PopHampton: Cool Off with Some Hot TV This Fall
Are you enjoying this hot summer season, Hamptonites? One thing I miss in the summer is the buzzy, watercooler TV talk you don’t get in the offseason. Sure, there’s always binge-watching on Netflix—I recently watched Grace & Frankie, a hilarious and heartbreaking dramedy starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin about two women who become friends after both their husbands divorce them to be with each other—but there’s something special about eagerly waiting each week for the next episode of your favorite show. Here are a few series that I can’t wait to watch in the fall.
The Affair, Showtime: This Montauk-set (and filmed!) drama follows the torrid and destructive affair between Manhattan author Noah Solloway (the sexy Dominic West) and Montauk local Alison Lockhart (the brilliant Ruth Wilson). Season 1 was told in flashbacks as a detective interrogated the two separately about the murder of Alison’s brother-in-law, Scotty Lockhart (Colin Donnell) in Montauk. Each episode explored the same story from two very different perspectives, and the season ended with a great cliffhanger as someone was arrested. The show, which is brutally honest about relationships, depression and sex, returns this fall and will also feature the perspectives of Noah’s wife, Helen (Maura Tierney, whose excellent performance transcends her underdeveloped character), and Alison’s husband, Cole (Joshua Jackson, who has officially graduated from Dawson’s Creek into dashing leading man territory). Who killed Scotty? We’ll have to watch and find out!
Montauk (working title), Netflix: This series is being billed as “a love letter to the ’80s classics that captivated a generation.” I’m not quite sure what that means, but the show revolves around the search for a boy who goes missing in Montauk under possibly supernatural circumstances. Frequent Hamptons visitor Winona Ryder will star as the boy’s mother. There’s no release date just yet.
American Horror Story: Hotel, FX: I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with American Horror Story. The haunted house-set first season didn’t grab me, but the second season, which was set in a mental institution in the ’60s, was captivating. I haven’t really been hooked since. But this coming season is going to be the first without star Jessica Lange. It will be interesting to see if the show becomes more ensemble-focused or if a new leading lady is brought in. After all, Hamptons regular Lady Gaga has been cast in a key role.
Marvel’s Jessica Jones, Netflix: There aren’t any explicit Hamptons connections in this edgy new show (that we know of), but Marvel is filming this Hell’s Kitchen-set series in Manhattan, making for authentic and gritty drama. Jessica Jones stars Krysten Ritter as the title character, a hardened private detective with a past as a failed, third-rate super hero. I loved the original Alias comics—the source material for Marvel’s Jessica Jones—for the surprisingly grounded storytelling and for Jessica’s wrenching backstory, which was slowly revealed over the course of the series. Doctor Who star David Tennant has been cast as the Purple Man, Jessica’s truly despicable and frightening arch-nemesis. This one’s definitely not for the kids, though.
Other Shows: These aren’t the only series I am looking forward to in the coming season. In no particular order, I plan to at least try to catch Law and Order: SVU (starring Hamptonite Mariska Hargitay), Once Upon a Time, Agent Carter, The Muppets, The X-Files reboot and Fear the Walking Dead.
We’ll be recapping Season 2 of The Affair on DansPapers.com, so if you enjoyed our recaps of Revenge, make sure you check it out!