Shoppers' Rug Mart
Show: Mr. Selfridge, which airs under the Masterpiece Classic banner Sundays at 9 PM on PBS.
Plot: Brash American entrepreneur Harry Selfridge (Jeremy Piven) moves to London with a plan to open a stylishly elegant yet utterly modern department store. And he does! But is it all worth it? Yes!
Soapy Intrigue: Much like many other Piven characters, Harry is horny and unscrupulous. So after coming up with the idea of turning Ellen Love (Zoë Tapper), a popular musical revue star, into "The Spirit Of Selfridge's," he gets her an apartment and installs her as his mistress. Unfortunately for him, bitch cray, and jealously crashes an in-store event with Anna Pavlova (Natalia Kremen), embarrassing Harry and herself so that he has to dump her. Meanwhile, Harry's wife Rose (Frances O'Connor) is involved in a dangerous flirtation with bohemian painter Roddy (the foxy Oliver Jackson-Cohen), who's only just learned that she's not actually a "Mrs. Buckingham." Harry is also interested in introducing his daughter Rosalie (Poppy Lee Friar) into Society, and to do so may be giving over too much power to Lady Mae (Katherine Kelly) for the sake of his social climbing. Also, the main shopgirl Agnes (Aisling Loftus) and her brother keep being menaced by their drunk dad Reg (Nick Moran), and a bunch of the store employees are fucking. That sounds like a lot, but there have actually only been a few episodes, and they're all up to stream on PBS.org.
What It Will Remind You Of: It's impossible for any British period TV drama not to be compared to Downton Abbey, but there actually is some class stuff, and anti-American prejudice, being explored that makes the comparison somewhat apt.
What’s Best About It: Jeremy Piven is trying SO HARD to stretch that his failure to be at all convincing in the role is kind of endearing. Agnes's storyline is much more compelling -- not just the way she's very bravely standing up to her worthless father, but in her tentative steps toward fulfilling her career ambition: to become a store window stylist.
What’s Worst About It: The plot moves verrrrrrrrry slowly, and a lot of the storylines are super-boring. Also, as hard as Piven is trying, he is really not succeeding.
But If I Save It Until Friday, Don’t I Risk Having Someone Spoil It For Me Before I Watch It? I'm pretty sure I'm the only one watching it, and I promise I won't spoil it for you -- not that there's much plot to spoil, anyway.
Finally, And Most Importantly, Do the Female Leads Wear Cute Outfits? The ladies' dresses and hats are very pretty to look at, but you're not likely to get any style tips from their early 20th century looks.