American Horror Story: Ryan Murphy Reveals His Favorite Episode

American Horror Story, the FX horror anthology series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, marks a major milestone tonight. With tonight’s episode of American Horror Story: 1984, the series hits its 100th episode and over nine seasons so far, American Horror Story has covered a lot of ground, offering everything from ghosts to witches to aliens to the actual end of the world. It’s a lot to look back on and even for fans, it can be hard to pick a favorite episode from the series but for Murphy the answer to “what is your favorite American Horror Story episode” is pretty straightforward: he’s going back to where it all began.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Murphy was asked to list his all-time favorite episodes. Unsurprisingly, each season was represented with one episode each, but it was his overall favorite that will strike a chord with fans of the series. Murphy said his all-time favorite episode is Murder House, “Pilot”, for many reasons including how much work went into making it a reality.

“The first, and always number one in my heart, for several reasons,” Murphy said. “One, Brad [Falchuk] and I spent so long on it… years on the pitch, years on the script, until [FX CEO] John Landgraf and [co-head of 20th Century Fox TV] Dana Walden and Brad and I got it to where we wanted.”

Murphy explained that the whole thing took about four years from idea to filming, but also said that it was a huge risk at well, due in part to his idea to start over from scratch every season.

“Dana Walden has said to me several times it was one of the most out of the box ideas in the history of modern television, and I think she’s right,” Murphy said. “I remember John saying to me when I gave him the final pitch, ‘Wait a minute… you’re going to burn down the sets every year and start over every season?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He paused and then said ‘This scares me… but excites me, too. Let’s do it.’ That first season sort of reinvented the anthological storytelling space that I loved as a kid and has ushered in a whole new way of MAKING television creatively and economically and I’m very proud of that.”

Murphy also explained that the series pilot is his favorite because of the cast as well. He described Jessica Lange as an idol of his, noting that it was a privilege to work with her as well as become her friend.

“By the end of the first day she said something to me like, ‘This is insane, but I trust you,’” Murphy said of Lange. “She kissed my cheek and we were off. I remember Brad and Connie [Britton] and Jessica and I were constantly saying to each other, “This is so strange. What are we doing here?” We were always taking the script apart and redoing it. It was like this great thrill ride, that we found in the filming. The only person who never wavered ever was Dylan McDermott. Always grinning, always so in the part and willing to go anywhere. I remember on the day I had to direct him masturbating and crying I said after the first take ‘I know this is odd—are you OK?’ And he smiled and said, ‘I’m good.’ I said, ‘How can you be good? This is so weird.’ He smiled and said, ‘Because this thing is gonna be a f***ing hit.’ And he was right.”

And isn’t just the series pilot that earned Murder House some love on the list. Murphy chose the Apocalypse episode “Return to Murder House” as his fourth favorite, citing series star Sarah Paulson’s work as director on the episode as well as the return of Lange, as well as the appearances of Emma Roberts and Billy Porter, too.

“I loved being on set when Jessica made her grand return,” Murphy said. “She and Sarah have such a deep relationship and laugh so much. There is nothing more fun in the world than a dinner with Sarah Paulson and Jessica Lange and a bottle of good red. Even more fun if you get a cameo appearance by Emma Roberts and Billy Porter.”

American Horror Story: 1984 airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on FX. The series’ 100th episode, “Episode 100” debuts tonight.

What’s your favorite episode of American Horror Story? Let us know in the comments below.