A ‘Miniaturist’ Masterpiece, Returns of ‘Deuce,’ ‘Shameless,’ and ‘The Last Ship’

Matt Roush
13 Comments
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HBO

A critical checklist of notable weekend TV:

The Miniaturist (Sunday, 9/8c, PBS, check local listings at pbs.org): No TV show this fall is more gorgeous to behold than Masterpiece’s sumptuous three-part adaptation of Jessie Burton’s peculiar historical novel. Set in late-1600s Amsterdam, a hotbed of corrupt commerce and religious repression, The Miniaturist evokes the Dutch Masters with its moody and dark-hued cinematography. Unfortunately, the story is a bit murky as well, telling of the Rebecca-like travails of teenage Nella (a winsome Anya Taylor-Joy), who weds an oddly aloof merchant (Alex Hassell) and finds herself a prisoner in an unhappy home with a dour sister-in-law (Romola Garai). Nella’s sole diversion: the eeriest dollhouse since Sharp Objects, populated with uncannily symbolic figurines crafted by the all-knowing but all-too-elusive title character.

Roush Review: This Fall Season, TV Gets Personal
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Roush Review: This Fall Season, TV Gets Personal

Returning Favorites: HBO launches a second season of The Deuce (9/8c), jumping a few years ahead to the gaudy glory days of 1977 disco and mainstream pornography in a gritty Manhattan. As before, Maggie Gyllenhaal (as a canny prostitute-turned-porn director) and James Franco (in a dual role as a bar owner and his wayward brother) lead a brilliant cast… Showtime’s Shameless (Sunday, 9/8c) returns for a ninth season, clouded by the knowledge that it will be the last for Emmy Rossum, who shines as eldest daughter Fiona… It’s the fifth and final tour of duty for TNT’s The Last Ship (Sunday, 9/8c), which picks up three years after saving the world from global famine. But a new threat from a South American megalomaniac puts Admiral Chandler (Eric Dane) and his team back in action, this time without the help of high-tech weaponry.

You (Sunday, 10/9c, Lifetime): Love means never having to say you’re stable in this addictively gripping thriller of dangerous romantic obsession. Gossip Girl’s Penn Badgley is a seemingly ordinary Joe who instantly falls for Beck (Elizabeth Lail), the ethereal would-be writer who walks into his bookstore. Joe is smart and amiably seductive, but the longer we stay in his head, becomes certifiable in his stalking of Beck online — she’s a social-media maven — and outside the window of her New York apartment. (Young lady, invest in blinds!) He thinks he’s in a rom-com, but You soon shifts into Psycho mode as Joe goes full Norman Bates on anyone who sees as a threat to his pursuit.

Kidding (Sunday, 10/9c, Showtime): And yet I’m not sure Joe is any more creepy than the sad clown played by Jim Carrey in this maudlin new dramedy, which reunites the star with his Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry. Carrey is Jeff Piccirillo, aka Mr. Pickles, a beloved kiddie-show TV host in the model of Mister Rogers, though it’s hard to believe with his worn rubber face and Prince Valiant hairstyle that children wouldn’t run from Mr. Pickles rather than embrace him. Jeff is above all a gentle man, almost absurdly naïve and innocent — he likes to tell people, “Please don’t use a bad word when you can use a good word” (on Showtime?). He is particularly ill prepared to process the grief from the death of one of his twin sons a year ago. His wife (the sublime Judy Greer) has left him, and his denial of this reality shifts Kidding’s gears with a disturbing stalking subplot including occasional bursts of Sour Pickles rage. There’s fine support from Catherine Keener (seen to better effect in Amazon’s Forever next week) as Jeff’s puppeteer sister and Frank Langella as his dour dad and TV producer. But little about Kidding rang true to me, including Langella’s refusal to let Mr. Pickles confront death on his show. Sesame Street and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood both handled the subject with grace and sensitivity — attributes Kidding mostly lacks, for all of its crocodile tears.

