‘American Horror Story’ gets its own companion series; why?

Clearly, Ryan Murphy is not happy enough right now with the overall size of his massive empire. Not only does the prolific showrunner have “American Horror Story” at his arsenal, but he also is set to bring a dose of true crime to FX, as well.

Today, it was confirmed that FX has ordered “American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson,” which will be all about the story of the lawyers and those who worked in that prolific case that once dominated the airwaves. It is based on Jeffrey Toobin’s book “Story of His Life: The People vs. OJ Simpsons,” and the show’s first episode will be written by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Murphy himself will direct the pilot. This is a little different than other series, at least in that they already have a straight-to-series commitment for ten episodes. In the event that this show is successful, the plan is to use future seasons to tell other stories in the same vein. With that being said, we don’t expect to see as much of the same cast here every year. It’s a little more difficult when you are dealing with real people versus characters that are just being made up for the heck of it.

For now, we feel like it has a good chance of doing well. The problem will be proving to prospective viewers that they are looking at something here that is a little bit more than just a Lifetime TV movie, since they tend to constantly focus on similar subjects.

What do you think about the idea of this series? Let us know some of your thoughts right now with a comment.