Wealth, power, religion meet in sudsy new drama ‘Filthy Rich’
Ryan Murphy gives Nurse Ratched a backstory, and Kim Cattrall stars in her first network TV series as the matriarch of a televangelist empire.
Contenders: Shows to keep on your radar
• Celebrity origin story series “Becoming” returns for season two (Sept. 18, Disney+). The 10-episode documentary-style show focuses on athletes, entertainers and musicians, with visits to their hometowns and interviews with family members, coaches, mentors and friends.
• Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman reunite for a new motorbike adventure in “Long Way Up” (Sept. 18, Apple TV+). Riding prototype electric Harley-Davidsons through South and Central America, their journey takes them 13,000 miles across 13 countries.
• From Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan comes “Ratched” (Sept. 18, Netflix). Inspired by “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” the story is set in 1947 and follows the infamous nurse Mildred Ratched (Sarah Paulson), as she begins working at a psychiatric hospital. Spoiler alert: She’s no Florence Nightingale.
• “The Emmys” go
virtual (Sept. 20, ABC, 8 p.m. ET). This year’s host is Jimmy Kimmel.
• It’s Syd and Nancy, the police version, in “L.A.’s Finest” (Sept.
21, Fox, 8 p.m. ET). Gabrielle Union plays Syd Burnett, an LAPD detective, who is paired with new partner Nancy McKenna, played by Jessica Alba. The series is from the universe of Jerry Bruckheimer’s
“Bad Boys” movie franchise and Sony Pictures Television, so expect lots of action as the women take on L.A.’s criminal underworld.
• Following “L.A.’s Finest” at 9 p.m. ET on Fox is “Filthy Rich.” The story follows the Monreauxes, a super-wealthy Southern family whose fortune is from a successful Christian television network. When the patriarch dies in a plane crash, it’s discovered that he fathered three illegitimate children who are written into his will. The family is not amused, and the new heirs are not going away, which adds up to soap-op
era-worthy workplace family drama. Kim Cattrall stars.
• If the popularity of “The Masked Singer” is anything to go by, musical guessing games are ratings gold, which is why Fox fast-tracked new unscripted series “I Can See Your Voice” (Sept. 23, 9 p.m. ET). Cheryl Hines and Adrienne Bailon-Houghton join Ken Jeong, a rotating panel of celebrities and one musical star to help a contestant tell the difference between good and bad singers. The catch is, they never sing.
Melissa Crawley is the author of “Mr. Sorkin Goes to Washington: Shaping the President on Television’s ‘The West Wing.’” She has a Ph.D. in media studies and is a member of the Television Critics Association. To comment on Stay Tuned, email her at staytuned@outlook.com or follow her on Twitter at @mcstaytuned.