#Wonderfalls bryan fuller show series

#Wonderfalls bryan fuller show series

The irony is that The Gilded Age was actually supposed to be a Downton prequel to begin with, with Fellowes first envisioning it as a spinoff book and then a series that would follow the beginnings of the romance between Lord and Lady Grantham. When it later became its own original show, it was intended for NBC in 2018 but then made the jump over to HBO by the following year - which, in hindsight, may have been the best move made for this not-a- Downton show. The resulting advantage is a platform that allows The Gilded Age to embrace some of its sexiest and simultaneously darkest aspects without having to tone down the material in order to comply with broadcast network standards and practices. There is nudity, yes, but what stands out more starkly than that is a particular ruthlessness and ambition amongst the characters, some of them in spite of their economic circumstances - and all done while wearing the kind of fashion made for jaw-dropping entrances. While Downton Abbey was home to many actors from across the pond who became wider household names - and used the series as a springboard into other, bigger projects (looking at you, Dan Stevens), The Gilded Age is a show that feels inherently New York, inherently American, because of the talent that makes up its cast, many of them with their origins on the Broadway stage to boot. Christine Baranski plays socialite Agnes van Rhijn, who descends from an older generation of wealth and is compelled to retain her status even as newer millionaires move in right across the street - and while she is capable of uttering the most withering remarks over a delicate teacup, she also occasionally reveals her kinder side toward those she deems worthy of those glimpses.

Much of that ingredient comes from their new neighbors Bertha and George Russell, played by Carrie Coon and Morgan Spector, social climbers whose objectives to not only carve out a niche for themselves in wealthy circles but grow their already-impressive fortune earn them plenty of enemies in the process.Д¬oon's performance in The Gilded Age is astounding, a delicate balancing act that lands somewhere between ambition and callousness, with her character's outwardly collected facade crafted by a combination of draping her figure in devastatingly gorgeous dresses (serious hat tip to costume designer Kasia Walicka-Maimone) and pretending not to care what anyone thinks about her.Д¬ynthia Nixon is a much gentler foil as Agnes' sister Ada, a spinster who depends wholly on her sister's generosity and shares her home - and the Odd Couple-esque dynamic between the two injects a much-needed dose of levity into what would otherwise be an acutely harsher drama. In private, Bertha's desperation to be accepted by her peers - who already look down on her because the modern means by which the family acquired its fortune are considered in poor taste - drives her toward hosting lavish parties and literally throwing money around, which in turn only puts her on the receiving end of more scorn. RELATED: Cynthia Nixon on 'Ratched', Whether She'd Join 'AHS', & Julian Fellowes' 'The Gilded Age' It seems there's nothing she can do correctly, so instead, she and her husband decide to stop playing by society's rules and start making their own. The show's main focus is undeniably wrapped up in this element of wealth - who has it, who wants it, and who may be willing to do anything to keep it. Even if it does give us a glimpse into the inner lives of those characters in the employ of the van Rhijn sisters or the Russells, those plotlines are more relegated to the sidelines than they were when Fellowes was lingering on the divide between upstairs and downstairs in his previous series.