appearance, suggesting that the real plan for those nuclear submarines is to take out China's nuclear armed submarines to cripple their second strike capability, i.e. to allow the US to win a nuclear war with China. Keating gave the following comments, after arguing that many short range submarines are a much better way to defend Australia's coast than a few vastly more expensive long range nuclear submarines. That's the better defense policy for Australia than joining with the Americans up there in the shallow waters of the Chinese coast, trying to knock out, see, look, you know this, Phil, or you may know this, the Chinese, in the Air Sea battle, the plan they had 8 or 10 years ago, is whether they could knock out all the Chinese nuclear weapons in one strike. And people doubt this could happen, you know, you can find the sites and knock them out. But what big states do is they have submarines in deep water that carry the same nuclear weapons that are not subject to a strike, it's called a second strike capability.  So stop babbling about AUKUS having anything to do with defending Australia or its shipping lanes, or defending anything at all besides the US Empire's last desperate hopes of securing unipolar planetary hegemony. AUKUS is not a defense partnership, because it's got nothing to do with defense, and it's also not a defense partnership because it is not a partnership. It's the US Empire driving Australia to its doom, to nobody's benefit but the US Empire. This exists to manage the risks created by its existence, and the same is true of ANZUS, and all the other ways our nation has become knit into the workings of the US war machine. If we're being told that our entanglements with the US war machine will make it almost impossible for us to avoid entering into a horrific war that will destroy our country, then the obvious conclusion is that we must disentangle ourselves from it immediately. The problem is not that Australia's corrupt media are saying our nation will have to follow the US into war with China. The problem is that they're almost certainly correct. The Australian media aren't criminal in telling us the US is going to drag us into a war of unimaginable horror, that's just telling the truth. No, the Australian media are criminal for telling us that we just need to accept that and get comfortable with the idea. No, absolutely not. This war cannot happen, must not happen. We cannot go to war with a nuclear armed country that also happens to be propping up our economy as our number one trading partner. We need to shred whatever alliances need to be shredded, and rage whatever powers we need to enrage, kick the US troops out of this country, get ourselves out of the commonwealth while we're at it, bring Assange home where he belongs, and become a real nation.


Welcome to my office. I'm back at work some. It has been a while since we chatted, you and I, YouTube. You know, a lot's happened. My hair has gotten kind of long. I'm back at work some. My kids are back at like school and stuff. These are good things. A bit over a year ago I got promoted from research scientist to research professor. So I've been a professor for a little over a year now and about a month ago I finally got my office. It's very exciting. I've never had my own room before. I'm still working at home a lot but I've been coming into the office a couple days a week. I'm doing a lot of cleaning. Everything's been a little grimy after a year and a half of just kind of being abandoned. And getting furniture and setting up a space in a way that sort of reflects what I want out of it. I don't need to be here to write, to get work done. I need to be here to collaborate with people and to talk to people. So a big part of that for me is setting up this office to be sort of a third place. Not my home, not my home office where I go and get a lot of work done. But a third place where I meet people and talk and share ideas. Let me give you a tour. Okay, sticker table. Still here. Updated stickers. Coffee maker, same as before. It's not amazing but you know it's it gets the job done. Air purifier because you know my desk. This is kind of a cool desk. This used to be a table in the physics lab. It is unbelievably heavy like 150 pounds heavy but it's a really big table and has no drawers so it's all very sort of clean design. I like that. Water bottle to stay hydrated. This love seat that I had before it matches the chair over there but I got online and I found a matching couch and the piece that I am most excited about it's it's so awesome. My coffee table. This thing is epic. It's a big slab of birch that came from my brother-in-law's backyard.  It just looks so cool. It's just so simple and beautiful. And also an ethernet cable because apparently we don't have the outlets on that side of the room plugged in. And then some art. Some books. Lots of coffee mugs of course. More books. More books. Some more coffee table books. Jackboard. So that's kind of the state of things. The office is kind of set up. I'm working. I've got papers and things I'm working on. Right now a lot of my energy is just trying to still dig myself out of the sort of professional black hole that I found myself in after a year and a half being home with my kids. And I miss them very much every day. But I also miss working. I don't know if I'm gonna make these videos again every week. Part of me would really like to get back to this project. But it's also been a long time. What do you think? Should I go back to making videos? Do you want to hear what life is like as a new research professor at a major university? I hope you're safe. I hope you're well. I hope life is stabilizing into something that's more manageable for you. I hope I get a vacation someday soon. Alright, time for coffee and back to work. Bye.


