Latest news with #AmySherman-Palladino
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Dream Team: ‘Étoile' creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino on the secrets of their partnership: ‘You want to be jealous of something someone has done'
They're married to their work, their words, their worlds. The husband-and-wife team of Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino have created some of television's most meticulous, hilarious, singular series, populated with unforgettable characters from the Gilmores to the Maisels. And they've done it all working side-by-side as creators, writers, directors, and executive producers — and still managed to stay married for '400 years' (according to them). Gold Derby: What's your secret? How do you keep the magic going on and off-screen? More from GoldDerby 'Hacks' renewed for Season 5 ahead of Season 4 finale Iliza Shlesinger's comedy evolution: 'You don't want to be 42 telling the same jokes you told at 22' The mystery of Pedro Pascal's Emmy category solved as HBO's 'The Last of Us' submissions are revealed Amy Sherman-Palladino: So much alcohol. Just constant inebriation. I don't know, what is it, Dan? What's our magic? Dan Palladino: We get this question from all walks of life. Our teamster driver would be like, how do you work with your wife, Dan? There's people who find it horrifying. There's people who find it inspiring. I think it really started in earnest on Gilmore Girls, when Amy wrote the pilot and produced the pilot and was having some trouble. I knew exactly what she was doing. The script was very, very delicate, the project was very, very delicate. It wasn't a plot-heavy concept. Sherman-Palladino: It was a time when they were leaning heavily into Dawson's Creek. And it wasn't a show that the WB dancing frog totally understood. Palladino: I knew instinctively exactly what she was going for. So even though I was running Family Guy at the time when I would finish up there, I would go from North Hollywood over to Burbank and help her out. And I wrote some of the scripts in the beginning and that's sort of how it started. And then from there, we break every story together in a room, usually with other writers. If we have a disagreement… Sherman-Palladino: We cage fight it out. Palladino: The winner is the person who's most passionate about their side. And then once that path is picked, the other person takes that as their path as well, and there's no "I told you so" later. The worst thing you can do in a partnership is later on say, "I told you so" because it's uncreative, it's mean. I think that's the main thing that we sort of figured out. Sherman-Palladino: I don't think people realize the job is so big. It's such a ridiculously big job that there are many days where we don't see each other till martinis come out at dinner, because if I'm directing, he could be in editing. There's so much to do that we'll go in together and then we're sitting at a bar going, what was your day like? Palladino: We're not even together now. We're here using AI. SEE'Gilmore Girls,' 'Maisel' creator Amy Sherman-Palladino on the star who's 'separated at birth,' who wanted to get fired, and who will never get away How do you divide and conquer? Are there particular parts of the job either of you like more than the other or dislike more than the other that you hand off to each other? Sherman-Palladino: I can't write an outline to save my life. Palladino: That's true. I write all the outlines. Sherman-Palladino: At that point, I just want to start writing the script but the way it works in our world, we break things so detailed in the room because our outlines are meant to tell Bill Groom exactly what sets he needs to build, exactly what costumes we need, how many dancers Marguerite needs, what music we need, all of that is in our outlines so that when we hand them out to production, they can all go do their thing. So outlines are actually extremely important. They're not just a writer's tool. They're really more a production tool for us. Which means, I don't care. And Dan, God love him, is the patient one who actually sits and make sure that the outlines are cohesive, because it's the lifeline to making production work in our world. Palladino: We both started off as writers, obviously. And I think once we transitioned into directing, it's such a puzzle that you can never really solve. It's kept us really, really engaged in a way that I don't think we would have if we had not went into directing. Sherman-Palladino: Also writing is really lonely. You're sitting in a room and you're staring at a computer and the computer is basically saying to you, you're out of words, you're done. Why haven't you retired yet? So you're having a conversation with your computer saying, but no, I have to, like people are waiting for the script and your computer is saying, well, they're shit out of luck. And so while you're arguing with a piece of equipment, you could be on stage with actors and your