‘The Watcher’ series review: Ryan Murphy’s underwhelming tribute to the American suburbian thriller

When a call comes from inside the house, Hollywood rushes to receive it, because on the other end is a guaranteed successful thriller flick. Sadly, in his latest show The Watcher, creator Ryan Murphy decided to fix something that wasn’t broken, and in the process has meandered far away from a perfectly good thriller that was served to him on a platter. Soon after, like the real family, the fictional Brannocks, played by Naomi Watts and Bobby Cannavale, start receiving letters signed by someone calling themselves, ‘The Watcher.’ In the letters, the stranger lists out personal details about the two Brannock children and becomes increasingly obsessive about the renovations that the Brannocks plan to carry out, quite literally watching their every move. The Watcher Creators: Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan Cast: Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, Mia Farrow, Noma Dumezweni, Richard Kind, Margo Martindale, Jennifer Coolidge, Terry Kinney, and others Episodes: 7 Storyline: The Brannocks move into their dream home in the suburbs but soon find themselves terrorised by anonymous letters by someone claiming to be ‘The Watcher’ However, it’s Murphy’s urge to expand the universe of the show beyond his creative means that results in a product confused about its own genre. At one point, it feels like the show has one foot each in Murphy’s popular anthologies, American Horror Story and American Crime Story.