By Gabi Poisson ’17, Staff Writer

Conceptually, a show about sorority sisters and being burned with hydrochloric acid doesn’t seem to blend, but Scream Queens, airing Tuesdays on Fox, mixes horror and comedy, to mixed reviews.

The show revolves around a series of murders at the Kappa Kappa Tau sorority. The show stars Emma

Roberts as Chanel Oberlin, a typical mean girl, and her minions, Chanels number 2, 3, and 5 (played by Billy Lourd, Abigail Breslin, and even singer Ariana Grande). Other celebrities in the cast include Nick Jonas, Glee alum Lea Michele, and even the Scream queen herself, Jamie Lee Curtis, playing the dean of the university with a dark secret. So, in a show shaped by the same man who created hits such as Glee and American Horror Story, why is Scream Queens receiving such lukewarm reviews?

One possibility is that in the two-hour premiere, Roberts’ character, Chanel, manages to make discriminatory comments on race, gender, body type, sexuality, age, disabilities, and socio-economic background. While the intention is clearly satirical, the fact still remains that in the entire cast of the show, the only characters of color are two incompetent security guards and a new pledge for the sorority named Zayday Williams, played by Keke Palmer, whose majority of appearances in the episode were part of a racist joke. TV Guide described the show as “mean-spirited” and Las Vegas Weekly called its comedy “ugly.”

On the other hand, some found the comedy to be pushing boundaries in ways that resemble some of Regina George’s insults in Mean Girls or even the 1988 black comedy Heathers, which depicted teens killing their popular classmates and staging them as suicides. Both films, though filled with touchy subject matters, have been labeled as cult classics.

To me, the more condemning issue for the series is that, even to those who find the show inoffensive, Scream Queens is struggling to find its niche. It is not scary enough for true horror fans, yet far too gruesome for those wishing to watch a dramedy like Gossip Girl. Scream Queens is balanced precariously between Murphy’s biggest hits: Glee and American Horror Story. Whether or not it will find its footing, only time will tell.