‘The Gilded Age’ Season 2: The Cast, Release Date & More You Need To Know

OP- I did NOT find the first season DELICIOUS so why would I find the second season to be delicious?

Yummy, r1.

I'd totally forgotten about this show. Except that the lady pictured has Sally Kelleraman Hidden Valley Ranch Voice.

Is the hot gay sidepiece back?

[quote]Christina Baranski as Agnes van Rhijn

Oh, dear.

All of these Broadway stars in one place ...

Is it DELECTABLE? Is it APPETIZING? Is it SCRUMPTIOUS?

Raised Eyebrows Department:

[quote] At the time, HBO Max has no current plans for The Gilded Age spinoffs. However, Denée [Benton, who plays Peggy] admitted that she would be down for a very specific spinoff. She would love to see a “spinoff of [Peggy and Marian’s love],” according to Us Weekly. She thinks Peggy and Marian’s relationship is the “true love story of the show.”

Didn’t we have some major deaths at the end of the first season?

Thomas Cocquerel, a.k.a. Tom Raikes, is not returning second season. So, that entire storyline was pretty much all just exposition and setup for Marian.

The cast is too sprawling. I'd rather fewer characters who get real development and storylines.

I love the first season and can't wait for the second one. The DL discussion about season one has some really cool posters who knew a lot of interesting trivia about NY history. It's one of those cases where catching up with the DL threads enhanced the viewing experience, and I'm looking forward to that as well.

Being that you’re the crowd for this, I’ve been waiting to post this for when the discussion started to pick up again. A few months ago a book was released about Jane Stanford, trying to tease out what really happened at her death, and why what was obviously a murder was so deeply covered up. While the book is quite workmanlike in its writing, it was still a very interesting glimpse into west coast Gilded society and San Francisco in particular. And although she dies a little more than a year prior to the great earthquake, you really get the sense that the Gilded Age in San Francisco ends when all but one of the major mansions are leveled or burned on Nob Hill and the area gets completely redeveloped.

Jane is quite a character as are most of the people surrounding her as well. Those who read the book Why Fish Don’t Exist have a pretty good introduction into all the scandals and complications. The Stanfords are really ripe for limited run series, especially the son’s tragic death in Florence, Italy which spurred them on to found the University and then all the infighting in setting it up over the first few decades.

I’m ready for luncheon!

I enjoyed S1 but for S2 this show needs less Streep daughter and that black gal and more of what the gays - ie, the audience - want: Bransky and Nixon and O’Hara and Audra!

Oh, and hunky guys doing gay stuff, of course.

I ended up sawing the whole season 1, but it was rather dire, between the offspring of streep and the weak story lines. There are Short stories from Edith Wharton with more tension. But the weakest link, to me, was actually the much lauded Carrie Coon, whose performance completely fails and throws the , already weak, whole thing off course.

^seeing 🥵

I'm re-watching S1 right now.

The black storyline is a BORE. Not gilded age.

How sexy!

I think the black storyline is interesting and has potential, if handled correctly. I think it's a world of prosperous black people who still had to put up with a ton of racism that most of us have no idea even existed.

I agree with r19, although it does seem a bit forced that (as the article reports) Peggy will be going all the way to Tuskegee, AL this season to meet Booker T. Washington.

All the new cast members are probably intentional on the part of Julian Fellowes, because it means he does not have to make them very deep. He has a hard time with three dimensional characters.

Sounds way more upstairs than downstairs in season 2.

And no more jeanne tripplehorn? Laura Benanti’s character sounds the same.

Laura Benanti and Robert Sean Leonard have joined the cast of The Gilded Age in season 2, according to Deadline. Laura will play Susan Blane, a woman who was “recently widowed by a rich, dull man many years her senior, Susan is a very beautiful, glamorous woman living in Newport who hires Larry as her architect for a major renovation on her Newport home.”

luuuuuuuuv

There were a lot of complaints over season 1 here, but considering TV is crap these days, it's nice to see an effort to make something elaborate and unique. It's one of the few shows I look forward to. Bring it.

I enjoyed S1, faults and all. I just wish the streeplet would disappear. More of the interesting characters please. I’m probably the only person on the planet who enjoys Carrie Coon playing Bertha.

[quote]More of the interesting characters please. I’m probably the only person on the planet who enjoys Carrie Coon playing Bertha.

I liked her, but she's not a good match with the guy who plays her husband. She's too big a personality compared to him, so he fades into the background in their shared scenes. He's fine in scenes with other people.

in my neighborhood near center city we got warning for filming next month for this show. South Broad and Latimer streets will be utilized - if you know philly

That news had no news. It was a scalp of everything from the last few months. Cast sounds so big - it will all be three scenes of fifteen seconds for most of them. I guess there's worse ways to earn a living but Christ, to put on all those clothes and wigs for that. I came to enjoy it more than I did at the beginning and am glad it's coming back but there are too many people for there it to be a character study like any of the great shows of the last twenty years.

It’s edible.

Given Zaslav and the current disaster at Warner Bros., this show needs to put up BIG numbers to survive past this second season. And we all know that isn’t going to happen.

It's just pathetic that the shallow writing isn't better for a series like this that attracts intelligent and discerning viewers. I mean, even Dallas and Dynasty had better plotting and deeper characters in the 1980s.

I watched the first season and it kept me interested enough to make it to the end. However, you have to focus when you're watching because there are so many people that it becomes difficult to keep up with who's who. It would be better if they cut the cast by half and developed deeper storylines for key actors.

Loved season 1 but I have a feeling they’re going to fuck up the second season like so many shows do.

