Fast-paced tourney quarterfinals: American Horror Story vs Teen Wolf

We’re running a tournament to find the show that’s doing fast-paced storytelling the best. But for each round, we want to know what you think. Vote below!

Now this one, I think most people saw coming: American Horror Story vs. Teen Wolf. Although the two shows cater to decidedly different crowds, there’s the whole supernatural/horror element to both shows. Still, the question of, “who does it best?” remains.

Both shows work with abbreviated seasons, 13 episodes or so. Teen Wolf is mixing it up this year with their Summer season, affectionately known as “season 3a,” before it returns in 2014. What does that mean for Scott (Tyler Posey) and the rest of the gang? Well, now they’ve got 24 episodes in their season three to work with. This could either be a blessing for the storytelling or end up dragging out an uneventful plotline. Either way, it’s a change of pace for Teen Wolf, which might be a bit of a handicap for the guilty pleasure MTV series.

But American horror Story isn’t without its own handicaps either. Most notably is the fact that the show is, in a word, frantic. Ryan Murphy throws everything at the wall in hopes that something might stick. The show juggles countless plotlines and uses a variety of ways of telling them. There are flashbacks, flashforwards, and the, ever confusing, “present” timeline, depending on what time period the season is set in. In short, time is rarely a constant in American Horror Story. With all the bouncing around, it’s hard to tell how much time has actually passed in any given season. This doesn’t necessarily hurt the show, although sometimes it does, but it does make it a rather unlikely contender for this category.

Honestly, Teen Wolf probably takes this one. Each episode picks up almost exactly where the previous one left off, even between seasons. While this may pose issues of “suspension of disbelief” (I mean, seriously, can that much shit go wrong in one week in Scott’s life?) considering we are dealing with werewolves and other supernatural creatures, it might be best just to let that one go… Considering the unstable nature of time in the American Horror Story universe (season 2 technically spans over 40 years, what with “young investigative reporter Lana” and “bitter and hardened present-day Lana”) this one seems like a no-brainer.

Winner: Teen Wolf