All of the Ryan Murphy Netflix shows ranked from worst to best

If you have watched television at any point in the last 20 years, chances are you have watched at least one show created, written, directed, or produced by Ryan Murphy. Since co-creating Popular, the short-lived cult classic teen drama from The WB in 1999, Murphy has skyrocketed to success with shows like Nip/Tuck, Glee, American Horror Story, and many other hits.

He’s continued to take over TV with shows like American Crime Story, Scream Queens, Feud, Pose, and 9-1-1 among others before making the leap to Netflix in 2018 for a major, five-year multi-million-dollar development deal. Now that Murphy’s Netflix deal is ending at the end of 2023 and he’s reportedly heading to Disney, it’s time to look back at his best (and worst) Netflix shows.

Ryan Murphy’s first Netflix show, The Politician, premiered in 2019 to mixed but generally buzzy reception. The campy comedy-drama was followed by a slew of commercial hits and critical misfires, including his latest Netflix outputs The Watcher and the Monster anthology series. How do each of the prolific producer’s Netflix shows stack up against each other from worst to best?

6. DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story (2022)

Don’t let the award wins and massive viewership fool you. DAHMER – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story was handled rather poorly. As amazing as Evan Peter and Niecy Nash’s performances might have been in the first season of the Monster anthology series, its storytelling didn’t do what it promised for the victims and their families. In fact, many of the victims’ families spoke out against the series and how it depicted the real life events.

Monster was originally conceived as a limited series solely focused on the aforementioned serial killer, but due to the seismic drop of Dahmer, Netflix ordered two more seasons centered on “other monstrous figures.” It’s hard to imagine that follow-up seasons would handle the cases with care, but people will still watch. However, it’s worth questioning why these stories of trauma need to be dramatized for entertainment and what greater purpose the show really serves.

5. The Watcher (2022)

Another case of a good idea in concept, strange execution, and a massive debut weekend leading to an unexpected renewal in the world of Ryan Murphy on Netflix. Like a lot of his productions, The Watcher borrows its story from real-life events and stars a who’s who of well known cast members, including Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, and Jennifer Coolidge. While a second season is on the way and we don’t know what it will be about or who it will star, the first season otherwise a forgettable entry compared to Murphy’s more ambitious Netflix offerings.

4. Halston (2021)

Out of Ryan Murphy’s Netflix shows, Halston might have flown under the radar more than the others. Although it’s a biographical limited series about a major American fashion designer, its May 2021 release wasn’t nearly as huge as the others. However, Halston also received mostly positive reviewed from critics, which other titles don’t have to their credit. Ewan McGregor won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series for his truly can’t-miss portrayal of the designer. While it’s far better than Monster and The Watcher, it simply can’t beat the top three Murphy shows on Netflix.

3. Ratched (2020)

Ratched made a strong arrival on Netflix in September 2020 with a two-season order, a killer cast, a chilling premise, and an impressive viewership number. But that second season still has yet to materialize. Murphyverse vet Sarah Paulson leads the series as the titular Nurse Ratched in the origin story of the infamous horror character. The series sure packs a punch a delivers an entertaining look into the beginnings of Nurse Ratched, but there are elements of the series that keep it from being a Murphy best and can leave a bad taste in your mouth, such as plot holes and problematic characterizations.

2. The Politician (2019-2020)

As the first Netflix show from Ryan Murphy, The Politician had all eyes on it upon its premiere in September 2019. Ben Platt stars in the show as a high school student body president setting his sights on someday winning the country’s presidency. Across its two seasons, the cast also boasted big names like Jessica Lange, Gwyneth Paltrow, Judith Light, and Bette Midler. All of the ingredients were in play for another round of Murphy madness.

That being said, the first season is much more fun of watch than the second, which changed a lot of the show’s setup that initially made it campy and charming. Even when the show isn’t at its best, the cast is always brilliant and elevating the wildest storylines. Murphy has stated that a third and final season is planned, but they’re waiting for Platt to age a little more to tell Payton’s complete story. Regardless of if that ever happens, The Politician season 1 will always be one of Murphy’s best.

1. Hollywood (2020)

It’s probably a hot take, but Hollywood is Ryan Murphy’s best Netflix show. It just is! The cast was amazing, the premise was ambitious, and it didn’t go too far off the rails. Did the actual storytelling always live up to that ambition? No, not always. Often, the limited series was self-congratulatory in its reimagining of a utopian past in Old Hollywood. But the best part by far of the whole seven-episode miniseries was breakout star David Corenswet.

Prior to Hollywood, Corenswet had his breakthrough role in Murphy’s debut Netflix show The Politician, which brought him to the miniseries as its lead. It’s no surprise that he has been tapped to play Superman in the next iteration of the DC superhero’s saga. He’s so charismatic and likable and, most importantly, just a wildly talented actor. With Corenswet in the lead, Hollywood proves what Murphy productions are capable of when style meets meaning and focus.

What is YOUR ranking of Ryan Murphy’s shows on Netflix from worst to best?