I see what you mean, R26. Fellowes is trying to write George as Jay Gould (he's said), ruthless in business but devoted at home. Morgan Spector hasn't got the gravitas or the physical presence to totally pull it off. (Sometimes, to me, delivering that period dialogue, he sounds quite queeny, tbh.) The problem with Fellowes' drive-by three sentence scenes is you need actors who not only can play the part on FF, but look it, at the same time. I don't think he's awful at all, but he's not quite a perfect fit for the part and the writing isn't a perfect fit for him.

you queens who can't focus on twelve or so characters seem very simple-minded

You can focus on them, but they're supposed to be producing drama, not gaming.

you poor dearie

How to live without all the important things you have to say, R37? Finding out.

[quote]you queens who can't focus on twelve or so characters seem very simple-minded

The multitudes of characters are one-dimensional and simple with transparent motivation, so focusing isn't the problem.

The problem is that there is no time to let scenes breathe or develop characters beyond the surface presentation we're getting.

Ignore her, R39... she's just on the board to snark - and she'd get a C or maybe C+ for the quality of that.

R27 I wonder if they are going to do what Scorsese did in Age of Innocence and have the Academy of Music stand in for what then would be the new opera house, the Metropolitan Opera? It would be a nice homage.

There's also the persistent problem that when secondary characters like Michael Cerveris' butler (is he a butler? I'm not even sure) or Debra Monk's housekeeper are given little story lines of their own, we haven't spent enough time with them to care about those characters' problems.

R42, he's George Russell's valet.

R13, AND BETTER TABLE SILVER!

But does Cerveris ever even have scenes with Russell? He's usually just seen in at the servant's kitchen table smirking as he polishes shoes.

he's a creepo

Honestly, I could see the wife insisting that George have a valet and a prominent one to have yet another facet to show off their wealth and prestige, but George having little interest or need and insisting dressing himself and they’ve come to a mutual understanding to have limited interaction, especially when George is naked. That gives the valet plenty of time for hanging out, gossiping with the staff and stalking nearby ladies for reasons unknown.

and taking off clothes

I only watch the show for the dresses and interior decorations

There was one scene where Ceveris was dressing Russell (I can't recall the name of his character.) When you compare the interaction between the GA characters and the Downton characters, which is fair given it's all coming from the same great mind (and to one degree or another the same old scripts). Think of Cora and O'Brien. Nothing like that in this show but the cast is already as fat as when Downton entered it's bloated cast years.

..........

Whoever said it upthread made a brilliant post: Fellowes doesn't know how to give his characters depth so he just keeps introducing more characters.

It does seem a lot of characters to juggle. I did love how Aurora Fane broke out, but I suspect sometimes he just counts on this. Throw a bunch of characters at the screen and see what happens. I do wish he'd go a little deeper sometimes, like you know, the whole actual complications of being gay in that world, in that era.

Russell will be nude in this coming season

I think Aurora broke out because O'Hara managed to run with. I'd never heard of her... she just shone. On the other hand, the Mrs. Astor character kind of has to break out... she was a little buried... and while the actress is fine in the part, almost anybody could be with the part.

Oh good heavens!

[quote] [R27] I wonder if they are going to do what Scorsese did in Age of Innocence and have the Academy of Music stand in for what then would be the new opera house, the Metropolitan Opera? It would be a nice homage.

The opening scenes of the Scorsese film of "The Age of Innocence" (which is set in the early 1870s) were filmed in Philadelphia's Academy of Music, but it was standing in for the old New York Academy of Music in Union Square rather than for the old Met. The original Metropolitan Opera was not built until 1883, and it was built expressly because the old money families who already had boxes at the Academy (in the film and book, the fictional Mingotts and Archers) would not allow boxes for the new money of the time: the Vanderbilts, Morgans, and Roosevelts.

The opening music is heaven!

Fellowes also has so many characters because Brits apparently get upset if you don't have as many servant characters in an ongoing series as you do wealthy characters, so he's felt obliged to show the lives of the servants of the Van Rhijns and the Russells--and so far they've been the dullest and most stereotypical characters. The only one I care about at all among them is the Van Rhijns' hilariously cunting butler ("Oh, MY... we seem to be in VERSAILLES!").

After Carrie Coon’s chicken-clucking act during her ejection from Mrs. Astor’s “cottage,” I feel compelled to hate-watch season 2.

Will Agnes get to leave her drawing room more than once this season?

Likely not, not unless she can drag her fine down into the dust on the street.

Let’s just hope the young Ms. Streep has taken extensive acting lessons in the interim.

Do love the cunty butler, absolutely, like all of DL r59. But damn, can it really be that hard to write a few good servant stories? They tried with the blackmailer, but then it seemed like everyone just got bored and moved on. Come on Fellowes, commit to something, you lazy old whore! Hell, go with a lazy old whore, if nothing else.

I want George to be the victim of an assassination attempt like Henry Clay Frick was in 1892. preferably by the blackmailing woman whom he condemned last season to a life of menial jobs like washing floors on her hands and knees.

I don't know, I'm looking forward to seeing the cunt-off between the two butlers. I like both the actors playing them

War of the Butlers would be great, and could keep popping up all season r66. Honestly, if most of the next season is in Newport, I'm not sure how much they can do, but warring butlers would be something at least.

We better be getting full frontal nudity from Morgan Spector and that John Adams guy in Season 2!!

A lot of the season is set in Philadelphia apparently

Will there be luncheons?

Apparently

R10- Like the first season of The Facts Of Life.

luuuuuuuuuuuuv !

When I watched the first season, I was immediately put off by how artificial the exterior shots looked. For a show with that sort of actors, I did not expect it to look that cheap. Then I thought that the show had too many characters walking around with not much to do. Cut the cast by 30 percent and go deeper with the remaining. And finally, it ticked me off how neglected Christine Baranski's part looked. Not sure if there were schedule problems or if Covid necessitated Agnes being just a cameo like side character. But I didn't care for it. She appeared for one or two short scenes with admittedly good lines, but for the rest of the episode, Agnes' large shadow carried the scenes. Also: Agnes' brain seemed to be consumed by just one single topic for the entire show. Made her literary single-minded.

