Matthew Weiner's Amazon Series Will Be an Anthology About the Romanovs
March 2, 2017
via Slate
Until now, all that was known about Matthew Weiner's upcoming Amazon series was that it would be an anthology. But with the writers' room now open for business, Weiner is finally willing to spill the beans and gave the Hollywood Reporter a sense of what the Mad Men creator's next act will look like.
The series, he told the Reporter, is called The Romanoffs, and its eight episodes will focus on people who believe themselves to be the descendants of the last Russian czar. He clarified that the show will be a genuine anthology, with each episode standing on its own: "Black Mirror is a different genre," Weiner said, "but if you enjoy the idea of seeing a new story every week, that will be part of it." The Romanoffs' staff includes Mad Men alumni Semi Chellas, Andre and Maria Jacquemetton, and Blake McCormick, and although Weiner has not yet begun the casting process, Weiner says when asked if any of that show's actors might make an appearance, "I definitely would not rule that out."*
Weiner also explains the reason for his choice of subject:
The reason that I picked the Romanovs is that in an era where we have social media and so much theoretical connection to each other it really seems like we're further apart than ever. And I love this idea that these characters believe themselves to be, whether they are or not, descendants of this last autocratic family who are part of one of the great true crime stories of all time. I also love that it's the chance to talk about nature v. nurture, what they have in common and what is left of a grand heritage.
Weiner also said that he planned to direct four of the eight episodes himself and that half would be shot in the U.S. and half abroad. While The Romanoffs has no set air date, he said it "should be available for streaming this time next year, maybe a little earlier."
I was lucky enough to talk with Weiner a few months ago and he said that an episode will be shot in Paris. Here is your Xixax scoop!
Matthew Weiner Recruits Isabelle Huppert & 'Mad Men' Alums For Amazon Anthology Series 'The Romanoffs'
via Deadline
The Romanoffs, Matthew Weiner's followup series to his Emmy winning Mad Men, has started to assemble its cast. Joining the Amazon contemporary anthology series as guest stars are Academy Award nominee Isabelle Huppert (Elle) and two former Mad Men co-stars, Christina Hendricks and John Slattery. Also cast in the series, co-produced with Weinstein Television, are Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire), Amanda Peet (Togetherness), and Marthe Keller (Marathon Man). No other cast members have been confirmed yet but Mad Men star Jon Hamm is among a number of well known actors rumored for roles.
Created, written, directed and executive produced by Weiner, The Romanoffs is set around the globe featuring separate stories about people who believe themselves to be descendants of the Russian royal family. Weiner is set to direct all episodes. The series will debut on Prime Video next year.
They're shooting an episode in Paris right now, I'm trying to visit the set but I seem to always miss the places by a day or two!
The first three episodes are all kind of weak. They're too long: not really movies nor episodes. And I'm not sure Weiner is good at dropping new characters every week—but I've never liked that format, anyway. But I must say that, as a whole, I find it quite interesting—in the sense that I like the image it creates in my mind, all those random people kind of connected by a common imagination. I don't hate or deeply dislike any episodes yet, since there's always something in them that I love—but it feels like fishing, and I'd like to swim. (And if you don't care about Weiner at all I'd get that you'd easily throw that show into oblivion.)
I'm worried that nobody gives a shit about this show. Who talks about it? Not critics. Not fans of Mad Men on the net—I looked for the people who were obsessed about MM, and they...don't watch The Romanoffs? or don't care enough to write about it. If it were absolutely hated maybe it would kind of exist.
50 millions for a show that creates no digital wave at all is...a lot.
By the way, I don't think that the allegations against Weiner participated in creating this atmosphere of amnesia—it's been reviewed fairly, mostly, it had a premiere in London, etc. It's just an underwhelming show for a small audience of benevolent fans.
The next one is written by Semi Chellas, though, and I'm fairly excited (again).
Quote from: Drenk on October 20, 2018, 09:30:05 AM
I'm worried that nobody gives a shit about this show. Who talks about it? Not critics. Not fans of Mad Men on the net—I looked for the people who were obsessed about MM, and they...don't watch The Romanoffs? or don't care enough to write about it. If it were absolutely hated maybe it would kind of exist.
This is the problem with most Amazon shows and it's happening to many Netflix shows now. There's too much happening. It used to be that people were looking forward to new premiere dates, primetime shows, etc. Now it's hard to even keep track of what is on and when.
There are so many great shows that get zero attention and nobody talks about them. And there is no time to even watch them all.
Fun fact: I was flying back from NY to LA on the day this show premiered at Matthew Weiner was on my plane. Alone. He wasn't out there celebrating, he didn't have an entourage with him, or even any friends. He was just flying home alone like it was any other day...
Quote from: Kal on October 21, 2018, 01:56:51 PM
This is the problem with most Amazon shows and it's happening to many Netflix shows now. There's too much happening. It used to be that people were looking forward to new premiere dates, primetime shows, etc. Now it's hard to even keep track of what is on and when.
There are so many great shows that get zero attention and nobody talks about them. And there is no time to even watch them all.
This is so true. I'm enjoying, as just one example, "Get Shorty"--but no one is talking about it anywhere, near as I can tell... It's beginning to feel like the local stupor-market: Do we really NEED 87 choices of.....
anything?
