Country of origin United States Original network Fox | No. of episodes 13 | |
Starring Emma Roberts
Skyler Samuels
Lea Michele
Glen Powell
Diego Boneta
Abigail Breslin
Keke Palmer
Oliver Hudson
Nasim Pedrad
Lucien Laviscount
Billie Lourd
Jamie Lee Curtis Original release September 22 (2015-09-22) – December 8, 2015 (2015-12-08) | ||
The first season of the comedy horror television series Scream Queens originally aired on Fox in the United States. It premiered on September 22, 2015 ended on December 8, 2015. The season consisted of 13 episodes.
Contents
The first season takes place at the fictional Wallace University. One of the sororities, Kappa Kappa Tau, becomes plagued by a serial killer, who uses the university's Red Devil mascot as a disguise.
Recurring
Guest
Casting
In December 2014, it was reported that Emma Roberts and Jamie Lee Curtis would be featured as series regulars. In January 2015, Lea Michele, Keke Palmer, and Abigail Breslin joined the series' main cast, as well as actress/singer Ariana Grande in a recurring capacity. Later that month, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that Nick Jonas would recur throughout the first season. In February 2015, newcomer Billie Lourd and Skyler Samuels joined the series' main cast. Later in the month, Niecy Nash joined the recurring cast as Denise, a kick-butt security guard; and British actor Lucien Laviscount, Diego Boneta and Glen Powell were confirmed as regulars. In March, Nasim Pedrad was cast as a series regular. On March 13, 2015, previously cast Manganiello was forced to depart the series, due to publicity obligations for his film Magic Mike XXL. Oliver Hudson was hired as his replacement. On June 24, 2015, it was announced that Charisma Carpenter and Roger Bart would portray Chanel #2's (Ariana Grande) parents. In August 2015, Philip Casnoff was cast as Cathy's (Curtis) husband. In September 2015, Murphy announced, through his Twitter feed, that Patrick Schwarzenegger had joined the cast. He will portray Chad's (Powell) younger brother, Thad. Chad's older brother, Brad, will be played by Chad Michael Murray; while Alan Thicke and Julia Duffy have been cast as Mr. and Mrs. Radwell.
Critical response
The first season of Scream Queens received mixed to positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the first season a 69% of approval with an average rating of 6.35/10, based on 70 reviews, with the critical consensus reading, "Too tasteless for mainstream viewers and too silly for horror enthusiasts, Scream Queens fails to satisfy." On Metacritic, the season was given a score of 59 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
IGN reviewer Terri Schwartz gave a very positive review of the two-hour premiere, giving it a 9.7 out of 10 and saying "Ryan Murphy has worked his TV magic again with a killer start to Scream Queens. From the acting to the costuming to the writing, everything about this concept and execution works. Scream Queens is as funny and self-aware as it needs to be to not bore audiences, but also offers up enough mystery and intrigue to keep even the biggest skeptic entertained." The Telegraph also gave a positive review, awarding the show four stars out of five. They commented that the show pummels "the viewer into submission with sheer, rictus-grinning relentlessness" and praised it for being "shiny, gory and whip-smart."
Robert Rorke of The New York Post panned the series, later putting it on his Worst TV of 2015 list and criticized Roberts' performance, saying that she "can't act".