DP. And if you get stuck on stage and something isn't quite working, people have ideas. That's where you see the dancers and the music and you get to hang out with Luke Kirby. How's that bad? Compared to the lonely sadness of being in a corner eating your hair when you're writing a script. SEE'Étoile' cast and creators on fast-talking, mean drunks, and what they learned from 'Gilmore Girls' How do you decide between the two of you who's going to tackle which script as the director? Because I know you're both so passionate about directing. Is it which episode you're more attached to? Sherman-Palladino: It's pretty organic. In general, it feels like this is something I'm going to take, or Dan's got such a strong instinct for the most important part of that, so that's what he should take. That actually has been kind of a pretty organic conversation. Frankly, when you're in this business for 400 years, which we're going on our 400th anniversary, when you've been doing it this long, what you want is to be jealous of something that someone else has done. So there's nothing kind of better for me than if he directs an episode that I didn't necessarily want, my eye wasn't on that episode, but then I see him and I see what he's done and I'm like, God damn it, then I'm really jealous and angry so that in my next episode, I've got up my own game. It keeps you on your toes. Palladino: Appropriate for a dance show. How did you come up with the idea for this dance show? And by the way, did you have a crystal ball where suddenly arts were going to become a thing that we were going to have to fight for? Sherman-Palladino: No. And how sad that we're in a position where we're fighting for something so important. I don't know if people understand that, drawing on the walls of caves was art. Art has been part of the human experience for as long as there have been humans, and to be losing it should terrify everybody because the best part of people is when you think differently and you can learn about other experiences that aren't your own, or your mind can go someplace that you didn't think it could go, that's what art does. So no, we didn't foresee it. I was a dancer, I trained as a dancer my whole life. I have got three back surgeries to prove it. Welcome to the world of rods in your lower back. So it's always kind of been in in my zeitgeist and Dan was a musician. Our writing is rhythmic and has a patter to it. It's an organic world for us. We tiptoed into it with Bunheads, although Bunheads was much more of a coming of age with a background in ballet. Dancers were very important to the Maisel experience. It just felt like a world we wanted to sort of live in. We love dancers. We love the fact that these amazing creatures that are totally completely devoted to an art form where they're guaranteed to never make a dime. Which is a shocking thing. It's just pure love of the art form. That's a spirit and an energy you kind of need in your world. So we slid into the idea of, if we were ever going to do a workplace comedy, what sort of workplace comedy would we do? And ballet seemed to be the right fit. What do you want people to take away from the show? Sherman-Palladino: The ballet is a weird, wonderful, interesting world. It's not all tutus and, swans on stage, that it's very athletic. You're racing against the clock. It's grueling. It's tough. It's cutthroat. It's weird. And frankly, it's for everyone. It's storytelling. If you like story, if you like athletics, if you like music, if you like drama and comedy or just spectacle, that's what ballet is. Ballet is not some precious art form that the Van-uppeties go on a Friday night with their monocles. That is not what ballet is. Ballet is for everyone. And if more people could just realize that it's this wonderful thing that's right there and be a part of it and experience it, it can change your world a little bit. Palladino: It's an entertaining funny show about the fragility of arts. Everybody loves the arts in some form or another. We live in New York City. We see people with MAGA hats, going to Broadway shows. Sherman-Palladino: And crying, and coming out sobbing, and they're touched. Palladino: It's something that can bring people together. So it's something that we want to protect, whether it's ballet or theater or television or films to be seen theatrically, not all on TV. It's something for all of us to fight for. And we just wanted to obviously do it in an entertaining way. As you look back over the course of the season, is there a moment you're proudest of? Palladino: We didn't even finish the first episode until the very, very end of our shoot. We had never done anything like that because we were crisscrossing countries, and we had to get out of Paris for the Olympics. … This was our chance to do like a big ensemble workplace comedy set in a dramatic world. I think we achieved what we were attempting to do. And yeah, it was the most ambitious thing we've ever attempted for sure. Sherman-Palladino: