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Critic Reviews
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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.
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Mr. Selfridge unfurls a number of subplots, tied to business, politics, class gaps, romance and so on. Some are more engaging than others.
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[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.
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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.
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It plays like a desperate attempt to recreate all the wonder of “Downton Abbey”--but with no characters to care about.
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In execution, Mr. Selfridge is a bit of a slog.
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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.
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There’s not much that’s particularly fresh in Mr. Selfridge beyond the premise, and whether that deserves eight parts is up to you.
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It suffers from hyperbole-exhaustion. Piven's performance is too broad. One wishes Ira would show up and give Harry a slap.
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A so-so, meandering soap opera that reduces its central character to a set of clichés about missing fathers and American energy and egalitarianism.
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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.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 28 out of 43
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Mixed: 8 out of 43
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Negative: 7 out of 43
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Dec 13, 2014
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May 25, 2014
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Apr 3, 2013