Best TV Shows Created By Ryan Murphy, Ranked

Key Takeaways

• Ryan Murphy has created iconic television series that span various genres, from Glee to American Horror Story.
• Murphy’s success includes hits like Nip/Tuck, Scream Queens, and current ongoing series like Monster and Pose.
• Shows like 9-1-1 and Feud showcase Murphy’s range as a creator and ability to craft compelling stories in different genres.

There are a lot of famous directors and creatives known for their work on films, but it still remains much harder to become a household name as a creator of television series. This is predominantly because most successful shows are a multi-year investment, making it harder to build up a catalog as impressive as film directors even over the course of a long career.

Ryan Murphy is one of the few who have managed just such a career that has involved the creation of many different iconic shows and miniseries. This has made him recognizable, particularly since his disturbing style of thriller and horror shows has become iconic across television audiences, but he has actually created shows in a number of other genres as well. Although he is by no means finished creating yet, his filmography is already mind-blowing, and will likely continue to become more impressive over the following years and decades.

8 Glee

IMDB Score: 6.8

• Starring: Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele & Jane Lynch
• Ran For 6 Seasons
• 121 Total Episodes

The now infamous teen show filled with musical numbers featured a huge ensemble cast of random misfits brought into the school choir in a show that both defined a generation and proved to be endlessly divisive among audiences. The pressure for Glee to perform grew over the years, but it still managed to get a full six seasons out of the concept before finally ending.

The jukebox-musical style made it exciting for viewers to see which of their favorite songs would be added to Glee next. The lives and romances between the characters, the huge number of cameo and guest appearances by famous faces, and while the show didn’t keep the heights it attained all the way to the end of its run, the latter seasons and show as a whole have still been called hugely enjoyable by critics and fans. Though this wasn’t indicative of the horror shows Murphy would later make, it remains one of his most notable successes and contributions to pop culture.

7 Scream Queens

IMDB Score: 7.1

• Starring: Emma Roberts, Lea Michele & Abigail Breslin
• Ran For 2 Seasons
• 23 Total Episodes

Though it wasn’t as long-running as some of his shows, Scream Queens was a hit for Ryan Murphy when the first season hit in 2015. Compared to the Scream movies for their darkly comedic slasher style, Scream Queens featured a great cast that included many future box office draws such as Keke Palmer. Ariana Grande and Glen Powell. Set in a fictional American college, the show was an anthology that found big success in the first season but couldn’t keep it up with the sequel despite many of the same cast returning.

Scream Queens had a fun charm and teen appeal that made for a great venture for Murphy. He managed to bring back some familiar names from his previous projects, including Emma Roberts and Lea Michele, which highlighted some real upcoming scream queens, and the first season particularly remains a memorable comedy-horror television moment.

6 Nip/Tuck

IMDB Score: 7.7

• Starring: Dylan Walsh, Julian McMahon & John Hensley
• Ran For 6 Seasons
• 100 Total Episodes

With so many shows about doctors having been popular, particularly in the 00s, it is unsurprising that a pair of plastic surgeons with a suave, shady style managed to become a hit in that decade. Julian McMahon and Dylan Walsh brought this satirical black comedy to the screen for a highly successful six seasons.

Ryan Murphy’s love of dark comedy and psychologically thrilling TV was apparent even in this earlier stage of his career. The excellent cast, the medical stories based on fact, and the ongoing stories as opposed to most serial medical dramas, were all elements that helped bring amazing success to Nip/Tuck.

5 Monster

IMDB Score: 7.8

• Starring: Evan Peters, Cooper Koch & Nicholas Alexander Chavez
• Ran For 2 Seasons (So Far)
• 20 Total Episodes (So Far)

One of Murphy’s currently ongoing series was a huge idea that is unsurprisingly producing big success on Netflix. Monster is a terrifying anthology series, which puts it squarely within Ryan Murphy’s wheelhouse, which focuses on different serial killers and true crime cases.

The first season featuring Evan Peters as Jeffrey Dahmer was already a strong success, but the recently released Menendez Brothers story has soared to the top of the streaming charts and has had a fair share of controversies since being released. Additionally, the adamant defense of their actions to this day by the brothers makes for a compelling true crime element, as viewers attempt to deduce clues from the twisted story as told in this fictional account.

4 9-1-1

IMDB Score: 7.9

• Starring: Angela Bassett, Peter Krause & Oliver Stark
• Ran For 8 Seasons (So Far)
• 110 Total Episodes (So Far)

Ryan Murphy has made so many different horror series recently that it’s easy to forget he’s also one of the creators of 9-1-1, the procedural drama focusing on the work and lives of various first responders around Los Angeles. The long-running show has had spin-offs, survived cancelation, and continues to surge on with a major ensemble cast.

The family and romantic dynamics between revolving characters and the stories that feel like they evolve over time mean that 9-1-1 has managed to retain a huge amount of popularity, enough even to be saved by ABC, where it still airs after Fox canceled the show. The likes of Angela Bassett and Peter Krause have managed to level their careers up massively with such an impressive tenure in a memorable drama.

3 American Horror Story

IMDB Score: 8.0

• Starring: Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson & Denis O’Hare
• Ran For 12 Seasons (So Far)
• 132 Total Episodes (So Far)

Murphy’s original foray into the world of anthologies remains his most famous. American Horror Story isn’t based on real events, making it all the harder to continually come up with such great, intriguing stories that unfold terrors and mysteries over the course of each new season.

While revolving casts and fans continuing loyalty to the show has helped it reach such heights as an upcoming thirteenth season, much of the credit goes to the behind-the-scenes team, including Ryan Murphy, that has managed to find different stories that can intrigue as they have for over a decade now. This is arguably Murphy’s most impressive achievement in television, even if it isn’t the single most critically adored of his shows.

2 Feud

IMDB Score: 8.3

• Starring: Jessica Lange, Susan Sarandon & Naomi Watts
• Ran For 2 Seasons (So Far)
• Ran For 16 Episodes (So Far)

Another anthology, another epic Jessica Lange performance. Ryan Murphy has always loved Hollywood, to the degree that he made a miniseries called Hollywood, and he decided to make an anthology series about famous feuds throughout the history of America, and more particularly, the Hollywood area. The first season was an incredible success, focusing on the long-running battle and hatred between actresses Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.

Although this excellent story looked set to be a one-off miniseries, Feud reappeared in the form of this year’s Capote vs The Swans, featuring the likes of Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, and Chloë Sevigny as the women who went after writer Truman Capote, looking for revenge. This season was highly acclaimed and makes Feud a huge success as opposed to a one-hit wonder, which could well continue for many more seasons.

1 Pose

IMDB Score: 8.6

• Starring: Michaela Jae Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson & Indya Moore
• Ran For 3 Seasons
• Ran For 26 Episodes

One of the most out-there ideas for a show in quite some time led to one of Ryan Murphy’s biggest-ever hits. Pose was set in the late 80s and early 90s, telling stories about ball culture in New York. A subculture of the LGBTQ+ community, this show was not only perfect for telling incredibly diverse stories and educating the public about these types of sub-cultures and the struggles they faced, but it also managed to be one of the most consistently intriguing, dramatic adventures on TV.

Though Pose has ended, more and more fans are discovering it every day. Even better, though it doesn’t have a huge number of episodes, the writers got the opportunity to end it exactly when they wanted instead of overstaying their welcome. This makes Pose a very complete and perfect journey which is well worth revisiting. Ryan Murphy’s adventurous storytelling nature continues to define new eras of TV, with new shows popping up with his name attached in many different genres.