After spending months in the dark about the theme for season six of “American Horror Story,” I finally received my sweet release when the show aired. With ratings taking a nosedive after season five “Hotel,” Ryan Murphy, creator of AHS, was desperate to surprise his audience with something fresh. Despite the rotating cast and diverse characters, the show had fallen into a rut.

The first episode of season six showed promise with a new docu-series format. Actors Lily Rabe, Andre Holland and Adina Porter told real life stories in the show “My Roanoke Nightmare,” and Sarah Paulson, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Angela Bassett starred as those characters in the reenactment.

The docu-series format resembles a show that would air on the crime network, ID. Although I think the docu-series is clever, I find myself wondering if they hired Lily Rabe, who has played the possessed nun and free-spirited witch in previous seasons, only to act as the storyteller.

Viewers quickly caught on to the theme “My Roanoke Nightmare,” and came to the conclusion that this season has something to do with the disappearing Roanoke Colony. As of right now, there is no way to determine if the directors have created a fictional explanation for how or why the colony disappeared. I would enjoy a twist like that at some point in the season.

Lovebirds Matt and Shelby move out of L.A. and to rural North Carolina after an act of gang violence causes Shelby to lose her baby. The couple outbids a family of inbred hillbillies and purchases a large farmhouse in the middle of the woods.

The scares come in several forms for the couple, from noises at night, cloaked intruders, a dead pig and other subtle instances. Murphy includes certain cliches, such as Matt being a traveling salesmen who has to leave Shelby home alone for days at a time, only to counteract the cliche with never before seen horrors, such as Shelby going outside to find it is raining teeth.

Season six seems to be a beacon of hope for AHS. The premiere was simple but scary, and reminded me of the earlier seasons of American Horror Story. With this show, I can always count on the bizarre and twisted plots, but the recent seasons have pushed the limit.

All I can do is sit back and hope that all my waiting will pay off.