Netflix gave the production a two-season order in February 2018 after a bidding war involving Hulu and Amazon.

Ryan Murphy confirmed in April 2020 that a third and final season was planned, but the team wanted to take a couple of years off to let Ben Platt age a bit before filming his character's final race.

Barbra Streisand was originally in talks to join the series as a regular but turned down the role to work on her album Walls, and Jessica Lange was cast in the part instead.

Dylan McDermott joined the cast in October 2018, and he later revealed in December 2018 that January Jones had been cast to play his character's wife.

Bette Midler and Judith Light were announced as guest stars in March 2019 before becoming main cast members in season two.

Principal photography for the first season took place on location at Fullerton Union High School in Orange County, California, and in Los Angeles.

The first season received a 59% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a Metacritic score of 66, indicating generally favorable reviews, while the second season's ratings dropped to 43% on Rotten Tomatoes and 45 on Metacritic.