For next season: Fewer characters, more Agnes, one coherent story involving all.

Ooohhh... the article says that Laura Benanti has been added to the cast. Will she play an Austrian-Hungarian immigrant looking for rich husband?

She's basically a cougar in a corset, near as I can tell. predict the loss of Larry's cherry.

R75 It would have been more interesting if she was playing a Slovakian Architect prostitute.

Mrs Russell has many delightful frocks.

[quote]Slovakian Architect prostitute.

Vrung cuntry.

I have no doubt there will be many lingering shots of butlers huffing and puffing around table settings as it relieves Fellowes of a few minutes of writing an actual scene.

I don't find the cunting butlers as exciting as everyone else seems to. I see a played out Englishman with one joke - looking down his nose - and an American who's fairly competent, if exhibiting the national predisposition to mystification that other people from other places do things differently.

I'm actually moderately interested in the arrival of the Duke of Buckingham.

I find the entire Dollar Princess history interesting.

Apparently, Consuelo Vanderbilt's marriage wasn't all that great although it accomplished what both parties wanted. She ended up with someone else in the end.

I also wouldn't mind at least a small name check on Cora Levinson. Cora married Robert in 1888 when she was 20, and it's about 1882 in the show. So, Cora is about the same age as Gladys.

she was a but of a strumpet

^ A good spin on that would be Bertha and Cora in a horse race to palm their daughter off on Robert Crawley, with a Maggie Smithalike appalled by the both of them.

Sorry, Bertha and Martha. Battle of the Thas.

[quote] A good spin on that would be Bertha and Cora in a horse race to palm their daughter off on Robert Crawley, with a Maggie Smithalike appalled by the both of them.

With their money, there's no way Bertha would settle for a mere Earl.

Alva Vanderbilt set her sights on a duke. Bertha would likely not accept anything less than that given how much money she brings to the table.

Right but sometimes it's just a storyline.

[quote]Right but sometimes it's just a storyline.

From a story perspective, seeing the writing on the wall for an unhappy alliance for Gladys while we know how Cora's turns out would actually be interesting.

As a storyline, it doesn't make much sense because Cora meet Robert in London during her first season, not in NY. What we would see is Martha bringing Cora to NY, meeting Bertha and the like, and realizing that the pickings were slim to nab an appropriate husband. It's more likely that Martha would get the idea to go to London from Bertha's machinations for Gladys.

OK, OK.

[quote]Alva Vanderbilt set her sights on a duke. Bertha would likely not accept anything less than that given how much money she brings to the table.

Well, several QUEENS are available.

But who would you ever cast as Martha?

How about Jessica Chastain?

Chastain is an Oscar-winning actress with no need to appear in crummy badly-written TV soap opera.

Or playing the mother of a 20 year old. Yet.

Just as long as that super handsome John Adams guy comes back

R95 His Broadway show ended abruptly so I’m sure he’s available.

I know, right? Was it because he was seen shirtless and handsome too often?

I the fact the name Bertha was so popular back then.

Jessica Chastain is 45. She would have been the mother of a 20-year old then.

Jessica was just on TV in “Scenes from a Marriage” so it’s not like she’s above HBO. And a young Martha Levinson would be a fun cameo for an Oscar winner.

In a prestige HBO scripted series based on a famous movie written and directed by Bergman opposite a Juilliard schoolmate and friend who is one of the hottest actors of the moment that guaranteed Emmy nods (and likely wins) for them both R100. Not a Sunday night soap opera ensemble show with a bunch of wobbly first time and theatrical actors, tortured writing, and spotty design that took more than a decade to get to a debut.

R98: like? hate? am around by?

Don't leave us on tenterhooks.

^ LOL: aroused by.

Really the autowhatchamacallit these days is simply shaming.

Great! We can start hate posting about it now!

R101 thinks "theatrical actors" are untalented....

[QUOTE] In a prestige HBO scripted series based on a famous movie written and directed by Bergman opposite a Juilliard schoolmate and friend who is one of the hottest actors of the moment that guaranteed Emmy nods (and likely wins) for them both [R100].

Jessica wasn’t nominated, dear.

Also, R106, we need a copy editor stat. And when I say copy editor I mean a trained expert capable shaping content in a way that strengthens the series of words that run on like one of those freight trains where you start counting the cars probably close to the middle and you're still at two hundred before the caboose passes when all you wanted to was save time cutting across the tracks Julliard, nuclear fusion and noblesse oblige thrown in for good measure.

The interesting thing about the Gilded Age threads is they bring out the fussiest of DL's cunts. It's like a caftan starching factory when their pompous specificity starts flying.

I really believe that the series brings out supreme cuntiness here because it's based on a fascinating American historical period and produced with millions of dollars and features great actors (who have all been seen to far greater effect elsewhere), yet the show, even with all that potential, constantly disappoints and fails.

It's ripe for supreme cuntiness.

Ya think? For me, it's the flame wars over whether lace on the pantaloons was 1/8" or 1/4. Though given the median age, some of these sagging accordions were probably there.

No R105 I think they can frequently be clumsy on screen and hammy, and the majority of the theater actors on Downton Abbey NY are precisely that.

^ lol, many of them have extensive movie and TV experience, too

But some DLers think Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, and Jacob Elordi are genius level actors

The thing about knowledge, though, is your tone when you share it.

Needs more Ché Diaz!

[quote]yet the show, even with all that potential, constantly disappoints and fails.

Yeah, it's the wasted potential that brings out the claws.

So much money for the production. So many great actors. Interesting period of money and power.

Yet, with all that, only brief moments of good story.

Cunty BUTLERS

I thought it got better as it went along but the cast was too big and the writing is superficial. A whole season passed and viewers still have no clue about the basis for the main characters, how George Russell made his money or how humble his wife's roots really were or what suffering Agnes endured married to a man you would not want to spend much time alone with. Was he boring? Was he brutal?

