‘Impeachment: American Crime Story’ Is Lacking The Buzz And Viewership Of Its Lauded Predecessors — But Why?

When American Crime Story was getting ready to premiere in 2016, it was big news. The first season of the show — created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Brad Simpson, and Nina Jacobson — hit just about every major check mark it could. Here was an all-star creative team with an all-star cast tackling one of the biggest crime sagas in modern American history: the O.J. Simpson trial. The response to the limited series, from audiences and the Hollywood creative community alike, exceeded its massive hype. Live plus seven day viewership for the series averaged 7.7 million, and the show racked up 22 Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning nine (including the big prize of Outstanding Limited Series). But The People v. O.J. Simpson accomplished something bigger, finally contextualizing and explaining the rift between those opposed to Simpson and those who wanted him to walk free while sparking a nationwide conversation about America’s treatment of Marcia Clark. In short, it was a success on every level imaginable.

The third season of American Crime Story, Impeachment, debuted last month and focuses on the affair between President Bill Clinton and White House intern Monica Lewinsky. In theory, this show should be just as explosive as the Simpson case: it’s got sex, scandal, gossip, political mayhem, Deep State skulduggery, and even dial-up internet. Yet the interest — from both the general public and television critics — just doesn’t seem to be there. So what gives?

Theory #1: Are There Too Many Ryan Murphy Shows?

Out of all the possible reasons for Impeachment’s performance, this one is the least likely, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not worth exploring. There are currently a truly shocking number of shows and movies executive produced by Ryan Murphy across all of television. Are people getting tired of his particular brand of gruesome yet humane theatricality?

The critical quality of Murphy’s work has always been thinkpieced to death (by this very site!) But that’s not the question here. The question is are audiences tired of Murphy’s work? And the answer seems to be a resounding no. Thankfully, we have numbers for this argument.

In 2020 alone, Murphy and his team produced 9-1-1: Lone Star, a new season of 9-1-1, the miniseries Hollywood, the documentary A Secret Love, The Politician Season 2, the first season of the drama Ratched, an adaptation of The Boys in the Band, and an adaptation of the musical The Prom. That’s eight major projects in a single year, and 2021 has been even more impressive. So far we’ve seen the third and final season of Pose, not one but two new seasons of 9-1-1, a second season of 9-1-1: Lone Star, the Emmy-winning miniseries Halston, the documentary Pray Away, Season 10 of American Horror Story: Double Feature, a new spinoff known as American Horror Stories, and Impeachment: American Crime Story. That’s nine projects, eight of which are seasons of television, and we’re only in October. Needless to say, Ryan Murphy has fully saturated the market.

It’s impossible to know how Murphy’s Netflix projects have been performing since the streaming giant keeps its numbers to itself. But we do know that Ewan McGregor’s role in Halston won the streamer an Emmy, which is a point to team Murphy. We can also look to how Murphy’s Fox and FX shows have performed. Last season of Fox’s 9-1-1 had about 6.4 million viewers; Fox’s 9-1-1: Lone Star had about 5.4 million viewers; FX’s Pose averaged 0.4 million viewers; and American Horror Story: Double Feature has been averaging 0.6 million viewers an episode. With the exception of American Horror Story, a show with a viewership that’s likely been effected by its FX on Hulu availability, all of these numbers are pretty normal. 9-1-1 averaged 6.8 million in Season 3; Lone Star averaged 6.1 million in its first season; and Pose averaged 0.5 mill in Season 2. Those drops are fairly predictable when it comes to new seasons of returning shows. They aren’t red flags. Also American Horror Stories marked FX on Hulu’s most successful launch to date, earning the series a second season.

So, no. Based on all the information we have available, it seems unlikely that audiences want less from Ryan Murphy. If anything the opposite seems to be true. Impeachment‘s floundering is likely due to something else.

Theory #2: Can We Blame Confusion Surrounding The FX on Hulu Brand?

It’s impossible to brush this fact aside: Impeachment: ACS is difficult to watch. No, we don’t mean the subject matter of the show. Rather, we mean that it is VERY DIFFICULT to find the right place to watch this show, either when it’s airing live or on next-day streaming.

Here’s why: At the moment, there are basically two forms of FX originals. There are FX shows that premiere on FX and come to Hulu the day after they air on the cable network. These shows, documentaries, and miniseries, like What We Do in the Shadows and American Horror Story, are FX exclusives that can be watched through cable, live TV skinny bundles, and Hulu. Then there are FX on Hulu originals. These are partnerships between FX and Hulu, like Y: The Last Man and Reservation Dogs. They can only be watched on Hulu. Sort of confusing, but once you get the FX versus FX on Hulu terminology down, it makes sense right?

