The Premise: The girls of Kappa House are dying for new pledges. SCREAM QUEENS is a new killer comedy-horror series from award-winning executive producers Ryan Murphy (“Glee,” “American Horror Story”), Brad Falchuk (“Glee,” “American Horror Story”) and Ian Brennan (“Glee”). Kappa House, the most sought-after sorority for pledges, is ruled with an iron fist (in a pink glove) by CHANEL OBERLIN (Emma Roberts, “American Horror Story: Freak Show,” “Scream 4”). But when anti-Kappa DEAN CATHY MUNSCH (Jamie Lee Curtis, “Halloween,” “A Fish Called Wanda,” “True Lies”) decrees that sorority pledging must be open to all students, and not just the school’s silver-spooned elite, all hell is about to break loose, as a devil-clad killer begins wreaking havoc across the campus. An over-the-top, biting satire, SCREAM QUEENS is part black comedy, part slasher flick and a modern take on the classic whodunit, in which every character has a motive for murder…or could easily be the next victim.
The Premiere Date: Tuesday, Sept. 22 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (City TV in Canada)
The Competition: AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.LD (ABC), NCIS: NEW ORLEANS (CBS), CHICAGO MED (NBC), iZOMBIE (THE CW)
The Quick Take: Bad news for SCREAM QUEENS, MTV’s small screen version of the hit horror film SCREAM already premiered this summer and did a much better job in the tongue-in-cheek-meta-serial-killer-storyline department. And while that will no doubt have little impact on Ryan Murphy’s opus from topping the ratings chart, not to mention the Facebook, Tumblr and Snapchat feeds of Fox’s coveted 18-49 demographic, SCREAM QUEENS left us with that awful feeling we got while watching GLEE at its worst (Think: Over-the-top and desperate for attention.) The only stand out being Emma Roberts, who is fantastic as the show’s uber-mean girl.
The Bottom Line: Skip the senseless SCREAM QUEENS violence for the bloody brilliance of Rob Thomas’ timslot competitor iZOMBIE over on The CW.