{"id":2080154,"date":"2026-08-05T15:00:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2080154"},"modified":"2026-08-05T15:00:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:00:52","slug":"the-shards-review-american-psycho-authors-stabby-meta-memoir-is-an-la-horror-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2080154","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Shards\u2019 review: \u2018American Psycho\u2019 author\u2019s stabby meta-memoir is an LA horror story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/FX-s-The-Shards.jpg.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"template-id-3332206\" class=\"post-3332206 tdb_templates type-tdb_templates status-publish post\">\n<div id=\"tdi_65\" class=\"tdc-zone\">\n<div class=\"tdc_zone tdi_66  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div id=\"tdi_67\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_68  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_70  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_71 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_71\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"696\" height=\"442\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/FX-s-The-Shards.jpg-696x442.jpg\" alt=\"The Shards cast\" title=\"FX s The Shards.jpg\"><figcaption class=\"tdb-caption-text\">&#8216;The Shards&#8217;. CREDIT: FX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_72\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_73  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_75  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_breadcrumbs tdi_76 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-breadcrumbs \" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_76\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span>Reviews<\/span><span>TV Reviews<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_title tdi_77 tdb-single-title td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_77\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">\u2018The Shards\u2019 review: \u2018American Psycho\u2019 author\u2019s stabby meta-memoir is an LA horror story<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_78 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_78\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>Created by Ryan Murphy, this 10-part series is set against the backdrop of 1980s Los Angeles \u2013 when violent murderers stalked seemingly every boulevard<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_review_overall tdi_79 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_79\">\n<table class=\"td-review td-fix-index\">\n<tr class=\"td-review-footer rate_stars\">\n<td class=\"td-review-score\">\n<div class=\"td-review-overall\">\n<div class=\"td-review-final-score\">4<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_80 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_80\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span> James Mottram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_81 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_81\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2026-08-05T16:00:52+01:00\">5th August 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_82\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_83  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_85  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap big-read-dropcap\">\u201cK<\/strong>\u00a0ids today have it fuckin\u2019 easy,\u201d says Bret AKA Bret Easton Ellis, the controversial author of <i>American Psycho<\/i> and <i>The Rules Of Attraction<\/i>. Published in 2023, <i>The Shards<\/i> is his meta-memoir, now metamorphosed into a deliciously lurid new show \u2013 a highly fictionalised look at his senior high school year. Sure, Gen Alpha have to reckon with Trump, climate change and unemployment but 1981 Los Angeles was the era of the serial killer.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>READ MORE: The best films of 2026\u2026 so far!<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez and John Wayne Gacy all stalking the land, the innocence of the American childhood has ebbed away with every new bodybag. Here, set to tunes such as The Stranglers\u2019 \u2018Golden Brown\u2019, Duran Duran\u2019s \u2018Planet Earth\u2019 and \u2018Vienna\u2019 by Ultravox, The City Of Angels\u2019 sunny climes can\u2019t mask the fact that darkness and death lurk in parking lots and alleyways. Or in one case, a tennis court, as a luckless female victim finds out when she is strung up against the net.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Stylish, sexy and sick \u2013 exactly as Easton Ellis would like it \u2013 <i>The Shards<\/i> is created by one-man TV machine Ryan Murphy (<i>Glee<\/i>, <i>American Horror Story<\/i>), who directs the opening episode and sets the tone for what\u2019s to come. Murphy is perfectly suited for a show which, if the title hadn\u2019t been used, could easily be called \u201cThe Bold And The Beautiful\u201d. When its glam-squad cast of high-schoolers aren\u2019t hanging out at the mall shopping for vinyl, they\u2019re blowing their allowance on drugs.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FX's The Shards | Official Trailer | Disney+ UK\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3dbVycaLvvI?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>With Bret played by rising star Igby Rigney (who last year, oddly enough, featured in true-crime series <i>Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy<\/i>), the set-up for this 10-episode series sees him ogle a mysterious newcomer at a screening of <i>The Shining<\/i>. A year later, he discovers this handsome young fellow is Robert Mallory (Homer Gere), a new attendee at the elite Hollywood high school where they all pretend to carve themselves out an education.<\/p>\n<p>While Bret is content dating fellow student Debbie (Hayes Warner) and hanging with friends Thom (Graham Campbell) and Susan (Kaia Gerber), the presence of Robert unsettles him, particularly when the newcomer refuses to acknowledge that they saw each other a year earlier. Who exactly is he \u2013 just another popularity-seeking rival at school or is there something more sinister about him?<\/p>\n<p>While the show doesn\u2019t over-egg the fact that Bret is supposed to be Easton Ellis himself \u2013 aside from a brief mention of <i>Less Than Zero<\/i>, the debut novel he would publish in 1985 \u2013 the idea that the author of <i>American Psycho<\/i> should grow up in a land filled with them is tantalising. Playing with notions of paranoia, we\u2019re left wondering if Robert could be connected to the murderous spree that\u2019s left the city paralysed with fear.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>Blessed with spot-on eighties production design (Debbie\u2019s landline phone, shaped like a pair of lips, is a particular highlight), the show\u2019s only misstep is casting Cindy Crawford\u2019s 24-year-old daughter Kaia Gerber as a high-schooler. Although you suspect her selection opposite Richard Gere\u2019s son Homer was deliberate, a nod to the fact that Crawford and Gere were once married. In LA, it seems, there are almost as many nepo babies as maniac killers.