As you know, vowels are speech sounds that use pulmonic air, that is, air coming from the lungs, and they involve a less extreme narrowing of the vocal tract than consonants. Normally, in all vowels, the velum is raised so that there is a velic closure, and air does not flow out through the nose. In such vowels, for example, the vowel EE are referred to as oral vowels. However, if the velum is lowered to allow part of the airstream to fill the nasal cavity, vowels may be nasalized, so EE becomes EH, and the nasal cavity is used as a second resonance chamber. Nasalized vowels must not be confused with nasal consonants such as AMMA. Such nasal consonants not only use the nasal cavity as a resonance chamber, but let the entire airstream escape through it. To distinguish the notation of nasalized vowels from oral vowels, we add a diacritic to the vowel, the so-called tilde. Well-known languages that use nasalized vowels are French and Polish. Here is Magdalena from Poland with four examples from her mother tongue.


Hello everyone, this is Ahmed Dan and on this channel you'll find financial travel and more videos. If you like what you see, please do the thumbs up and consider subscribing. Thank you. Hello everyone, this is Ahmed Dan of AhmedDan.com Just completed my one month trip in four different countries and today I would like to talk about my experience with the Scotiab Passport Visa Infinite Great Card Now I would like to apologize for the dark environment because today is a cloudy day and I couldn't make it better than what it looks right now. But I'll be showing you some transactions on the screen and I'll add some since from different countries as well. So you're not going to be looking at me for too long. So my primary credit card was Scotiab Passport Visa Infinite and Stack Prepaid MasterCard because these two cards do not charge any foreign transaction fee. So in countries like Australia, New Zealand and Singapore, I used Scotiab Passport Visa Infinite and in Malaysia, I used mainly a Stack Prepaid MasterCard because I know how much I had available in that card and I also used Scotiab Passport Visa Infinite if it's a very established merchandise or if it's a very established merchant or if it's a well-known company. But if I feel like, you know, I'm not comfortable using my Scotiab Passport, which had a lot of great availability, then I used a Stack Prepaid MasterCard. In the past, when I used a credit card in a foreign country, I came across the situation that, you know, the credit card blocked me right away thinking it was a fraudulent transaction. But over the years, the system that detects fraudulent activities, it has improved a lot and these days they just work like artificial intelligence. So whenever you're doing a transaction, it knows that whether it's you or not based on the patterns and different analytics. So now it's a lot easier to do foreign transactions with credit cards and it's much safer as well because the system is able to detect or stop right away. And another thing that credit cards, credit card companies added that in the past, you have to notify them when you're traveling foreign countries and you do actually tell them that you're going to win these countries and they would like, you know, unblock for those countries or they would block it for other countries except those countries we mentioned. But now, actually most credit cards, you don't have to notify them when you're traveling because the artificial intelligence like the system can know whether it is you or not because it has actually a fraction of seconds to analyze the transaction when you're putting through the transaction. Then based on different factors and scenarios, the card either approves or disapproves. So the system has actually improved a lot in the past and it's very intelligent right now. So during my one month for countries, I never came or ran into any problem. I came to any problem. It was there's never a problem. So which is a good thing. And also I saved a lot of money on foreign transaction fees because this card does not charge any foreign transaction fee, which is a standard for Canadian credit cards at 2.5%. So I'm going to show you some transactions and on the screen and then you can look at them. And also I'm going to, as I'm posting all my videos from my one month travel, it's going to take me a while to finish all these videos. But I'll be doing credit card and other videos in between as well until my next trip comes. You'll be seeing videos from these four countries. So my overall experience with the Scotia Passport Visa Infinite Foreign Transactions, it's a satisfactory. I never ran across or came into any problem and then never had any situation. I never had to call them. So my transactions were actually various starting from a couple of dollars to $500, $600. It had a wide range from small to larger amounts and still I had no problem. So which is a good thing because this is the worst thing that could happen to you when you're putting the transaction in foreign country and it blocks you, then you had to call them to unblock the transaction. So thanks that nothing, no such things happened to me. And this card is a good card as you know for transaction fee to use foreign transactions because the system that let you go through those transactions seems to be working fine and I never had any issue. So that's all I wanted to talk about. And I'd like to also mention that I had the experience with my stack breaker in other countries in two months. And I'm going to be doing a separate post on that with those transactions charging me ATM and ATM mutual fees or not. So there's going to be separate post coming up. But until then keep watching the travel videos I have for you. I have a variety of videos ranging from different topics from Australia, Singapore, New Zealand and Malaysia. So if you haven't subscribed already, please subscribe now and I'll see you shortly. Thank you.