One picky thing that I get that logistically isn't worth the hassle of doing, but the social season in the city was during winter and the social season in summer was in the country or at the shore. You never see a hint of winter.

shucks

[quote]how George Russell made his money

He was a skilled rentboy.

I’m really hoping that this show moves more towards presenting NYC like the show the Alienist did, with its dark underbelly. The idea of gilding something is taking something inferior and covering up to hide what’s below and make it look shiny and expensive. The best way to reflect that is to expose the lie beneath it. It’s that contrast that’s fascinating.

But, but, what about the lovely costumes? And that marvellous plot from Downton. Turn him into a really long lost civil war veteran and Gladys has a whole three scenes I don't need to worry about!

Show needs gay angle. and Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt would do fine.

[quote]Show needs gay angle. and Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt would do fine.

It has a gay story angle.

R122, interesting that his obituary mentioned his "longtime companion"

There were no gays before 1972.

R120, it’s easy to romanticize grand British country homes, because the wars and slavery and whatever else that made them possible happened in the past. In Gilded Age New York, the crimes and exploitation that made certain families rich were ongoing. No one could pretend that the servants liked them. No one was actually special or grand. I agree, I would prefer a show that dealt with the contrast between the pretense and the reality.

By and large many men of Gilded Age period were simply various levels of bastards. They schemed, connived, cheated, looted, abused and otherwise did whatever it took to amass great fortunes.

Their personal or family lives were often equally as messy or nasty. Evidence of this is the shocking number of divorces (sometimes more than two) many racked up.

Jay Gould stands out as a bastard among bastards.

Ironically Jay Gould's estate on Hudson river (Lyndhurst), is one of the shooting locations for Gilded Age television series.

They've already been clear that one of the primary inspirations for George Russell was Jay Gould. Like Gould, Russell is cruel and merciless when anyone who crosses him in business, but tender with his family,

[quote]The black storyline is a BORE. Not gilded age.

I love it. You don't hear those kinds of stories about the time period. The "Black Elite" did exist during the time period and yes they were part of the gilded age even if history ignored or erased them. That small but present group was growing in power over in Brooklyn at the same time as everyone else.

Peggy is based on a few people but mostly Ida B. Wells, Julia C Collins who wrote for a newspaper (The Christian Recorder) and was possibly the first African American woman to publish a book and Susan McKinney Steward, New York first black woman doctor. Her father is based on Phillip Augustus White, who bought and leased properties (also, like the character he worked at a pharmacy at first) and was a black aristocrat during the time period.

Also, yes there were interracial friendships. Like they portray on the show it's "limited" (As Peggy makes clear and Marian is still learning about) and as we saw from the aunt's like of Peggy for making something over herself, while racism was present not everyone was racist. Quite a few suffragettes became friends with black women which is also being played out on the show. Writing is also one of the few respectable things Peggy would have been allowed to do.

You're getting a bunch of different families during that time period and I like that they're included.

I just think it's a nice twist on the show that elevates it, at times, slightly above camp.

She’s heading to philadelphia apparently so you NY queens will just have to put up with a story about somewhere else than you deign appropriate

I have to agree. I am middling on the black storyline. I remember how much Dynasty comparisons upset people on these threads, so it reminds me a bit of season 1 Dynasty when we were expected to care about the middle class Blaisdels but all we really wanted to was to get back to the mansion. But the black actors have grown on me and I like being surprised by the whole black elite world of Brooklyn. I didn't know it existed and it's interesting to watch. (That said, it's getting short shrift in this cast of thousands, like everything else. In an ideal world it would be two series because it should be a pretty rich world.) I give Uncle Julian credit for the writing (or perhaps overseeing the writing) on this part of it, because he's struck a fine balance of illustrating the prejudice of the period without making the whites too racist to be redeemed. The distinctions, the smaller, subtler moment are as uncomfortable and thought provoking to me as them using the N-word. I can't quite believe something Fellowes is helming can carry it off.

Does Season 2 continue on directly after Season 1 or is there a time jump? What year are we going to be in?

One of the bigger problems with the show that significantly reduce dramatic tension is that the forces of antagonism for both George and Bertha are nebulous.

The problem is that Aurora Fane who hates Bertha is too socially and financially weak to be a true foil for her. Mrs. Astor could, but isn't really positioned as such. One story has it that Caroline Schermerhorn Astor did strategically accept Alva Vanderbilt into society as a preemptive move under similar circumstances to the show although it's also likely that she foresaw the inevitable and moved to control the situation. Now that Bertha has been accepted by Mrs. Astor - now what? Who will become her main antagonist.

George needs one of the other robber barons to oppose him more directly, rather than a weak conglomeration of old money fools. George needs a true business rival to show both how clever he is and how ruthless.

R132, good question and I'm totally speculating but I don't think it will be much of a time jump because Gladys is now out and Bertha is presumably trying to peddle her off to the new British duke character, so it wouldn't make a lot of sense for Gladys, who was relishing being out at last during her ball, to be out doing nothing for a significant period of time. I assume there's going to be tension between daughter and mother over being sold into the harem of sheik. Plus, Peggy's just found out about her child and she and Audra are off on the road to Hoagievania, so don't know what the upside would be to having time pass. At best a few months has passed, but not a year?

with names like Gladys you KNOW there are whores running around

[quote]The problem is that Aurora Fane who hates Bertha is too socially and financially weak to be a true foil for her.

My impression was that Aurora actually had grown to like Bertha. Kelli O'Hara (to me) played a lot of wink and nod you're doing well in her guiding of Bertha... it almost seemed affectionate. Aurora kind of mocks the great game on all sides. She's one of the best characters on the thing, to me.