Yeah, there's something wrong with us. We need to be checked out, for sure. Palladino: But also we hate boredom. But we love these actors and we got to live in Paris for a while and there's no bad there. Nothing bad about that at all. And given all of that, what do you want to see in season two? Sherman-Palladino: I want there to be a season two. I know that there was an announcement that we got a two-season pickup, but that is fake news, ladies and gentlemen. So it's tough. We're in a time where IP is king and we're not based on a comic book, although I've tried to lie to Amazon and say, no, it was a very successful graphic novel. … We would just love to have a season two and I'm not sure if that's possible. So we're going to live with the wonderfulness of these actors and how great they are and these beautiful dancers. This article and video are presented by Prime Video. Best of GoldDerby 'The Pitt' star Supriya Ganesh on Mohan 'reworking' her trauma and when she'll realize Abbot is flirting with her TV sound editors roundtable: 'Adolescence' and 'Secret Level' 'Secret Level' sound editor Matt Yocum on using the 'punchy aesthetic' of video game audio for new animated series Click here to read the full article.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
For Luke Kirby, ‘Étoile' Was a History Lesson
After charming audiences as New York City comedian Lenny Bruce in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Luke Kirby returns this week as a new New York star: Jack McMillan, director of the (fictional) Metropolitan Ballet Theater. Kirby's protagonist leads Étoile, Prime Video's ballet dramedy from Maisel co-creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino (the wife-husband team also made Gilmore Girls and Bunheads). In a last-ditch attempt to spark ticket sales, Jack agrees to trade his company's biggest stars with France's (also fictional) Le Ballet National, helmed by Charlotte Gainsbourg's Genevieve Lavigne. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Étoile' Review: Amy Sherman-Palladino's Amazon Ballet Dramedy Pirouettes Gracefully Before Stumbling in the Final Act 'The Amateur' Star Rachel Brosnahan Insists She Still Feels Like an Amateur Amy Sherman-Palladino Recalls "Weird" Network Notes For 'Gilmore Girls': "Why Isn't Rory Having Sex?" Étoile's eight episodes are stuffed with whimsical characters, sharp humor and an impressive cast of real dancers and great ballet. Through it all, Jack and Genvieve's fight to save their beloved art form becomes the show's most central duet. Below, Kirby talks to The Hollywood Reporter about returning to a Palladino set, stepping into the ballet world and learning about how our history can inform our future. *** When did you first hear about ? I'm pretty sure it was 2022. Amy and Dan called me out to dinner and it was right on the heels of Maisel wrapping. What was the pitch? I think it was a free meal (laughs). It may have involved the promise of wearing nice clothes, but I think it was mostly the free meal. And then we started to talk about our shared affection for the dance world. We talked about our romantic notions about ballet and the dance world and then with it being Amy and Dan, the potential for folly inside of that world. It's a workplace. We know that workplaces are ripe for folly. The world of ballet is — as with all art forms, there's the threat of people taking this thing very, very seriously. People that work in the arts, it's serious. It's as important as water. Did you know anything about your character, Jack, at that point? More than anything I remember the idea that this was a guy who was from the city, who had grown up immersed in the world of New York. I certainly romanticized New York in the 1980s, it was a very hot time creatively, a hot and painful time. I thought about this kid — Jack — growing up in that world and having all that greatness within reach. I just got excited about the idea of this guy. Did you look to anyone specific for inspiration? Nobody in the contemporary world. The biggest one was Lincoln Kerstein, because his passion for ballet was so evident. [Famous for his contributions to New York City's arts throughout the 20th century, Lincoln Kerstein co-founded New York City Ballet with George Balanchine in 1948]. Kerstein was such a good spokesperson for dance — he had a clear affection for it, and he was so committed to making it something culturally important in America. That degree of drive is so juicy and exciting. I think he probably had an artistic bent that was never fully fulfilled, and I see Jack similarly. Jack definitely has that drive, but this show is set in the 21st century, and post pandemic at that. The arts are in a different place than they were in Kerstein's world. That feels like part of the comedy, almost, the way your character feels out of place. I think that's right. I think Jack probably laments the age we're in. Born a little bit too late, for sure. I think Amy and Dan have this knack for writing