4. American Horror Story: Coven

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz2f_S5yPpc&w=584&h=390]

Although this is the FX drama’s third season, every season of American Horror Story is technically a new show, as Ryan Murphy smartly hits the restart button with each finale. Murphy is notorious for creating shows that fade after the first season, and this gimmick is perfectly calibrated to his gifts for throwing everything at the screen all at once. He can just burn the house down and start fresh, which is what Glee has needed for so long. In particular, last season saw the show find its footing as a Samuel Fuller-esque Carnival of Horrors, where literally anything is possible. Anne Frank even joined the cast.

This season, Murphy smartly dials down the kitsch, giving us a more tightly structured tale of young witches sent to a boarding school for exceptional people. The plot recalls X-Men in the best possible way with Taissa Farmiga in the lead, as a Rogue-like girl who drains the life out of anyone she has sex with. In addition to bringing back Asylum’s Jessica Lange and Sarah Paulson, Murphy casts Kathy Bates in a villainous role that puts her Misery character to shame. Bates has never been allowed to be so deliciously over-the-top before, and she’s clearly savoring the opportunity to go big.

If a cast Douglas Sirk would have killed for isn’t enough, this season also features albino kidnappings, exploding buses, Jessica Lange coke binges and Precious as a human voodoo doll. There’s a little something for everyone.