How much of Ryan Murphy's 'The Beauty' will you make it through?

Oh boy, it’s time for another round of my favorite game, How Long Can I Watch Ryan Murphy’s New TV Show?! The last time I played I made it through four episodes of All’s Fair, and now it’s time to try Ryan Murphy’s latest series, The Beauty. I was actually not aware of this show’s existence until I saw a commercial for it during the Golden Globes—another strike against the Globes!

The Beauty is co-created by Murphy and Matt Hodgson, and it stars Ashton Kutcher, Rebecca Hall, Evan Peters, Anthony Ramos, Jeremy Pope, and Isabella Rossellini. One thing you really can’t complain about when it comes to Ryan Murphy’s TV farming operation is the casting. He always gets fantastic ensemble casts (Kim Kardashian aside). The series also boasts a roster of guest stars, including Billy Eichner, Ari Graynor, Megan Trainor, Nicola Peltz Beckham, Ray Nicholson, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Bella Hadid, who features heavily in the trailer.

So it’s The Substance but instead of mysterious goo it’s an STI with an off-label application. Gotcha. Based on the trailer, does The Beauty look good? No, not really. But I cannot stop this game of mine, I MUST at least attempt every Ryan Murphy show. Because you never know! Sometimes his assembly line pops out something good, like The People v. O.J. Simpson or Doctor Odyssey or three seasons of American Horror Story (Murder House, Coven, and Freak Show, which are the most watchable seasons). Plus, he DOES get good actors for his projects, I sort of want to see what Rebecca Hall makes of a Murphy joint.

While he has some loyal dudes in his repertory, such as Evan Peters and John Carroll Lynch, Murphy is best known for consistently casting women of a certain age, giving Emmy-winning roles to the likes of Jessica Lange, Niecy Nash-Betts, and Kathy Bates, never mind everyone who has been nominated. In more than one instance, a Ryan Murphy show has been a shot in the arm for a middle-aged actress’s career. No one is really prioritizing that the way Murphy is, which is undoubtedly how he keeps attracting top-tier talent despite the majority of his shows being some combination of tacky, hacky, and crappy.

He also just plain gets sh-t made. In this current atmosphere of cost-cutting and production reduction, Ryan Murphy keeps pumping crap out, employing hundreds. Ryan Murphy is not cutting production! This is why I can never quite give up on him. Every once in a while, he puts his name on something genuinely good, and he just plain makes work. And he makes work for women whose careers might otherwise be slowing down because of age.

I go into every Ryan Murphy hoping for the best, and every once in a while, that hope is rewarded. Will it be this time? Ashton Kutcher’s presence says probably not but hope springs eternal.

Here’s the cast of The Beauty at the premiere last night in New York.

Jeremy Pope, Isabella Rossellini, Bella Hadid, Rebecca Hall, and Evan Peters attend the series premiere of FX’s ‘The Beauty’ at MoMA on January 14, 2026