really irreverent characters. I think we like the characters for that reason. They're characters who tell truths we're too afraid to tell. They're certainly not afraid to have cruelty be a part of their nature. But [Amy and Dan's] affection for people — for ballet — comes from a purebred heart. They'll never give you enough time to tell you how serious they are about it without pulling the rug out from underneath that sincerity. Part of how the show gets away with being irreverent and funny is the way the Palladinos hired so many real dancers. The art form is very respected. The dancers were fantastic. They adopted this idea that I was the head of their actual company. They were fully invested, fully engaged in the story. And they had to do the hardest work on set by repeating those moves day in and day out. I found them to be the biggest inspiration, seeing how early in the day they would get there and how dedicated they would be all day. Just as the case was with Maisel, everybody on the crew worked to make the immersion into the world fluid. And those dancers just provided this environment where you just — everything was in a constant state of motion. It felt very kinetic. Kinetic is a great word. I love how much of the show features dancers in the background, warming up or stretching or just talking to each other. It's quite beautiful. I love the touch at the end of the episodes showing dancers in more documentary style, too. Amy and Dan are so specific in that they reject close-ups at every turn, But to give the dancers a closer look at the end just makes it very clear what this love letter is about. Did you learn anything about ballet or dance yourself? I learned a lot about the history of ballet. The biggest thing that stood out was the way that for the first 200 years of the art form, there was nothing written down. The dances lived in the dancers' bodies and they told these stories to each other over the course of time. When you consider the history of turmoil of the countries who practice ballet, it's so remarkable. You get a sense of the meaning of survival of an art form. I don't know if 'hope' is the right word, but it's something. Charlotte Gainsbourg plays your Parisian counterpart, and Europe's arts face similar and different challenges from the U.S. — how did you two play off of your contrast? I think they kind of mirror each other. They find great relief in knowing that there's another one [of them] out there. I think they both share this mysterious thirst-quenching affection for ballet, but also they don't know what odds they'd have at any kind of art [themselves]. I'm such a fan of [Gainsbourg]. Her work is always so compelling, and just to get to have her around for this was a remarkable gift. I couldn't believe our luck. I think she's really remarkable in this show. She's like Gena Rowlands to me, her talent, her ease is really remarkable. The is already confirmed. Do you have any hopes for where the next installment will take us? I do have hopes, but I dare not say them. My feeling with Amy and Dan is that they are the guiding light to this stuff. They're so committed to their stories and I'll follow them. I just hope that they keep digging. I think that there's a lot to be [drawn] from this world. I did have a request for Amy a long time ago, I told her that I wanted to be in a cape. I was really jealous that Tony Shalhoub got to wear a cape [on Maisel] and I don't think that he should be the only one. *** All eight episodes of Étoile season one are streaming on Prime Video. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise 'Yellowstone' and the Sprawling Dutton Family Tree, Explained
Sydney Morning Herald
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
From Gilmore Girls to Mrs Maisel: How one woman perfected comfort TV
No one makes TV like Amy Sherman-Palladino. Since the start of the century, she's created warmly welcoming, female-focused series about wonderfully eccentric communities. They have a distinctive look and sound. Whip-smart dialogue is delivered at screwball-comedy speed. Conversations between characters, typically loaded with pop-culture references, bounce back and forth like verbal ping-pong. Episodes are rich with lush colour and distinguished by a shooting style that frequently favours extended, elaborately choreographed camerawork. In her sunny fictional worlds, there are no mutilated bodies, missing children or rampaging creatures. She produces comfort TV of the best kind: not mushy, bland or glib, but happily surprising, like big bowls of festive bonbons. And fun. Chicken-soup-for-the-soul stuff. Loading A writer, producer, director and showrunner who works with her writer-producer-director husband, Daniel Palladino, ASP has given us Gilmore Girls (2000-07); its 2016 sequel Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life; Bunheads (2012); and her masterwork The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (2017-23). In 2018, with Mrs Maisel, she became the first woman