I thought for a moment that with the wrapping up of so many TV shows over the last few weeks, we were in for a long, cold and lonely winter. Not so apparently.

Today, I watched the first five episodes of An American Horror Story back to back (it's who you know, not what...) and I'm sitting on the next five, so I figure it's going to be a pretty long night. Thus far, it's proved itself to be the most original, ingenious piece of TV writing craft and the best cast serial that I've watched in years - certainly since LOST crashed into our lives - and only goes to hammer the final nail in the coffin of what I've been saying for years. The movie industry is losing out to TV every single week. Maybe not financially but certainly when it comes to the craft.

Anyway, what the hell is An American Horror Story all about? That would be a very good question my friends. What this very smart writing crew have done is thrown everything in the freaking book at this show - everything that is except the 'everything' you would expect an American horror show. There's no blood to speak of, no big sweeping gestures of cliche and is potentially just as full of no answers as LOST.

We've got a damaged neighbour with Down's Syndrome, Jessica Lange being fabulous and a guy with half a face who won't go away. We've got a whole bunch of people that won't stay dead, some clueless coppers, a housemaid who might be old but half of the time isn't and best of all, a mysterious S&M latex bound figure lurking in the background.

It's not a show that could ever come out of the UK - it's very, very American and all the better for it. It just wouldn't work coming from here. To be honest, I'm hooked, intrigued and extremely jealous. An American Horror Story - if I may be so bold - is sheer fucking unadulterated genius.

And to cap it all off, they even have knockout posters to go with it.