The Shards - Ryan Murphy (Hulu, Disney)

[Rollergirl11]

TV series of Bret Easton Ellis’ fictional autobiographical novel of the same name. Has Kaia Gerber (Cindy Crawford’s daughter) and Homer Gere (son of Richard) so plenty of nepotism. Set in the eighties with spoilt good looking rich kids and a serial killer on the loose.

Anyone watching? Have seen the first episode so far. Kaia is the absolute spit of her Mum. Igby Rigney’s Bret seems to be doing a very convincing impression of Christian Bale’s Patrick Bateman. Perhaps that’s the point but it’s irritating me a bit. Continuing with the next episode this evening. Would love to know what others think!

I’ve watched 30 mins & I like the 80s vibe. This is shallow but it’s a shallow show but I don’t think the male characters (except Richard Geres son) are good looking or striking enough. They also look like they could be in school whereas both girls look mid 20s.

I don’t like the main guys narrating, Patrick Bateman did it far better.

Well the main character is actually Bret Easton Ellis who wasn’t/isn’t ridiculously good looking in real life so that’s plausible. But I agree with Kaia Gerber’s boyfriend. He isn’t well cast.

It is incredibly vapid but again I guess that’s the point.

I like it for what it is. The filming, paired with the soundtrack makes for an easy watch and I prefer it to his last outing, Love Story.

I didn’t realise he was meant to be Bret but they could have taken artistic license & made him hotter! I found episode 2 a little boring but will give it one more try. Soundtrack is good.

I am a massive Brett EE fan so have been very excited about this. I read the book when it came out and have just started a re-read.

Watched the first episode so far and absolutely love it. Brett says that Patrick Bateman is based on himself so that might be why he comes across like that.

Next episode is out tomorrow.

From my re-read of the book, the series is very close to it so far.

I used to love Ryan Murphys American Horror Story anthology but now I prefer Mike Flanagan's work, which is very similar but I find the characters are more relatable/sympathetic , IMO.

Incidentally, both RM and MF use the same actors in their shows and the main character in this show is played by Igby Rigney who is in many of MF's shows, like Midnight Mass, Midnight Club, The Fall of the House of Usher and probably more the traitor .

Watched the 3rd episode last night. Brett is such a fun-sponge!

One thing I’ve noticed is that there is zero tension.

Even the scene at the end of the episode felt flat. Again, I can’t tell if this is intentional as his books all have that same monotonous, vapid tone to them despite the extreme and gratuitous violence.

I’m in the middle of reading the book. I love Bret Easton Ellis. I’ll give it a go. It’ll be interesting to watch it when the book is so fresh in my head. I agree that I expected the character to be much better looking. They are like male models in my head when it comes to the book but that’s my fault I suppose

I thought the main actor really looks like the picture of Brett from 1981 on the author blurb. The main across are very good looking - Richard Here's soon is in it and Cindy Crawford's daughter.

Episode 3 and 4 are slightly different from the book - I would wait until you finish before watching. It is an easy read though so might not take you long. I started on Sunday evening and am on page 400(ish).

There is a specific BEE narrative which The Shards fits. I absolutely love it - my DD wants to be a teenager in Gossip Girl, I want to be a teenager in Less Than Zero.

I've watched some of the first episode but for some reason it's annoying me. Kaia Gerber is outrageously beautiful but I cannot buy her, or any of them, as kids in their final year of school!

I'm bored of Ryan Murphy tbh. Kaia is beautiful but not a patch on Cindy.

This is Bret Easton Ellis from his year book (from the back of The Shards). He would have been 18. I think that teenagers - they were 17/18 - did look older in the 70s and early 80s. The is was 1981 - he make it very clear in the book it was different from the brass mid-80s.