Mr. Selfridge
PBS | ITV | Release Date: January 6, 2013
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
13
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Uncle BarkyEd BarkMar 29, 2013
Season 1 Review: It’s terrific fun as well as involving drama. Read full review
80
Cleveland Plain DealerMark DawidziakMar 25, 2016
Season 4 Review: Mr. Selfridge has some enticing items to tempt those shopping for a quality viewing experience. At the top of this list is the gift that keeps on giving: Jeremy Piven's wonderfully textured portrayal of Harry Gordon Selfridge. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyMar 25, 2015
Season 3 Review: The writers skillfully interweave a visit from famed French designer Jeanne Lanvin with plots against Harry, postwar workplace gender tension, family betrayal and the aftereffects of shellshock to create, by the end of the season’s first episode, the looming shadow of catastrophe. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf SmithMar 31, 2014
Season 2 Review: A series that is improving with age. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalNancy DeWolf SmithMar 28, 2013
Season 1 Review: This new PBS Masterpiece series written by Andrew Davies is plenty addicting without the lords and ladies, opening a treasure box of tales about love, loss, ambition and the spirit of a new age. Read full review
75
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardApr 1, 2013
Season 1 Review: The sets and costuming are top-notch. The musical score is brash, if redundant. The personal dramas range from silly to 
diverting. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesLori RacklMar 28, 2013
Season 1 Review: Sumptuously shot and full of period detail, Mr. Selfridge is stocked with plenty of upstairs/downstairs drama, often with a little too much attention being lavished on the workers’ personal storylines. Read full review
70
PopMattersGina KimMar 31, 2014
Season 2 Review: Still impressively detailed and masterfully assembled, the show again focuses on the classed relations among employees and employers, relations that can be both supportive and dysfunctional, and, increasingly, affected by external forces. Read full review
70
Kansas City StarSara SmithApr 1, 2013
Season 1 Review: Mr. Selfridge really gets rolling in its third and fourth episodes, when its interlocking stories and Piven’s outsize performance settle into place. Read full review
70
Zap2it (Inside the Box)Andrea ReiherMar 29, 2013
Season 1 Review: While we don't have the same rush of affection as we did when we first discovered "Downton," we found Mr. Selfridge entertaining. Read full review
70
VarietyBrian LowryMar 22, 2013
Season 1 Review: The idea Selfridge was a serial philanderer adds an interesting layer to the character who, despite being the boss, actually blends into the large cast, in a series that’s full of romantic triangles, hunger and striving, and where good-looking waiters are urged to cater to the needs of wealthy socialites. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyJessica ShawMar 25, 2013
Season 1 Review: The 1909 businessman hangs like an ill-fitting suit on Piven, who suffocates his scenes by speaking several decibels louder than his costars and waving his arms around like a magician. A little subtlety might have left some oxygen for the promising supporting cast. Read full review
60
ColliderAllison KeeneMar 25, 2016
Season 4 Review: Though the overall quality (and sense) of the show has diminished as it’s worn on, the final nine episodes seem on point to deliver both some final spectacles in the store, and a satisfying way to say goodbye to these characters who may not be etched on our hearts exactly, but have provided viewers with good fun for as long as we’ve known them. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydApr 1, 2013
Season 1 Review: As drama, it's uneven, often cliched, even silly, but, like the store in which it's set--and whose ground floor, mezzanine and facade have been splendidly re-created--so variously stocked that you will likely find something here to take home. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyApr 1, 2013
Season 1 Review: Mr. Selfridge unfurls a number of subplots, tied to business, politics, class gaps, romance and so on. Some are more engaging than others. Read full review
60
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertMar 29, 2013
Season 1 Review: [Piven] brings a contemporary delivery that is jarring in the context of all the period elements around him. Alas, in this particular entourage, which is filled with promise, Piven is the weak link. Read full review
60
Philadelphia Daily NewsEllen GrayMar 29, 2013
Season 1 Review: As the series goes on and takes a deeper interest in the multitude of characters he's gathered around him, Mr. Selfridge begins to come into focus. Whether you'll find it as engaging as "Downton Abbey" may depend less on any single performance than on how invested you can become in the rise of the modern perfume counter and off-the-rack dresses. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesLori RacklMar 24, 2014
Season 2 Review: The personal and professional problems of the shop’s myriad employees feel tedious and redundant, but at least Jeremy Piven has toned down his bombastic performance in the titular role. Read full review
50
New York PostLinda StasiApr 1, 2013
Season 1 Review: It plays like a desperate attempt to recreate all the wonder of “Downton Abbey”--but with no characters to care about. Read full review
50
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenApr 1, 2013
Season 1 Review: In execution, Mr. Selfridge is a bit of a slog. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandMar 27, 2013
Season 1 Review: It's modestly entertaining, but because Davies and his writers and directors have employed a kind of wink-wink artificiality to the performances and style of Mr. Selfridge, you never quite believe much of it and you may find yourself caring only in passing. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterTim GoodmanMar 27, 2013
Season 1 Review: There’s not much that’s particularly fresh in Mr. Selfridge beyond the premise, and whether that deserves eight parts is up to you. Read full review
40
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniApr 1, 2013
Season 1 Review: It suffers from hyperbole-exhaustion. Piven's performance is too broad. One wishes Ira would show up and give Harry a slap. Read full review
40
The New York TimesMike HaleMar 29, 2013
Season 1 Review: A so-so, meandering soap opera that reduces its central character to a set of clichés about missing fathers and American energy and egalitarianism. Read full review
40
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushMar 29, 2013
Season 1 Review: The lavish Selfridges is a fine setting for class-conscious if derivative period drama--with shopgirl gossip and staff romances--and what we learn about the history of commerce is often entertaining, but the philandering showman whose name is on the door makes you feel you're being sold an inferior bill of goods. Read full review
25
People WeeklyTom GliattoMar 28, 2013
Season 1 Review: The production is gorgeous and the tedium unrelenting. [8 Apr 2013, p.42]
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