But totally agree, I don't know who Bertha's antagonist is now. As annoying as Ann Morris was, it might be comic to have her find an old school type in late age to marry, restore her standing, and have her wage a campaign of opposition against Bertha... not so much succeeding at keeping her out entirely, but constantly agitating to either keep her down or in her place.

I felt like once season one was over they'd actually written it as if season one was all there would be, though they keep giving interviews to claim it is all mapped out to the end of time. But it had a feeling of conclusion to me and I don't know where any of them go or who their various foils are.

maybe the cunting butler from across the street with try to knife her with a fish knife

[quote] She’s heading to philadelphia apparently so you NY queens will just have to put up with a story about somewhere else than you deign appropriate

She's also going to Alabama this season to meet Booker T. Washington, apparently.

[quote] The problem is that Aurora Fane who hates Bertha is too socially and financially weak to be a true foil for her.

Aurora Fane does not hate Bertha Russell. She was forced into helping her socially because of a deal her husband struck with George Russell, but she's expressed none of the loathing for Bertha that her friend Anne Morris (whose husband committed suicide after George humiliated him) has. In fact, mostly Aurora has become even friendly with Bertha as she's come to know her and her help has been appreciated.

As for who will be Bertha's greatest adversary next season: it is likely mostly going to be herself. Bertha's relentless will and social ambition are likely going to wreak havoc again on Gladys as she will try to force her into an aristocratic marriage, and will run the risk of alienating other members of her family entirely. This was the big problem with the actual Alva Vanderbilt: she was so determined her daughter would marry the Duke of Marlborough that she actually locked her daughter up for several days until her daughter acceded to her will. Consuelo never broke with her mother, but Gladys (or Larry) might.

Larry is cute, I wish he had more spine or umph

I hope they are able to deep dive into the corruption of the day, even more than they already have. It was the wild west of finance. No oversight on anything. Except for some disapproving glares from elites. Fortunes were built on lies, cruelty and crimes that today would be (nearly) impossible. That would be more interesting than cunting butlers.

It would if you saw the pain. They did it with Morris but to really tell the story on those terms, that would be pushing Uncle Julian toward drama and we can't have that.

Anyone expecting any more depth this coming season is living in a fool's paradise.

^ Exactly. You don't get nuance adding a dozen people to full time status.

But, oh, the bustles!

We are SOMEWHAT amused . . .

I hope Louisa Jacobsen had time for acting lessons to get herself out of rural high school musical mode.

I can't unsee the woman in OP's pic as a reface app of Elon Musk.

And anyone who thinks Louisa Jacobson will be returning to the series with any new depths of talents is also living in a fool's paradise.

Louisa was awkward for most of the season, but her part was such a nothing. When she had something actually to play in the season finale she was quite good.

Jacobson is much better than DL allows. I've just rewatched it and most of the moaning is dogma. She plays the part very well.

Really??

R150 you're just used to 21st century mediocrity

No, R152, I'm not. Disagree if you wish but don't speak for me. It's a fine performance.

She seems earnest and sweet, but very daft

r152, she is fine. You think there were no bad actors in the past? LOL

.........

It's a badly written part, but I agree Jacobson is better than people credit her for being.

She’s blond and silly

Are the gay guys out of the show now?

They are out and proud

Turn of the Century gays. Lots of fussy butlers and foreign fops.

wonder if poor mister pamuk shows up

The Return of Carrie Coons

If hear what's-his-name say "My dear" one more time I'll shoot my TV.

oh, DEAR

Yummy pussy!

When will they do an episode showcasing sanitary conditions during the Gilded Age?

Even the wealthiest people still had to breathe noxious and even toxic fumes from unregulated factories. They still mostly drank boiled water if they wanted to avoid cholera (which was little understood at the time anyway). They still had to step over an ever-present trickle of human and horse excreta in the streets and gutters. Sanitary sewers in NYC were sparse at that time.

You could get typhoid from a society luncheon meal. You could get cholera from your own drinking water. Millions died from diseases brought on by unsanitary city living: Tuberculosis, yellow fever, measles, primitive surgery, childbirth, etc. President Garfield died from an infection after his doctors stuck their unwashed hands into his bullet wound to search for the slug. President Polk died from shitting his brains out after contracting a foodborne illness from drinking raw milk. Lots of society wives died in childbirth, too.

But sure, let's "Downton" the fuck out of a Gilded Age city scene.

President Polk sounds interesting… tell us more r167

October 9 • 2:00 pm The Gilded Age

BUY TICKETS

Featuring a Special Screening Selected for this Event by the Producers followed by a conversation and Q&A.

Carrie Coon

Christine Baranski

Cynthia Nixon

Morgan Spector

Louisa Jacobson

Denée Benton

are oscar and John adams on the outs?

R168 Sorry, I misspoke. That was President Zachary Taylor who died from the raw milk and fruit diet. Both men are quite interchangeable. Polk served right before Taylor. Both were Southern, and both played integral roles in "securing" the American Southwest as U.S. territory. And both men served in the downswing of what was arguably the presidency's weakest era. After the larger-than-life early presidents, such as the Adamses, Jefferson, and Jackson, the 11th-15th presidents were quite ineffectual and invisible, and left most governmental powers to the Congress. These men executed the successful annexation of the West through treaties and a war with Mexico, but also either supported slavery or allowed the Confederacy to blossom out of unchecked Southern grievances.

President Polk also died of Cholera (both men presumably died on the chamber pot whilst in a state of sweaty delirium), but Polk's death came after he left office. Taylor died IN office, only 16 months in to a meaningless and unproductive presidency.

Why has nobody mentioned that bitch Turner? She probably found some ancient old codger whose face she’d sit on for a little social respectability.

Turner's back next season. Don't know what they'll do with her but she's back.

R173 You're goddamn right she's back!

You'll never see the end of me, motherfuckers!

Welcome back, my dear.