Great. Enter Impeachment: American Crime Story, an FX original that does not and will not go to Hulu.

It can all be explained due to the boring, ultra-confusing world of licensing agreements. In 2016, Netflix inked a deal so that all seasons of American Crime Story would come to the streaming giant. This deal was made years before FX on Hulu was a thought in anyone’s mind. It’s also not exclusive to American Crime Story. Thanks to a separate deal, Netflix also has the streaming rights to another Ryan Murphy FX series, Pose.

But no matter the reason, the result is the same. At this time in a streaming and television landscape in which FX has trained viewers to expect new episodes of its shows to appear on Hulu, you can’t watch one of FX’s biggest 2021 premieres on Hulu. It’s entirely possible that some people who wanted to watch Impeachment realized that they needed cable to do so, then abandoned it. After all, there’s a lot of TV out there. Asking viewers to hunt and peck to find your show is becoming a bigger and bigger ask. Based on this, Impeachment‘s ratings — currently well south of 1MM same day viewers per episode — could all come down to its ease of streaming, or lack thereof.

Theory #3: Are People Sick of the Clintons?

There could also be a subject matter problem with this new season. Monica Lewinsky’s affair with President Bill Clinton was one of the biggest national scandals of the 1990s, one that ranks up there with O.J. Simpson’s trial. But whereas the Simpson case faded into the background after the ’90s, the Clintons never went away. Impeachment could be floundering simply because we’re tired of hearing about this particular political family.

No matter how you voted in the 2016 election, the Clintons likely left a bad taste in your mouth. That election cycle was defined by the Republican Party and Donald Trump’s supporters criticizing almost every detail about the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. Five years later, it’s still not uncommon to hear people chant “Lock her up” about a candidate who wasn’t even the Democratic nominee for the 2020 election. And if you supported Hillary Clinton in 2016, the name “Clinton” likely reminds you of that political loss as well as the overwhelming sense of fear that surrounded Trump’s one-term presidency. Basically? The word “Clinton” inspires bad vibes for everyone.

Most people use television as a form of escapism. It’s not absurd to imagine that after some of the most contentious and stressful years in modern American history, some would want to avoid any sort of media that reminded them of Donald Trump, the Clintons, or the 2016 election. That could be an explanation for Impeachment’s low numbers. But there was a time period when that may not have been the case.

Theory #4: Was It Just Bad Timing?

Originally, Impeachment was supposed to premiere its first episode on Sunday, September 27, 2020. If that happened, the series would have been six episodes into its saga — roughly where we are right now — ahead of Election Day 2020.

When it was first announced that Impeachment would air mere weeks before the 2020 election, it sparked controversy. The announcement from FX head John Landgraf resulted in a tense panel at the Television Critics Association’s 2019 tour about how this season may affect the outcome of the election. In the wake of this budding criticism, Landgraf held firm as reporters worried. “People are gonna be very interested in this right around the presidential election, and this is gonna be a great show,” Landgraf said at the time. “I don’t believe it’s going to determine who is the next president of the United States.”

Whether or not this controversy made sense, the timing did. Airing a dissection of a major presidential scandal right before an election was TV scheduling no brainer. That was especially true because, at the time, Hillary Clinton was still considered to be a possible choice for the Democratic party.

But as we now know, that 2020 premiere never happened. Production was pushed back due to delays caused by COVID-19. Instead of airing at a time when politics and election results were at the forefront of the nation’s mind, it’s now airing during a time when most Americans are more concerned with figuring out their new normal and navigating an ongoing global pandemic. At the moment, most Americans want a break from thinking about politics. It would make sense for this to hold true when it came to their TV habits. That’s another strike against Impeachment, and it’s an especially unlucky one.

Theory #5: Do People Already Know This Story Too Well?

Then there’s the thorny story of Impeachment itself. In its first two seasons, American Crime Story made modern history feel unexpected. The People v. O.J. Simpson didn’t focus much on Simpson’s guilt or innocence, but instead portrayed the trial as a national morality play. It implored audiences to think differently about those who wanted Simpson to walk free, Marcia Clark and Chris Darden, and Ron Goldman’s overlooked murder. The Assassination of Gianni Versace took this insightful lens to a whole new level. It blew up the murder of this deeply influential designer so it could point an accusing finger at the homophobia of America’s police force, media, and the nation itself. What was once considered as merely a tragedy was painted as a completely preventable loss of human life.