to win Emmys in the comedy writing and directing categories. Now there's Etoile, a culture-clash comedy about a couple of elite ballet companies struggling with rising costs and declining audiences whose managers hatch a scheme to generate publicity and reignite interest in their endangered art form. For one year, the Metropolitan Ballet Theatre in New York, run by Jack McMillan (Luke Kirby, Mrs Maisel's Lenny Bruce) and Le Ballet National in Paris, managed by interim director Geneviève Lavigne (Charlotte Gainsbourg), will swap stars. Famously fiery Parisian etoile (star) Cheyenne Toussaint (Lou de Laâge) will endeavour to put aside her contempt for American food, coffee and culture to headline productions in New York, while young ballerina Mishi Duplessis (Taïs Vinolo) will reluctantly return home to France, miserably clutching a plush toy of a bagel. ASP's series are invariably celebrations of their communities, whether it's the cozy east-coast town of Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls, the Californian coastal hamlet of Paradise on Bunheads or the Manhattan of Mrs Maisel, with its clubs, theatres, diners and delis. Consistent through them is her fondness for smart, feisty and sometimes spiky female protagonists, as well as an affection for tetchy, formidable older women such as Gilmore Girls' Emily and Bunheads' Fanny (both played by Kelly Bishop). Now comes Bruna (Marie Berto), Cheyenne's mother, a woman of few gruff words who wears a workman's uniform and tinkers with goodness-knows-what in her trash-and-treasure-filled apartment. Ballet also features regularly in ASP's productions: while Etoile focuses on a pair of prestige companies, Bunheads is largely set in a small home-based ballet school, and one of the cornerstones of Stars Hollow is Miss Patty's School of Ballet. Showbiz is in Sherman-Palladino's blood. Her father was a comedian, her mother a dancer and, as a child, she trained as a dancer, recently telling Vanity Fair: 'I stopped dancing the minute I realised somebody was going to actually pay me to do something, and I could have a sandwich'. Etoile demonstrates that she reveres the qualities required to succeed in this sphere: grit, grace, discipline, dedication and endurance. At times, Etoile simply focuses on the extraordinary athleticism and sheer beauty of the bodies in rehearsal and performance. As well, ASP has explained, 'They're an odd, amazing bunch of people'. So, ideal for one of her shows. Her commitment to them extends to the authenticity sought in portraying their world and the attention to detail in evoking it. More than 1000 real-life dancers auditioned to fill roles in the two companies. Constance Devernay, the body double for de Laage, was a principal dancer with the Scottish Ballet for seven years; Vinolo dances with the National Ballet of Canada. Episodes are filled with shots of dancers going about their daily routines: stretching, chatting, napping, scrolling on phones, lacing shoes, bandaging feet. And when it comes to shooting the performances, the camera sits back respectfully, watching in wide shot, the directors understanding that there's no need to try to pump-up the action with fast edits or cuts to close-ups. Loading That laudable effort aside, Etoile – which has been green-lit for a second season – is no Mrs Maisel. It certainly has its charms, predictably to do with snappy dialogue and vibrant characters, as well as the visual pleasures of two photogenic cities. But it can be a bit clunky, lacking the sleek flair of its predecessor, and it's prone to overstatement, particularly in terms of haughty French folk and their disdain for crass Americans. Where Mrs Maisel neatly avoids stereotypes and often surprises with its character developments, Etoile sometimes succumbs to clichés. Although it should be noted that Gainsbourg nails the tough manoeuvre of appearing both frazzled and chic. To its credit, it's not all colour, movement and frisky banter as the series also tackles questions about the uncomfortable union of art and commerce. The talent-swap initiative can only be achieved with funding from flamboyant billionaire Crispin Shamblee (Simon Callow). Described by Jack as 'a right-wing, boot-licking toadie for dictators', he's made much of his fortune from an array of dirty deals. Clearly having a fine time with the role, Callow is allowed to go over-the-top for comic effect. However, his confrontation with Cheyenne is chilling, as is his clear-eyed perception of the ugly realities of the world. Ballet might bring beauty, lift the spirits and allow its practitioners and those watching them to 'play in the clouds', as Cheyenne puts it. But without financial support – sometimes from people such as Shamblee – it might not survive. At its heart, Etoile aims to celebrate ballet and the unifying, uplifting joy it can bring. Sherman-Palladino has said: 'My whole life I've known [that], without ballet, the world is a lesser place'. Similarly, the TV world be poorer without ASP.
