stars on screen
A (wo)man’s world: Society’s norms are challenged in new HBO drama
By Andrew Warren
TV Media
A (wo)man’s world: There’s
never been a historical drama
quite like this one. “Gentleman
Jack” features a modern woman
living in the early 1800s, a mem-
ber of the gentler sex who is
determined to become an indus-
trialist and collect taxes from her
family’s land — activities that her
contemporaries view as decid-
edly unladylike. Oh, and she also
wants to marry another woman.
“Gentleman Jack” is HBO’s lat-
est fascinating historical minise-
ries and is based on Anne Lister’s
actual diaries, which were written
largely in code and remained
undeciphered until more than a
century after her death. The series,
a co-production with the BBC,
premieres Monday, April 22.
Suranne Jones (“Corona-
tion Street”) stars as Lister, a
landowner who returns to her
ancestral home after several
years of traveling and takes up a
lifestyle that is most unbecoming
for a lady living in the 1830s. But
while her efforts to industrialize
her family’s estate and modernize
her business interests raise more
than a few eyebrows, it’s her not-
so-secret interest in other women
that leads to her earning the nick-
name “Gentleman Jack.”
A drama about a historical
lesbian needs a love interest,
of course, and English actress
Sophie Rundle (“Peaky Blind-
ers”) fills the role here. She plays
wealthy heiress Ann Walker,
whose relationship with Lister
scandalizes a community that’s
deeply rooted in its traditional
Anglican faith.
Gemma Jones (“Bridget
Jones’s Diary,” 2001), Timothy
West (“EastEnders”), Gemma
Whelan (“Game of Thrones”) and
Joe Armstrong (“Darkest Hour,”
2017) also star as other members
of Lister’s family, her neighbors
and the movers and shakers
around her who struggle to deal
with the scandals she leaves in
her wake.
The real-life Lister kept me-
ticulous records about her battles
with societal norms in her coded
diaries, and now HBO has given
her unique story the miniseries
treatment. “Gentleman Jack”
premieres Monday, April 22.
24 | Screentime
Suranne Jones stars in “Gentleman Jack”
Keeping up with the Con-
the numbers don’t lie. “The
ners: Audiences have stuck with Conners” is a hit, and ABC has
the Conner family, and so has
renewed the comedy for a sec-
ABC. The story of “Roseanne’s”
ond season.
revival more than 20 years after
That’s not to say that “The
it went off the air, its cancella-
Conners” is as big a phe-
tion after just one new season,
nomenon as the “Roseanne”
and the subsequent creation of
revival was. Despite keeping
a new “Roseanne” series minus
all of its other stars, including
the show’s titular matriarch
John Goodman (“10 Clover-
doesn’t need to be retold here,
field Lane,” 2016), Sara Gilbert
but through all of the scandal
(“The Talk”) and Laurie Metcalf
and the title changes, ratings
(“Lady Bird,” 2017), “The Con-
have proven that the show’s for- ners” experienced a significant
mula is still a winning one.
decline in audience numbers
“The Conners” premiered
when compared to the previous
last fall still stinking of scan-
year’s revival, but that isn’t the
dal, and while the idea of
full story. Even with fewer view-
a show that was basically
ers, “The Conners” was still the
“Roseanne” without Rose-
highest-rated new show on ABC
anne Barr sharply divided fans, this season, and it was one of
April 17, 2019 | East Oregonian and Hermiston Herald
the top five new shows on any
network.
Those are some impressive
achievements, and they’ve
proven that audiences want
more of the Conner clan — and
now that Season 2 is officially a
go, they will. Expect the second
season this fall on ABC.
Glitzy good boys: Hol-
lywood stars are going to the
dogs. In what’s fast becoming
a holiday tradition, NBC brings
the third annual Beverly Hills
Dog Show Presented by Purina
to TV screens across the nation
on Easter Sunday, April 21.
Tune in and watch as more
than 1,200 furry friends repre-
senting 175 breeds mingle with
Hollywood stars before moving
on to compete for the coveted
Best in Show title. Actor John
O’Hurley (“Seinfeld”) and Amer-
ican Kennel Club-licensed judge
David Frei serve as hosts, while
Maria Menounos (“E! News”)
and NBC Sports correspondent
Mary Carillo provide minute-
by-minute commentary on the
goings-on in the show ring and
among the celebrities in the au-
dience and on the red carpet.
This year’s lineup of canine-
loving guests is an impressive
one and includes professional
snowboarder and Olympic gold
medalist Shaun White, “Saved
by the Bell” star Mario Lopez,
“High School Musical” (2006)
star Ashley Tisdale and “Mani-
fest” actress Parveen Kaur. Two
Triple Crown-winning jockeys,
Victor Espinoza and Mike Smith,
also plan to attend.
Last year’s Best in Show win-
ner, a seven-year-old wire fox
terrier named King, went on to
win the same title at this year’s
prestigious Westminster Kennel
Club Dog Show in New York
City, which has helped to estab-
lish the Beverly Hills show as a
proving ground for that most
established show.
Dog lovers are everywhere,
even in Hollywood. Stars and
dogs come together for a day of
glamour, glitz and tasty little bis-
cuits in the third annual Beverly
Hills Dog Show presented by Pu-
rina on Sunday, April 21, on NBC.