These are retellings of history that offer clear but unexpected victims and aggressors. Impeachment doesn’t exactly do that with its central story. Monica Lewinsky’s take on her affair with President Bill Clinton serves as the main source of inspiration for this season, so much so that the real Lewinsky has been credited as a producer. And the way Lewinsky has always told it is far murkier than the alluring temptress the media sold to people throughout the ’90s. Impeachment make a point to show that Lewinsky didn’t lure Clinton away from his wife, and she (mostly) didn’t stalk him. They both flirted with each other as mutually consenting adults. As many times as Lewinsky would flash her thong in the White House or appear in the front row of a presidential event, Clinton would call her at home, invite her to those events, or make up excuses to see her at work. Through this relationship, Impeachment isn’t entirely a story of abusing power dynamics in the workplace. That’s an undercurrent, but largely Impeachment explores how this affair was used as part of a ploy to make the President of the United States lie under oath, thereby taking down the most important man in America.

There are elements of Impeachment that offer clear heroes and villains. Annaleigh Ashford’s take on Paula Jones, the woman who sued Clinton for sexual harassment, is absolutely heartbreaking. Conversely, Cobie Smulders cutthroat portrayal of Ann Coulter is so deliciously conniving you can feel how much fun Smulders is having in the role. In fact, the Jones case is one of the few elements of this story that’s not nationally well known, offering a completely different view of this scandal that often feels like its own show. But when it comes to Lewinsky and Bill Clinton, Impeachment offers nuance to what was once considered a cut and dry story.

As mentioned before, the old narrative of Lewinsky as the pursuant falls apart in Impeachment. But the same can be said of the interpretation that emerged in the wake of the Time’s Up movement. As Lewinsky tells it, she was never a victim of workplace sexual abuse or harassment. She had an office affair. While more interesting and honest, that telling of history is sure to be a disappointment for anyone who was solely hoping for a show that cast Lewinsky as either a clear villain or a victim. It’s also this murkiness that could help explain the show’s lower critical ratings. It’s hard to condense how we feel about Impeachment partially because as a nation we don’t know what to do with Lewinsky or Clinton. Their story requires a lot of gray, and gray is hard to sort into “objectively good” or “objectively bad” categories. But there is one larger narrative reason why this show may not be hitting in 2021.

Theory #6: Do We Just Want to Watch Something Nice?

Exhaustion of the Clintons, bad timing, streaming confusion, and most people’s general hatred of murky stories likely bear the brunt of the blame for Impeachment‘s lackluster reception thus far. But there’s another factor to consider. After an anxiety-inducing four years of Trump, a stressful election, a global pandemic, and a million other social upheavals, people are tired. They want an escape from the intensity of life right now. And that escapism can be seen in our television choices.

The biggest shows of late 2020 and 2021 haven’t been defined by deep moral questioning. They’re light. Netflix’s Bridgerton was a steamy romance romp that was little more than sex scenes and gossipy drama. Netflix hit its steamy stride again in 2021 with jaw-dropping Sex/Life. HBO’s The White Lotus was a gorgeous vacation escape that encouraged people to laugh at the myriad foibles of the 1%. Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso was another installment of a sweet, uplifting comedy that has just enough therapeutic talk to act as a self-help guide. Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building was a quirky comedy that was part true crime dissection, part fall fashion aspirations.

Loki. Rick and Morty. WandaVision. Hacks. The Other Two. All of these shows are more than just laughs or spectacle; there’s real emotional depth to all of these programs. But they come in fun, easy-to-tweet packages. More often than not what has dominated people’s queues have been romances, sci-fi insanity, and straight up silly shows. Even Netflix’s mega popular international hit, Squid Game, has a dash of twisted levity to it. Though the series is unabashedly about the failures of capitalism, it’s also entirely possible to watch it as a twisted game show, much like Saw or The Hunger Games.

Impeachment: American Crime Story offers none of that lightheartedness. There’s no silliness, no bright wrappers to hide its larger themes. Instead, it’s a dense thriller that asks its audiences to examine how they were complicit in ruining the life of a single woman. That’s a worthy story to tell. But it’s also a heavy show that’s coming out during a time when light and fun is in vogue.

There may come a time when Impeachment: American Crime Story will be acknowledged and praised for its dissection of history. That reassessment may even happen when the series eventually comes to Netflix. Sarah Burgess’ miniseries is an insightful one, a show that constantly strives to humanize its characters and give agency back to the women whose lives were forever scarred and defined by President Bill Clinton. But for a myriad of reasons, now doesn’t seem to be the time for that acknowledgment.

Where to stream Impeachment: American Crime Story