‘American Love Story’ and ‘Sports Story’ Are Joining ‘Horror’ and ‘Crime’
There are a seemingly endless supply of American stories. No one has proven that more conclusively than producer Ryan Murphy. He’s already produced nine seasons of American Horror Story and three seasons of American Crime Story and now he’s adding two additional types of American Storys to his portfolio: American Sports Story and American Love Story. In addition, Murphy is already planning the next season of American Crime Story before the current one has begun airing.
Both spinoff series have been ordered by FX, the home of the existing American Story franchises. Their broad topics are quite clearly stated by their titles, but the specific subjects for the first seasons of the respective Love and Sports anthologies have already been chosen. American Love Story will focus on the relationship between John F. Kennedy Jr. and Caroline Bessette-Kennedy. American Sports Story will chronicle the rise and fall of the former NFL star turned convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez.
The next season of Crime Story (after the one about the impeachment of President Bill Clinton that will begin airing next month) will focus on notorious New York nightclub Studio 54. According to Variety, it will specifically focus on “Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager who, in 1977, turned their midtown Manhattan disco into an international mecca of nightlife.” That story was previously turned into the not-very-successful biopic 54.
With all these spinoffs, Murphy has essentially found a formula he can do forever as long as the ratings are good: Find a famous true-crime story from recent history, and turn it into a single season of TV full of recognizable actors who might not be willing to sign up for an ongoing TV show but can do 13 episodes of something. There’s literally no end to the concepts that could be come American ______ Storys. It’s sort of ingenious. Impeachment: American Crime Story premieres on FX on September 7, 2021.