R175, if there was a Gilded Age drinking game, my dear would be the cue.

Last night I wound up watching the first episode of Downton Abbey. I was struck by how many phrases and lines from it I'd heard in GA. Off the top of my head he favours precisely as a reply quite frequently but there were another couple that that jumped out too. That lucky recycler, he's rolling in it and he actually gives the appearance of ever having written about two scripts.

My crew friend told me a lot of Season 2 is about the battle between opera houses. And she made it clear that’s all she would tell me. I begged her to give me a tidbit about John Adams but she remained resolute, the little bitch.

Any more of the homosex?

Went to a SAG Foundation screening of the season finale followed by a Q&A with Christine Baranski, Carrie Coon, Cynthia Nixon, Morgan Spector, Louisa Jacobson and Denee Benton. The finale worked suprpisingly well on a big screen, especially the ball stuff. The Q&A was fun. Spector was in black leather pants and an extremely tight form fitting black turtleneck which showed off his very impressive pecs and arms. Wowza. And I swear a purse dropped out every time he opened his mouth to speak. He was asked how he landed the role on the show and he said “I was going to an audition for Fiddler on the Roof and I wandered into the wrong room.” Cute. Jacobson admitted that she was terrified during the entirety of Season 1 and is only beginning to feel comfortable in Season 2. Baranski was her usual charming self.

Has Bertha figured out that Oscar is a homo yet? You just know she’s going to discover it and use that knowledge to get an angle somewhere.

Since there are so many side stories, I want to see Charles Fane and John Adams become an item.

Pictures of Morgan Spector in his leather pants and tight turtleneck - this man is pure sex, Rebecca Hall is the luckiest bitch alive

Are those pants leather or latex? They look very shiny for leather.

Goddamn, George and Mr. Fane need to have hot daddy sex pronto and Oscar van Rhijn blackmails them both.

Good Lord, I had no idea Spector was so thirsty. Those pants are sexy, but they cannot possibly be comfortable.

Also, I seriously doubt Spector is gay. Someone here posted that when he was in college he had a sign on his dorm room window that said something like: "To all and any women students: just knock for no-strings sex, any time. Serious offer."

Morgan Spector is the Justin Theroux of the 2020s.

And Carrie Coon got to play against them both, the lucky bitch.

R186, in the sense that no one outside of DL cares about them?

R171 No serious historian or even amateur historian of the antebellum period considers James Polk a "weak" or ineffectual president. In fact, he was the only ballsy president who accomplished pretty much everything he set out to do: annex Texas (even if it meant war with Mexico which he wanted anyway since he wanted California) and to settle the question of US control of the Pacific Northwest.

Polk is the president who pretty much firmed up the shape of the eventual lower 48 states.

And, he vowed to do it in one term. Which he did.

So, he got shit done.

Of course he was also a slave owning Southerner who also pushed that agenda. And, personality wise, he was a dour pedantic man without any wit, charm or charisma. There's a reason he's not much remembered today despite considerable accomplishments...he wasn't very interesting or personally memorable.

I'm also not sure why Polk OR Zachary Taylor were brought up in a thread about The GIlded Age since both men were dead long before the Civil War ended let alone the Gilded Age but...such is the joys of Data Lounge!

r173 I think Turner was the only one showing tits in this show so far which is surprising since its HBO.

Morgan Spector's outfit has me so conflicted.

Part of me wants to fuck the shit out of him because he's such a hot piece of ass.

The other part of me is rather appalled he chose that slutty, gay porn star outfit to wear at a public appearance promoting his prestigious (ish) television project.

And, yeah, that comparison to Justin Theroux is apt...they're both hot straight douchebros.

Oh, and I forgot to add, like Theroux, Spector doesn't seem like much of an actor.

They both just coast along on their hot douche bro-ness for their success.

Like a lot of actors.

Oh God, this thread has brought out the Polk defenders, it’s all over now.

R191, he actually chose to wear it for two public appearances on Sunday-at the Paley Center and the SAG Foundation. Hussy.

R194 Once in them he probably couldn’t get out and decided to wear them to two events before being cut out of them.

[quote]I'm also not sure why Polk OR Zachary Taylor were brought up in a thread about The GIlded Age

Because some Dataloungers remember voting for him.

I’m the poster upthread who was at the SAG Foundation screening and Q&A. It was just so damn amusing whenever Spector spoke-he reminded me of that Effeminate Heterosexual sketch on SNL-“Yummy beer! Yummy beer!”

He was asked how he was able to “drop into” the 1880s period and he named a book by Elizabeth Wharton Drexel called “King Lehr” and the Gilded Age. Christine Baranski gasped and said “She was my late husband’s great-aunt! You knew that, right?” Spector was aghast and said he didn’t. Baranski then sat back in her chair and looked like she was about to cry, I guess overcome by a sudden wave of grief.

That's a weird book for him to cite. I just ordered it from Amazon. Lehr was the original nasty queen who spiritually is the Mayflower to all the bitchy gay climbers who make New York gay life the Olympian bitch nest that it is to this day:

"Harry Symes Lehr was born in 1869 into a family that was neither wealthy nor socially prominent. His natural gift for entertaining and his penchant for hobnobbing with the very rich earned him entry to the powerful circle of the New York and Newport social elite, where Harry clowned his way to a position of prominence. One of his admirers and patrons, Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish, introduced him to a young widow, Elizabeth Wharton Drexel. Elizabeth was smitten with young Harry, his elegant dress, and outrageous behavior. They were soon married. But King Lehr had a secret―he was not what he seemed. On their wedding night he cruelly dictated to his new bride the rules of their strange bedfellowship. For twenty-three years, Mrs. Lehr protected his secret and remained in a loveless and abusive marriage. After Harry’s death, Elizabeth remarried, to the Baron Decies. Lady Decies wrote down her secret story in 1938, incorporating Harry’s most intimate diaries, and told all in this scandalous tale of power, desire, and deception."

