Mr. Selfridge

tmcmeekin

tmcmeekin

DTVUSA Member
#1
#1
Is anyone a fan of the show Mr. Selfridge?

I just started watching the first season (trying to catch up on Amazon before the second season premieres in a few weeks) and it seems pretty good so far. It is about an American man who opens a department store in London. He seems to do things in an unconventional way for the time (such as actually putting the clothing out on display, which now seems ridiculous not to!) It is based on a true story, but with period shows like this, I often wonder how accurate things are!
 
reverenddejesus

reverenddejesus

Contributor
#3
#3
I'm not a fan. I think - appropriately enough for the commercial subject-matter - that it's a cash-in on Downton Abbey (which is not exactly an original idea anyway!) without adding anything new, except overacting. I think Jeremy Piven is truly terrible in it. I know he's trying to distinguish the extroverted American personality from the understated British one, but it just comes across as unrestrained hamminess.
 
tmcmeekin

tmcmeekin

DTVUSA Member
#4
#4
Funafuti said:
Just last night I caught a documentary called Secrets of Selfridges, which was quite interesting. Honestly I had no idea before last night that Mr. Selfridge was based on a true story. Well worth checking out to satisfy your curiosity... Secrets of Selfridges | PBS
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Yes, I saw that, I think it's the same one they aired it right after one of the episodes. I hadn't heard of Selfridges the store before I watched the show either! I guess it's because they didn't do very well for a few years and they only seem to have one location, they haven't become an international chain or anything...
 
tmcmeekin

tmcmeekin

DTVUSA Member
#5
#5
reverenddejesus said:
I'm not a fan. I think - appropriately enough for the commercial subject-matter - that it's a cash-in on Downton Abbey (which is not exactly an original idea anyway!) without adding anything new, except overacting. I think Jeremy Piven is truly terrible in it. I know he's trying to distinguish the extroverted American personality from the understated British one, but it just comes across as unrestrained hamminess.
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Yes, there is definitely a rise in British period pieces since Downton became popular (or at least, more of them are crossing over to the US and getting more publicity and bigger budgets).

Perhaps these types of shows do copy each other and other works. And I can see your point about the acting. But I still find them enjoyable, for the characters' stories and different reasons (With Mr Selfridge, for example, I am interested in seeing how they create displays and market new products, because that's a field I'm interested in.)
 
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