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Aired Sunday March 31st, 2013 at 8:00 pm on KUED HD Ch. 7.1
Jeremy Piven in Mr. Selfridge
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Award-winning actor Jeremy Piven (Entourage) leads the cast as Harry Gordon Selfridge in the new Masterpiece Classic series Mr. Selfridge, about the life of the flamboyant and visionary real-life American entrepreneur who opened a major London department store. The series begins Sunday, March 31 at 8:00 p.m.
Created by multi-award winning writer Andrew Davies, Mr. Selfridge tells the story of “Mile a Minute Harry,” a man with a mission to make shopping thrilling. Pioneering and reckless with an almost manic energy, he created a theatre of retail that showcased any topic or trend that was new, exciting, entertaining – or sometimes just eccentric.
After transforming Chicago's Marshall Fields into a modern department store, Harry Selfridge realizes that London needs a modern store. He decides to build the biggest and finest department store in the world at the "dead end" of Oxford Street, but his business partner pulls out of the project. Selfridge receives help from socialite Lady Mae Moxley and her contacts, one of whom invests in his plans. With his wife, four children and his mother arriving in London, Selfridge begins to assemble his staff and sees the building completed in record time.
According to Viv Groskop of The Guardian, the best thing about the new series is “the laser-like focus on one charismatic character, which allows us to fall under the spell of Entourage's Jeremy Piven as Harry Selfridge. This was an inspired casting choice. We need to adore Selfridge and feel completely compelled by his story if any of this is going to work. For Piven, this is a breeze. Is there any man more watchable on screen? Possibly not. He can dress my windows any time.”
She applauds the series for not being afraid to be “ridiculously over-the-top sexy in an extremely unsubtle way, which is not at all displeasing. Scheming finance-facilitator Lady Mae (Katherine Kelly) is alluringly terrifying. The showgirl Ellen Love (Zoë Tapper) is just adorable. Even Mrs. Selfridge (Frances O'Connor), the ‘boring’ wife, is delectable."
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