I'm a half hour into the first episode and don't think I'll continue. Just constantly found myself asking why this is supposed to be interesting. It has virtually no impact on me. Pretty rough start for a new series.
Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on October 22, 2018, 12:59:07 AM
I'm a half hour into the first episode and don't think I'll continue. Just constantly found myself asking why this is supposed to be interesting. It has virtually no impact on me. Pretty rough start for a new series.
If it lasted forty minutes it would have more impact. It's such a weird choice to begin with that episode. I'd say the third one is the most solid one. And a good "beginning".
I actually skipped to the end of episode 1, and it does get interesting. Probably not how the show was meant to be watched, though.
Quote from: Drenk on October 22, 2018, 04:07:30 AM
Quote from: Jeremy Blackman on October 22, 2018, 12:59:07 AM
I'm a half hour into the first episode and don't think I'll continue. Just constantly found myself asking why this is supposed to be interesting. It has virtually no impact on me. Pretty rough start for a new series.
If it lasted forty minutes it would have more impact. It's such a weird choice to begin with that episode. I'd say the third one is the most solid one. And a good "beginning".
Definitely agree, and actually feel this same way about Mad Men. I'd usually tell people to watch an episode from a later season to get them hooked.
Semi Chellas delivered. Expectation is the best one, and it kind of devastated me.
I don't know if it would have been better to begin with this one, since some previous moments are coloring this episode...
I think Mad Men is maybe the best show of all time (or at the very least the best Drama of the last decade+) and nothing on TV now even comes close but I haven't started watching this either.
It's a combination of:
It's October so I'm deep in all-Horror mode. (Boo to all non-horror stuff that comes out this month.)
Reviews weren't very good. (Even from Mad Men stans like Matt Zoller Seitz)
There's too much shit to watch and I don't have time for stuff that isn't great. TV shows in particular.
Sad but true.
Quote from: Drenk on October 26, 2018, 05:13:55 AM
Semi Chellas delivered. Expectation is the best one, and it kind of devastated me.
I don't know if it would have been better to begin with this one, since some previous moments are coloring this episode...
Are these stand alone episodes? Just to know if I can watch the good ones without seeing the others.
Yes, they are, but apparently people don't like this one, too. I'd say: watch Episode 3 or 4.
Finally caught up with all five. I'm digging it! Definitely getting stronger as it goes. Though I can totally see why this ain't making a splash. There's no real hook, y'know? No big sex, drugs, scandal, nothing. Okay, the whole Romanovs thing, but does anybody care about that? I like the show and I don't really. It hangs together like a good collection of short stories, employs the logic and vibe you might see in that context. How many people out there are reading good collections of short stories? Might prove to be one of those pleasant surprises that completists get for their efforts.
Quote from: Drenk on October 20, 2018, 09:30:05 AM
50 millions for a show that creates no digital wave at all is...a lot.
Yes, this is a bit troubling but I don't expect Weiner will have trouble getting his work out there. And his work is kinda surprisingly variegated. If anything, Mad Men is something of an outlier among his oeuvre. He's never done anything else quite so inspired and thematically rich and flawless. Not knocking the guy. You could do a lot worse than creating and show running one of the greatest television programs of all time.
The sixth one was painful to watch. Does Weiner need to film something if he wants to spend some vacation time in Mexico? Or Paris? I don't think so. The best episodes are set in America.
And:
The 7th episode is fantastic...
(Not written by Weiner.)
Only seen up 'til Episode 3, but the concept has been bumping around my head. This show inhabits a near historical-fiction genre that ends up being more of a parallel-reality affect to our relationship with the Romanoffz, and the show'z with the Romanovz.
Are we all this displaced, psychically bound to archetypes? I think so. It's like catharsis for a cold war that never ended, and for an increasingly deluded global environment of ignorance that denies its obligation to history.
At least, that's how I'm feeling having just watched episode 3 last night, which was such a fun send-up of Meta Psychological Thrillers, but sent me into a Philip K Dick mindstate. Written by Mary Sweeney, it can remain a purely head-trip, yet the confidence of these characters in their environment (the re-telling of an oft-told tragedy) is all-together different beast from PKD or even Mulholland Dr. Sweeney, David Lynch's producer and follow cosmonaut, quickly gets across our relationship to filmmaking as a memory machine -- but here it's a toxic hostage situation, I read that more politically charged than the first two epz.
Finished episode 5 and the show is deceptive, ie;
Quote from: BB on November 05, 2018, 09:22:35 PM
There's no real hook, y'know? No big sex, drugs, scandal, nothing. Okay, the whole Romanovs thing, but does anybody care about that? I like the show and I don't really.
The Romanovz are such a sideline tangent (as they are, sort of, to any of our lives) that the hook isn't them but them as scapegoats, as decor, as paradigm allegory etc. The big sex, drugs, scandal are there, but they're there in the interior lives. Scandals of desire, a lot of affairs, but these aren't hooks in a way that allows it to play with tropes in a more inventive, episodic manner.
Really appreciate that it aims for moral ambiguity, that works for me more with each ep, and watching these actorz is a treat when you can't expect nuance
or camp 'til you're already involved.