Christine loves name checking her husband's famous relatives.

Honey, you were married to Billy Clyde Tuggle! He was TRAAAAAAAAAASH!

Late to the topic. At first glance Carrie Coon looks like the red dress in Pretty Woman.

"Martha, My Dear" by The Beatles

Spector is so fucking hot

Carrie Coon is a black hole of charisma.

A flash of next year @ 1:27.

Looks like they're upping the gilded quotient.

Crew member told me Morgan Spector got the Covid so the set is dark today. I’d like to nurse him back to health with my tongue. Production on Season 2 wraps on Thursday.

[quote] He was asked how he was able to “drop into” the 1880s period and he named a book by Elizabeth Wharton Drexel called “King Lehr” and the Gilded Age. Christine Baranski gasped and said “She was my late husband’s great-aunt! You knew that, right?” Spector was aghast and said he didn’t. Baranski then sat back in her chair and looked like she was about to cry, I guess overcome by a sudden wave of grief.

Why would she possibly want to cry? Lady Decies may have been his great aunt, but she died only one month after he was born. He never would have remembered meeting her even if she saw him during his first month of life.

R206, I’m sure it almost made her cry because she still grieves his death and Spector unwittingly bringing up this familial connection triggered something in her.

As I skim this thread I realize now more than ever that the first season really set up no reason to return as a viewer. All of the silly plot points. so many were so minor, were left with no tension, no drama, no real questions, no audience commitment to any of these ridiculous characters.

Even Dynasty, Dallas and Falcon Crest were better at wrapping up a season.

R208, the first season ended (IMO) as if they were unsure they'd get picked up, so no threads were left hanging. I don't disagree with your point though.

Holy shit. I thought OP’s pic was Elon Musk in drag.

Ok R208. Bye, see ya!

r208, then just don't watch it.

Problem solved!

I hate the face on that Carrie coon.

Crew member told me Season 3 won’t start shooting until next September.

At least Agnes loses her curly fringe and gets to be pretty for her debut.

“I’m a pretty girl, Mama!”

Were they guaranteed a third season already R214? I find that hard to believe given the current atmosphere at HBO. If the numbers are bad during this season, I seriously doubt it will be renewed considering how expensive it is.

September seems reasonable considering all the effort Fellowes puts into writing his scripts.

[QUOTE] Crew member told me Season 3 won’t start shooting until next September.

This conversation never happened.

I want to know more about the cute, friendly footman that works for the old ladies and the Streeplet. He’s adorable!

What date will it be back on the air for season 2?

I’m guessing spring, on Monday nights alongside Succession’s S4 run on Sunday nights.

The last season started in Jan, so probably around then

First episode of the first series aired in late January 2022. But I am sure I recall someone here say they were shooting into December this year so that might be a scramble to get an edit done? (I have no clue about production.) They're obviously not counting on it for Emmys like they rely on Succession so I suppose there's no particular rush to get it out. But it is also classic winter viewing.

Season 2 wrapped last week. My crew friend went to the wrap party last weekend. It was held at the exterior backlot where the East 61st street stuff is shot.

R225, any interesting gossip to share?

Just watched the whole S1 and loved it. I love tennis - so seeing the Newport Casino was fun. I also love Dark Shadows, so scenes filmed at Lyndhurst (where House of Dark Shadows movie was filmed) were cool to see. I suspect Marian will fall in love with George this season.

George or Larry?

[quote] The cast is too sprawling. I'd rather fewer characters who get real development and storylines.

Welcome to the Julian Fellowes School of Storytelling.

Loads of characters, all as deep as a penny.

I wonder if they get paid accordingly. Two scenes per episode, six lines. How much do ya want?

Maybe Oscar will encounter this Gilded Age gay power couple!

I want to marry Larry and have a torrid affair with his daddy. I want Ms Baranski to be my aunt and to be theatrically aghast at my scandalous behaviour. I like Mrs Russell, but I won’t even mind if she shuns me at the opera and makes me share a box with Jeanne Tripplehorn.

I’ll take up tennis, because all the men looked cute in their tennis outfits.

Just concluded interview with actor who plays John Adams:

When does the new season premiere?

Looking forward to being on Team Bertha again!

When is this supposed to start?

Hopefully soon. It’s trash but highly watchable.

The true stars of this show are the dinner menus and the table settings.

I’m looking forward to seeing Kelli O’Hara in this again. She was one of last season’s highlights for me.

It’s not on until March.

Where did you hear that it's coming back in March?

I’m probably the only person on the globe who enjoyed both the streepling and the coon.

I do agree however that the show’s a bit shallow, and the black plotline feels more like 1982 than 1882. But it’s gorgeous and full of period flair, remembering a vanished world, and to me the lack of melodrama is actually a bit of a plus rather than a minus.

I actually do find the black plotline intriguing. We focus so much on Southern blacks throughout American history, and there are damn good reasons for that, but there was this other group of northern Blacks, including some who had made it into the middle class. Nobody thinks it was some blissful racial paradise, but it was different from slavery and Jim Crow and rule by the Klan. I'm intrigued by that whole story.

certainly, there were whole professional, AA communities in NY by that time.

R244, yes, for some reason people think that the whole United States was like the South, but that wasn’t true.

it's set in nyc. why is that an issue?

there were also communities in the south. see durham nc among others.

I would like to see some silly nonsense like spiritualism. It seems the kind of thing these bored rich bitches would get into. I'd like Madame Blavatsky to put in an appearance. She was probably exhausting in real life, and would be even in a series if there was too much of her, but a little of that grifty old broad would add an element of fun to the Newport scene. I don't know if she actually ever went to Newport, but it seems like she might have. She did spend plenty of time in the U.S. ripping off rich idiots.