The Age
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
Etoile review: How Amy Sherman-Palladino became the master of comfort TV
, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. No one makes TV like Amy Sherman-Palladino. Since the start of the century, she's created warmly welcoming, female-focused series about wonderfully eccentric communities. They have a distinctive look and sound. Whip-smart dialogue is delivered at screwball-comedy speed. Conversations between characters, typically loaded with pop-culture references, bounce back and forth like verbal ping-pong. Episodes are rich with lush colour and distinguished by a shooting style that frequently favours extended, elaborately choreographed camerawork. Rachel Brosnahan stars as Midge Maisel in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. In her sunny fictional worlds, there are no mutilated bodies, missing children or rampaging creatures. She produces comfort TV of the best kind: not mushy, bland or glib, but happily surprising, like big bowls of festive bonbons. And fun. Chicken-soup-for-the-soul stuff. Loading A writer, producer, director and showrunner who works with her writer-producer-director husband, Daniel Palladino, ASP has given us Gilmore Girls (2000-07); its 2016 sequel Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life; Bunheads (2012); and her masterwork The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (2017-23). In 2018, with Mrs Maisel, she became the first woman to win Emmys in the comedy writing and directing categories. Now there's Etoile, a culture-clash comedy about a couple of elite ballet companies struggling with rising costs and declining audiences whose managers hatch a scheme to generate publicity and reignite interest in their endangered art form. For one year, the Metropolitan Ballet Theatre in New York, run by Jack McMillan (Luke Kirby, Mrs Maisel's Lenny Bruce) and Le Ballet National in Paris, managed by interim director Geneviève Lavigne (Charlotte Gainsbourg), will swap stars. Famously fiery Parisian etoile (star) Cheyenne Toussaint (Lou de Laâge) will endeavour to put aside her contempt for American food, coffee and culture to headline productions in New York, while young ballerina Mishi Duplessis (Taïs Vinolo) will reluctantly return home to France, miserably clutching a plush toy of a bagel. Rory (Alexis Bledel) and Lorelai (Lauren Graham) in the fondly remembered Gilmore Girls. Credit: ASP's series are invariably celebrations of their communities, whether it's the cozy east-coast town of Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls, the Californian coastal hamlet of Paradise on Bunheads or the Manhattan of Mrs Maisel, with its clubs, theatres, diners and delis. Consistent through them is her fondness for smart, feisty and sometimes spiky female protagonists, as well as an affection for tetchy, formidable older women such as Gilmore Girls' Emily and Bunheads' Fanny (both played by Kelly Bishop). Now comes Bruna (Marie Berto), Cheyenne's mother, a woman of few gruff words who wears a workman's uniform and tinkers with goodness-knows-what in her trash-and-treasure-filled apartment. Ballet also features regularly in ASP's productions: while Etoile focuses on a pair of prestige companies, Bunheads is largely set in a small home-based ballet school, and one of the cornerstones of Stars Hollow is Miss Patty's School of Ballet. Showbiz is in Sherman-Palladino's blood. Her father was a comedian, her mother a dancer and, as a child, she trained as a dancer, recently telling Vanity Fair: 'I stopped dancing the minute I realised somebody was going to actually pay me to do something, and I could have a sandwich'. One of the dance scenes – performed by professional ballet dancers – in Etoile. Credit: Philippe Antonello/Prime Video Etoile demonstrates that she reveres the qualities required to succeed in this sphere: grit, grace, discipline, dedication and endurance. At times, Etoile simply focuses on the extraordinary athleticism and sheer beauty of the bodies in rehearsal and performance. As well, ASP has explained, 'They're an odd, amazing bunch of people'. So, ideal for one of her shows. Her commitment to them extends to the authenticity sought in portraying their world and the attention to detail in evoking it. More than 