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018The Shards\u2019 is available to watch on Disney+ now<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_tags tdi_87 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_87\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<ul class=\"tdb-tags\">\n<li><span>Related Topics<\/span><\/li>\n<li>The Shards<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_88\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_89  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_91  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"vc_row_inner tdi_93  vc_row vc_inner wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column_inner tdi_95  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-inner-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"vc_column-inner\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_wrap vc_raw_html tdi_97 \">\n<div class=\"td-fix-index\">\n<h3>More Stories<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap td_flex_block_1 tdi_98 td-pb-border-top td_module_flex_1--card td_module_flex_1--card--highlight td_block_template_2 tdc-no-posts td_flex_block\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_98\">\n<div id=\"tdi_98\" class=\"td_block_inner td-mc1-wrap\">\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Gaming News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Former \u2018Grand Theft Auto\u2019 developer wouldn\u2019t be shocked if \u2018GTA 6\u2019 is delayed again<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Film News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Every song on Green Day\u2019s\u00a0\u2018Nimrods\u2019\u00a0soundtrack<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Film News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">\u2018Drive\u2019 director pays tribute to late composer Kavinsky: \u201cAn icon of French pop\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Queens Of The Stone Age launch their own complaints hotline: \u201cNo bitching too big. No whiny too tiny\u201d<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Album Reviews<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Role Model \u2013 \u2018Chuck Timely &amp; The Hourglass\u2019 review: a super-smooth depiction of singledom<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Kanye West sued by producer for allegedly refusing to pay him for two years<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_99\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_100  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_102  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_wrap vc_raw_html tdi_104 \">\n<div class=\"td-fix-index\">\n<h3>You May Also Like<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><span><\/span><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><\/article>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap big-read-dropcap\">\u201cK<\/strong>\u00a0ids today have it fuckin\u2019 easy,\u201d says Bret AKA Bret Easton Ellis, the controversial author of <i>American Psycho<\/i> and <i>The Rules Of Attraction<\/i>. Published in 2023, <i>The Shards<\/i> is his meta-memoir, now metamorphosed into a deliciously lurid new show \u2013 a highly fictionalised look at his senior high school year. Sure, Gen Alpha have to reckon with Trump, climate change and unemployment but 1981 Los Angeles was the era of the serial killer.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>READ MORE: The best films of 2026\u2026 so far!<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez and John Wayne Gacy all stalking the land, the innocence of the American childhood has ebbed away with every new bodybag. Here, set to tunes such as The Stranglers\u2019 \u2018Golden Brown\u2019, Duran Duran\u2019s \u2018Planet Earth\u2019 and \u2018Vienna\u2019 by Ultravox, The City Of Angels\u2019 sunny climes can\u2019t mask the fact that darkness and death lurk in parking lots and alleyways. Or in one case, a tennis court, as a luckless female victim finds out when she is strung up against the net.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span><\/div>\n<p>Stylish, sexy and sick \u2013 exactly as Easton Ellis would like it \u2013 <i>The Shards<\/i> is created by one-man TV machine Ryan Murphy (<i>Glee<\/i>, <i>American Horror Story<\/i>), who directs the opening episode and sets the tone for what\u2019s to come. Murphy is perfectly suited for a show which, if the title hadn\u2019t been used, could easily be called \u201cThe Bold And The Beautiful\u201d. When its glam-squad cast of high-schoolers aren\u2019t hanging out at the mall shopping for vinyl, they\u2019re blowing their allowance on drugs.<\/p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FX's The Shards | Official Trailer | Disney+ UK\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3dbVycaLvvI?feature=oembed&amp;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<p>With Bret played by rising star Igby Rigney (who last year, oddly enough, featured in true-crime series <i>Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy<\/i>), the set-up for this 10-episode series sees him ogle a mysterious newcomer at a screening of <i>The Shining<\/i>. A year later, he discovers this handsome young fellow is Robert Mallory (Homer Gere), a new attendee at the elite Hollywood high school where they all pretend to carve themselves out an education.<\/p>\n<p>While Bret is content dating fellow student Debbie (Hayes Warner) and hanging with friends Thom (Graham Campbell) and Susan (Kaia Gerber), the presence of Robert unsettles him, particularly when the newcomer refuses to acknowledge that they saw each other a year earlier. Who exactly is he \u2013 just another popularity-seeking rival at school or is there something more sinister about him?<\/p>\n<p>While the show doesn\u2019t over-egg the fact that Bret is supposed to be Easton Ellis himself \u2013 aside from a brief mention of <i>Less Than Zero<\/i>, the debut novel he would publish in 1985 \u2013 the idea that the author of <i>American Psycho<\/i> should grow up in a land filled with them is tantalising. Playing with notions of paranoia, we\u2019re left wondering if Robert could be connected to the murderous spree that\u2019s left the city paralysed with fear.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\">\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<p>Blessed with spot-on eighties production design (Debbie\u2019s landline phone, shaped like a pair of lips, is a particular highlight), the show\u2019s only misstep is casting Cindy Crawford\u2019s 24-year-old daughter Kaia Gerber as a high-schooler. Although you suspect her selection opposite Richard Gere\u2019s son Homer was deliberate, a nod to the fact that Crawford and Gere were once married. In LA, it seems, there are almost as many nepo babies as maniac killers.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018The Shards\u2019 is available to watch on Disney+ now<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/reviews\/tv-reviews\/the-shards-review-american-psycho-bret-easton-ellis-ryan-murphy-3960749&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/FX-s-The-Shards.jpg.jpg&#8221;] &#8216;The Shards&#8217;. CREDIT: FX ReviewsTV Reviews \u2018The Shards\u2019 review: \u2018American Psycho\u2019 author\u2019s stabby meta-memoir is an LA horror story Created by Ryan Murphy, this 10-part series is set against the backdrop of 1980s Los Angeles \u2013 when violent murderers stalked seemingly every boulevard 4 By James Mottram 5th August 2026 \u201cK\u00a0ids today [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,78],"class_list":["post-2080154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nme-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2080154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080154\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2080154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2080154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2080154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}