Never the New

Everyone needs to stop with the " unattractive cast" nonsense. This is not Bridgerton or Downtown Abbey. This is old money versus new money in all its snooty, look down your nose glory. Christine Baranski is perfect in the lead role. Her contempt for anyone beneath her borders on hilarious. Enjoy the ride people, I get the feeling it's going to be fabulous 😊

The old and new money families of New York face off in the new series The Gilded Age. The Gilded Age, I believe, is also set in the same universe as Downton Abbey.

Set in 1882, the pilot episode introduces us to the Russells, a nouveau riche family in NYC which consists of railroad tycoon George, his strong-willed wife Bertha, their college-aged son Harry, and their naive daughter Gladys. Meanwhile, penniless young woman Marian Brook move into her wealthy aunts' home without a choice. Affluent families like the Astors and Roosevelts also appear.

The production design is good, but I'm more in awe with the elaborate costumes. The storylines are entertaining and is also upstairs-downstairs like Downton Abbey, but this new series focus more on these prominent families. The actors are great, particularly Carrie Coon, Christine Baranski, and Morgan Spector. A few of the others seem wooden, I dunno. Louisa Jacobson seems to struggle a little bit here.

But still, I'm excited to watch the next episodes.

I should have thought that when Julian Fellowes announced he was making an American Downton Abbey all of Hollywood would have been clamoring to be in it. Alas, that is not the case, as we have nobodies and B rate actors.

A very mediocre beginning that's worth at least a few more viewings, but I'm very dubious. Of course, we've already gotten a heavy dose of woke.

UPDATE: Beware, the influencers and paid reviewers are rallying to the cause. You always know these people because they review the negative reviews, not the show, and they sprinkle 10's like Unicorn dust.

This series has potential, and I'll wait it out for more episodes. Right now the acting seems a little self conscious, as though the actors aren't quite comfortable with the "gilded age" way of speaking, and some wooden delivery from a few of the players kept me from giving a higher rating for this first episode. I hope the storyline gives more than a "new money/old money" focus. That will get old soon.

The pilot episode was not as bad, nor as good, as previous reviews state. It was fair to middling, but good enough to warrant tuning in for episode two.

The same is true of Louisa Jacobson's performance as Marian Brook; adequate, let's see if she and her character grow on us.

There certainly was more wokeness and political correctness than I was expecting, but not overly so as suggested by some other reviews.

The success of Downton Abbey may have had many of us tuning in with high expectations. A few more episodes should tell us if those expectations will be met or disappointed. I am looking forward to finding out which it will be.