Inside Weekend TV: Reality TV’s favorite baker, Buddy Valastro, is back with a new Discovery Family competition series, Bake It Like Buddy (Saturday, 9/8c), in which family duos face off in bake-offs at Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, N.J… Rob Lowe stars in and directs Lifetime’s remake of the camp thriller The Bad Seed (Sunday, 8/7c), playing a single dad of a golden-child daughter (Mckenna Grace) who’s not nearly as sweet as she appears. Patty McCormack, who was Oscar-nominated for her iconic role in the 1956 original, plays the girl’s psychiatrist… Here she is, but don’t call this year’s Miss America competition (Sunday, 9/8c, ABC) a pageant. Out are the swimsuit and evening gown portions — the latter segment will allow contestants to pick eveningwear of their own choosing while discussing social impact initiatives. The emphasis is no longer on outward physical appearance but on scholarship, social awareness and empowerment.

KiddingShameless (2010)The DeuceThe Last ShipThe MiniaturistYou (2018)



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  1. R

    RedQuill

    My DVR has Season Passes for:

    The Miniaturist

    The Last Ship

    Get Shorty

    Kidding

    You

    FearTWD

    Shameless

    Whew!!! Seems like A LOT!!!

    So it will interesting...since each evening when I go into the DVR I watch whatever series I'm finding most engaging AT THAT TIME...to see which shows make it through the Whole Season...and which shows end up in the 4 backed-up => GONE category...

  2. R

    RedQuill

    Saturdays are my GF and my "Movie Night"...gonna check out The Greatest Showman on HBO...(with "bathroom breaks" to check the score in the Pitt/Penn State game)...

  3. G

    GreenElephant

    Me, I'm just waiting for the return of "Saturday Night Live" and their further lampooning of the current occupant of the White House...

    1. C

      CyanCoathanger

      I'm surprised your mommy lets you stay up that late. 😉

  4. R

    RedCupcake

    Saturday... hmm, slim pickin's. Action movies on USA network, and on TCM an interesting look at Robin Hood with Sean Connery as everyone's favorite benevolent thief. 😉 For Sunday, I'm really lookiing forward to the return of The Last Ship. (Yay! for it coming back, but Boo! because it's the beginning of the end.) And The Miniaturist looks interesting too; I may have to catch up with that one at a different time.

    (Today's video above is something about Glee... about which I could not possibly care less than I already do. Or don't. The videos are shameless clickbait by TVInsider, and I refuse to reward them by even glancing at them.)

    1. C

      CyanCoathanger

      That combined with the Find & Remind thing at the top of the pages has pretty much ruined my browsing experience with this site. The pages take forever to load, and they won't stop loading no matter what I do. I can't begin to count the number of times my browser has completely frozen and had to be restarted.

    2. R

      RedCupcake

      Find & Remind doesn't seem to bother my viewing, as in freezing the page I run an ad-blocker, don't know if that makes a difference on this site, but it's soooooo nice not to have ugly ads popping and starting videos everywhere.

      1

    3. C

      CyanCoathanger

      Find & Remind appears in the upper right hand corner of the page. You're supposed to enter your favorite shows in it, and it will remind you when they're on. It continuously changes pictures, and I don't see a way to turn it off.

      I had a decent ad blocker with Firefox. I'll have to look for one for Chrome.

  5. C

    CyanCoathanger

    As if my Sundays weren't already packed with things to watch.....In addition to Fear, Talking, and Worst Cooks, I've got to try to fit in Masterpiece, Last Ship, and maybe You if I can find the time!

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    2. C

      CyanCoathanger

      Yes, I read that. I thought they were producers of the show which is sort of like owning it...isn't it? Amazon must be offering them a fortune to defect. Would it be any different without them than All Stars which they weren't on anyway?

    3. This comment was removed by its author.

    4. C

      CyanCoathanger

      I saw an article that says they're looking at Gigi Hadid to replace Heidi. Don't know if it's true or just a rumor.

    5. This comment was removed by its author.

    6. C

      CyanCoathanger

      I don't really want to get into a discussion about this, but I will say that they were a couple having consensual sex not a case of "my boss grabbed my breast" at work, and she never did name him in her posts.

    7. This comment was removed by its author.

    8. C

      CyanCoathanger

      I'm pretty sure that tonight was the 5th episode of each since they returned in August.