1000 real-life dancers auditioned to fill roles in the two companies. Constance Devernay, the body double for de Laage, was a principal dancer with the Scottish Ballet for seven years; Vinolo dances with the National Ballet of Canada. Episodes are filled with shots of dancers going about their daily routines: stretching, chatting, napping, scrolling on phones, lacing shoes, bandaging feet. And when it comes to shooting the performances, the camera sits back respectfully, watching in wide shot, the directors understanding that there's no need to try to pump-up the action with fast edits or cuts to close-ups. Loading That laudable effort aside, Etoile – which has been green-lit for a second season – is no Mrs Maisel. It certainly has its charms, predictably to do with snappy dialogue and vibrant characters, as well as the visual pleasures of two photogenic cities. But it can be a bit clunky, lacking the sleek flair of its predecessor, and it's prone to overstatement, particularly in terms of haughty French folk and their disdain for crass Americans. Where Mrs Maisel neatly avoids stereotypes and often surprises with its character developments, Etoile sometimes succumbs to clichés. Although it should be noted that Gainsbourg nails the tough manoeuvre of appearing both frazzled and chic. Rachel Brosnahan as Midge Maisel and Luke Kirby, who also stars in Etoile, as Lenny Bruce in The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. To its credit, it's not all colour, movement and frisky banter as the series also tackles questions about the uncomfortable union of art and commerce. The talent-swap initiative can only be achieved with funding from flamboyant billionaire Crispin Shamblee (Simon Callow). Described by Jack as 'a right-wing, boot-licking toadie for dictators', he's made much of his fortune from an array of dirty deals.
Forbes
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Étoile' Dethroned In Amazon Prime Video's Top 10 List By A New Show
Etoile Étoile has been a solid new addition to Amazon Prime Video's original line-up, arriving as a compelling comedy/drama from the creator of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Gilmore Girls, Amy Sherman-Palladino. But the rare, binge-watch release has now lost its place to arguably the strongest show in Amazon's lineup. That would be the resurgence of Reacher season 3, the action series based on the Lee Child books that positively dominates Amazon charts all year round, almost never leaving the top ten and now, back at #1 despite ending all the way back in March, over a full month ago. There have not been any new episodes or follow-up specials issued, this is just how popular the series is, and why it's getting a spin-off and indefinitely renewed seasons, most likely. Top 10 Étoile has not been renewed for season 2 yet, but given its performance and it's relatively low cost, I would not worry in the least about that happening, as it's not a matter of if, but when. Amazon Prime Video is already more generous than most with its show renewals, as they produce far less series than Netflix and want to get the most out of them. So I expect that to happen with at least a few more seasons of Étoile. Mrs. Maisel ran for five seasons, after all. The Summer I Turned Pretty has shot all the way to #3 from rewatches ahead of its third and final season which does not air until July 16, but people are getting a head start early, it seems. Easily the best show on the list right now is The Wheel of Time, which has always been solid but this was an amazing third season that I suggest everyone watch, and this show is far and away better than its more expensive fantasy counterpart, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which Amazon may not love, given its enormous investment in the latter. Powerhouse series Invincible and Houses of David are still hanging on at #8 and #9, both renewed for new seasons already. There's also a new reality series, Wear Whatever the F You Want, a reprisal of What Not To Wear in a…more kind format, I guess? Sounds odd, certainly, but at #7 it's doing well already. We will see how long Reacher stays on top, but I do not expect it to leave this list at all until season 4 is released some time next year. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
