PBS’s ‘Victoria’ continues to reign
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The only downside to a “Downton Abbey”-sized hit is when it ends. It’s hard for what comes next to measure up.
No wonder PBS’s “Masterpiece” executive producer Rebecca Eaton was sure to point out that the first season of “Victoria” drew 16 million viewers, more people than watched season one of “Downton.”
“Season two of ‘Downton’ picked up [more viewers], and that’s what ‘Victoria’ is going to do,” she predicted.
When “Victoria” returns to PBS in January for its seven-episode second season, it’s 1840 and 21-year-old Queen Victoria (Jenna Coleman, “Doctor Who”) and her husband, Prince Albert (Tom Hughes), confront their newfound parenthood, a war abroad and the Irish potato famine closer to home.
Ms. Coleman said one of the most exciting aspects of the role is exploring the dynamic between Victoria and Albert.
“They’re operating in a marriage as husband and wife, and she wants to be a wife to her husband, but then there’s the political aspect and as soon as Albert tries to take from Victoria’s role, she completely flips,” Ms. Coleman said during a Monday press conference at the Television Critics Association summer press tour.
“You’re constantly operating within the politics of a domestic marriage. The clash of wills is interesting and shifting.”
While there may be conflict in the marriage, showrunner Daisy Goodwin said the pair did remain faithful to one another.
“It’s the first royal marriage where the man hasn’t had a mistress on the side for about 500
years,” she said. “They stayed together and he didn’t stray.”
Other projects coming to “Masterpiece” in 2018 include a second season and of “The Durrells in Corfu” a three-part adaptation of “Little Women.” Among others:
• “The Child in Time” — Produced by and starring Benedict Cumberbatch, it is the story of a marriage that comes apart when a child disappears at a grocery store.
• “Man in an Orange Shirt” — Vanessa Redgrave stars as a woman struggling with her relationship with her gay grandson. The story will be told in two time periods. 1945 and 2018, and will air in June for gay pride month. • “The Chaperone” — Fictionalized story of the chaperone (Elizabeth McGovern, “Downton Abbey”) to 1920s film star Louise Brooks, based on the Laura Moriarty novel. The film is written by Julian Fellowes (“Downton Abbey”) and will have a theatrical run before airing on “Masterpiece.” Ann Curry returns to TV
Former NBC News “Today” show anchor Ann Curry makes her return to TV in early 2018 as host of PBS’s new feel-good history-influenced series “We’ll Meet Again,” where she helps reunite people whose lives once intersected.
“I wasn’t looking for a comeback series,” Ms. Curry said Sunday morning at a PBS press conference. “If I was looking for anything, I was looking for a way to do meaningful journalism .”
Ms. Curry was news anchor on NBC’s “Today” show for a decade before ascending to the co-host chair in 2011, and then she left the broadcast in an emotional on-air farewell in 2012. She departed NBC News in 2015.
“How do you say no to stories about real people who have experienced events that are life-changing?” she said. “It’s deeply affecting to have the opportunity to help them find the person that helped them through a tough time.”
In one episode Ms. Curry reunites a woman who was in a Japanese internment camp as a child with a school friend who had shown her empathy 70 years ago when they last saw one another.
“It’s been fun to be independent, to be honest with you,” Ms. Curry said of forming her own production company after leaving NBC. “You can focus on what you want to do. That’s been a true joy. … I feel like I’m working on things that are meaningful more consistently. I’m trying to do stories I think are needed now. It’s been lovely to be inspired, to direct my energies into things that matter.” Burns revisits Vietnam War
Ken Burns’ and Lynn Novick’s latest magnum opus, PBS’s 10-part 18-hour “The Vietnam War” (8 p.m. Sept. 17-21 and 24-28, WQEDTV), recounts this American history story from all sides, including Americans who fought in the war, those who opposed it and Vietnamese combatants and civilians.
“We try super-hard not to put our thumbs on the scale” by espousing an agenda, political or otherwise, Mr. Burns said Sunday. “It was hugely important because this story is rarely told from more than one perspective. … We tend to talk only about ourselves. Other voices, other perspectives, lend voice to the idea there isn’t a single truth in war. There are many truths that can coexist, and hearing them might help take the fuel rods out of the division that was born in Vietnam.” OWEN, FROM C-1
Portions of this column originally appeared online. Post-Gazette TV writer Rob Owen is attending the Television Critics Association summer press tour. Follow RobOwenTV on Twitter or on Facebook or reach him at 412-263-2582 or rowen@postgazette.com.