I'm Sam Baknin, I'm the author of Malignant Self-Love, Narcissism Revisited.  Should you get the courts involved in your situation? If you want the nightmare to end, there is a rule of thumb which requires courage, determination to implement. Involve the courts whenever possible. In many countries, the first step is to obtain a restraining order from a civil court, as part of your divorce or custody proceedings, or as a standalone measure. In some countries, the police apply to the court for an emergency protection order on your behalf. The difference between a protection order and a restraining order is that the protection order is obtained following an incident of domestic violence involving injury or the mature property. It is available immediately, it is granted at the police's request, and it is issued even outside court hours. Many restraining orders are granted expatriate without the knowledge or presence of your abusive partner, based solely on a signed and sworn affidavit submitted by you. A typical emergency restraining order forbids the offender from visiting certain locations, such as the children's school, your workplace or your home. It is later reviewed. At the review, you should produce evidence of the abuse and witnesses. If the emergency or temporary order is upheld, it is fixed for a period of time at the judge's discretion. Always carry the restraining order with you, and leave copies of the order at your place of employment and at your children's daycare and schools. You will have to show the restraining order to the police if you want to get your abuser arrested when he violates its terms. Breach of a restraining order is a criminal offense. The wording of the restraining order is not uniform, and it is crucial. The police shall arrest is not the same as the police may arrest the offender. So make sure that your restraining order is phrased properly. The police shall arrest the offender if he ignores the conditions set forth in the order. Don't forget to ask the court to forbid your abuser to contact you by phone and other electronic means. Seek a new restraining order if you had moved and your place of residence or your workplace or the children's daycare or schools have changed. If the abuser has visitation rights with the children, these should be specified in the restraining order. Include a provision in the order allowing you to deny the visit if he is intoxicated. The order can be issued against your abuser's family and friends as well, especially if they harass and stop you. Restraining order is no substitute for taking precautionary measures to safeguard yourself and your children. As often ignore the court's strictures and they taunt you all the same, they find ways. The situation can easily escalate and get out of hand. Be prepared for such unpleasant and dangerous eventualities. Avoid empty and unlit areas. Carry relevant emergency numbers with you at all times. Install a personalized alarm system where comfortable shoes and clothes to allow you to run if you are attacked. Ask your senses if you feel that you are being followed. Go to a public place, restaurant, department store, cinema. Learn by road the transit routes of all public transport around your home and workplace and make special arrangements with a cab operator nearest to you. You may also wish to consider buying a weapon or at least a mace spray can. If you were physically or sexually assaulted or if you are being stalked or harassed, keep records of all the incidents and lists of witnesses. Never hesitate to lay charges against your abuser, his family and friends. See your charges through by testifying against the offenders. Try not to withdraw the charges, even if you worked out your problems. Even if you are afraid, abuses learn the hard way, and a spell in jail or even a fine is likely to guarantee your future safety. Based on a criminal police file, the criminal court can also force your abuser and his family and friends if they have been harassing you to sign a peace bond in the presence of a judge. A peace bond is a pledge of good behavior, often requiring your abuser to stay away from your home in place of work for a period of anywhere between 3 and 12 months. Some peace bonds forbid the abuser from carrying weapons. Have the peace bond with you at all times. Leave copies of the peace bond at your children's daycare and school centers, and at your place of employment. You will have to show the peace bond to the police if you want to get your abuser arrested when he violates the terms of the peace bond. Breach of a peace bond is a criminal offence. Do not meet your abuser or speak to him while the restraining order or the peace bond are in effect. The courts are likely to take a very dim view of the fact that you yourself have violated the terms of these instruments of law issued for your protection and at your request. There are many additional remedies the courts can and do provide and apply. They can force your abusive partner to surrender to you household items and clothing to grant you access to bank accounts and credit cards, to defray some costs, to pay alimony and child support, to submit to psychological counseling and evaluation, and to grant the police access to his home and workplace at all time. Sult your family or divorce attorney as to what can and is desirable to be done. In theory, the courts are the victim's friends. The truth, however, is a lot more nuanced. If you are not represented, your chances to get protection and prevail, in other words to have your day in court, they are very slim. The courts also show some institutional bias in favor of the abuser. I discussed this elsewhere in another video. Yet despite these hurdles, there is no substitute to getting the legal system to weigh in and restrain your abuser. Use the legal system wisely and you will not regret it. I deal with two particular court-related situations, custody and giving testimony in two separate videos. Be sure to watch the entire series, contains well over 40 videos and will be released in the next few weeks. I wish you luck.