American Horror Story: 10 Reasons Asylum Is The Best Season
4. It Went Further Back
Murder House hopped all over the show with timelines, but Asylum found itself (largely) rooted in 1964, which is why it worked so well. As a period piece there was something horrific of the cold and backward setting of a '60s asylum. As mentioned as well before with the social commentary, a lot of the plots just wouldn't have worked in a modern setting.
The first season that remained so far back in time, the idea of a solely period piece was later adapted for the fourth season, Freak Show, which had several crossover characters from Asylum. Roanoke's modern setting amped up the horror, but when you could phone for help it was a bit lazy. The isolation from the setting of Asylum only amped up the genuine fear of 'sh*t, they're in trouble now'. It is clear to see why Asylum became many people's favourite, back in Season 2 the show wasn't trying to be so relevant or meta, and it worked.