Monster[b] is an American biographical crime drama anthology television series created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan for Netflix.

In September 2024, the third season, titled The Original Monster, was announced to be focusing on killer Ed Gein (Charlie Hunnam).

The first two seasons received mixed reviews from critics but were ultimately a commercial success, both reaching the number-one spot on Netflix in the first week of their release.

The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story received three nominations at the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, including Best Limited or Anthology Series or Television Film.

In 2018, co-creator and co-showrunner Ryan Murphy signed a deal with Netflix for $300 million to create original television shows.

[7][18][8] On October 4, it was confirmed that the season would be titled The Original Monster, exploring Ed Gein's life as the first "celebrity serial killer" and examining how true crime evolved into a pop culture phenomenon.

[20] On June 29, 2023, Deadline reported that Cooper Koch and Nicholas Alexander Chavez were cast as Erik and Lyle Menendez, respectively, for the second season.

[37] In the second week of its release, Netflix announced that Dahmer was its ninth most popular English-language TV show of all time, with 56 million households having viewed all 10 episodes.

[41] Dahmer debuted at number-one on the Nielsen Top 10 streaming chart by garnering more than 3.6 billion minutes of viewing for the week of September 19–25, placing it 10th on the all-time list for single-week viewership.

The website's critics consensus says: "While Monster is seemingly self-aware of the peril in glorifying Jeffrey Dahmer, creator Ryan Murphy's salacious style nevertheless tilts this horror story into the realm of queasy exploitation.

[48] The website's consensus says: "Well-acted but off-puttingly sordid, Monsters leaves viewers feeling guilty without enough pleasure to compensate."

[49] The season received praise for its performances (particularly those of Bardem and Koch) and the fifth episode but criticized its runtime, inconsistent tone, and the incestuous portrayal of the Menendez brothers.

He also called out the series' creator and co-writer Ryan Murphy, stating, "[he] cannot be this naive and inaccurate about the facts of our lives so as to do this without bad intent.

"[79] Trial expert and journalist Robert Rand, author of The Menendez Murders, labeled the incest allegations as "fantasy" and pointed out that there was no credible evidence to support such claims.