I enjoyed the first season and am looking forward to another. The costumes alone are worth seeing.

The TABLE SETTINGS!

r247, I think that would actually be a fun plotline

Then someone needs to write an episode with Nikola Tesla amazing the rich with electricity.

Or Rasputin with his massive Russian dong.

Was Rasputin in Gilded Age New York hustling the rich?

No, R253, but I’d love to see a fictionalized version of it.

Well, you see, Tesla was actually giving demonstrations and amazing the rich rubes.

In 1882 Rasputin wasn't even a clergyman yet. He was just a poor peasant on the steppes of rural Siberia. He didn't even meet the Tsar's family in St. Petersburg until 1905.

r252, you might as well ask for Marilyn Monroe and Truman Capote to also be included in the show.

Fuck off, R256.

r257, admit that r252 made a stupid post in response to the Tesla post.

r256 is correct in calling out your stupidity.

Fuck off...CUNT.

It was a delight to block R258, who is obviously deranged.

I know you are not seeing this r259, but being blocked by silly twats is perfectly acceptable.

It seems strange to me HBO hasn't announced a date yet. What gives? Are they usually this cagey? (No word on Succession, beyond Spring 2023 or And Just Like Glue, either.)

I think The Gilded Age will take the Monday night slot after The White House Plumbers ends its run.

Nathan Lane says the new season will premiere in September

Wow... that's a long time. Shooting's been over for months. You'd think they'd be shooting a third series by then.

Is the collapse of the Gilded Age complete?

I heard they want to pair it with a new show that's premiering

I’m constipated and so is my mom

R264, Season 3 starts shooting in September.

It’s already been renewed for a third season?

R267... I am glad to hear it. I like the show for the most part and am curious about how it unspools, given the broad canvas and Fellowes' limited imagination (it's not anemia just not pernicious anemia, anyone?) The industry is in a difficult patch. There was an article (below) that talked about how drama is increasingly expensive to produce and shows are getting cancelled for lack of funding. Gilded Age must be a high cost show given it's not just talent but locations and costumes and a fair amount of CGI, so the delay had me wondering if it was in trouble.

There is also going to be a second Season/Series of Julian Fellowes Belgravia. I read somewhere yesterday it is currently in production.

The entire show should be a series of breakfast, lunch and dinner/supper scenes.

With many of the Cunting Butlers....there should be a spinoff with them.

There's absolutely no excuse for making audiences wait two, three, or more years for a new season- of anything!

R273 - You are correct! Law & Order can show them how to it. Law & Order did 22-24 episodes per YEAR for each show: L&O, SVU and Criminal Intent.

There must be a large bunch of lazy fucks in the television industrial complex

all of those costumes don't iron themselves

GA actors have other roles and availability, unlike the workhorse that is L&O. It's a very expensive show to produce, which is interesting that HBO didn't take it off their roster, unlike their other "expensive" award winning shows (Legendary, Minx, Chad, Lovecraft Country, Westworld, Raised by Wolves, etc).

I'm kind of surprised as well, R276. It must cost a fortune, it's not terribly well written, and as much as I enjoyed it, it never really felt like an HBO show to me. Plus it wasn't a runaway hit, was it? Seems like a long time to let a reasonable success drop into obscurity... if it is to air in September it will be eighteen months since the S1 final. But obviously there's some kind of commitment there if Season 3 is to start shooting in the fall.

Well, a crew person on TGA told me that he’d heard that Season 3 was contingent on how well Season 2 does. But since the shoot date of S3 is around the same time as the premiere of S2 who knows?

This is an expensive and lengthy show to produce--they not only have to build most of the interiors, but use CGI for the exteriors. So the first season was a real gamble as to whether they could keep it going, because it not only had to get viewers but quite a sizeable number of them to justify the costs. They could not start the second season planning until they had been given the green light by HBO. Then it required time for preparation so that new sets could be built (especially since the new season is going to have more about Newport and the old Metropolitan Opera being built in NYC) and new costumes could be designed and sewn.

[quote] It's a very expensive show to produce, which is interesting that HBO didn't take it off their roster, unlike their other "expensive" award winning shows (Legendary, Minx, Chad, Lovecraft Country, Westworld, Raised by Wolves, etc).

A lot of those either did not generate enough viewers or enough prestige for HBO. (Lovecraft Company was a complete bomb with viewership, for example, and also did not garner very good reviews.) They were willing to continue Westworld while it was getting mixed-to-good reviews, but after a few seasons critics and viewers had tired of the same philosophical puzzles and also thought the show was too cruel.

Shit. I thought they cancelled this one.

[quote]They could not start the second season planning until they had been given the green light by HBO.

It premiered January 24, 2022 and was renewed for S2 in February 2022, so they weren't exactly dangling. I read and interview with Gareth Neame who said they already had tons of ideas for S2.

I love Carrie Coon in this, although I admit I may be the only one. When I see her in that image in OP it makes my mussy tingle with pleasure.

But let me defy convention even more: I also enjoy Streep Junior’s performance. Ok go ahead—flay me alive!

R283: me too. I liked Streep Jr. from the start and Coon grew on me. The writing is mediocre and everybody is hamstrung by that.

It's been YEARS since the last season of Perry Mason aired, HBO makes you wait a long time between seasons for their shows

My favorite is the young footman played by Ben Ahlers, a cutie who shared a selfie which showed his dick in the reflection of his sunglasses.

Link PLEASE!

R287, it’s on LPSG.

I don't know why Morgan Spector plays George like such a queen.

I'm looking forward to Season 2.

Me too. I've been rewatching tonight and it's better than I thought on first go. Not excellent, but entertaining.

I hope Season 2 has better writers and the plotlines don't get resolved so abruptly and anticlimactically like with the railway court case in Season 1. Also, they NEED more man-flesh for season 2. Nude scenes for Morgan Spector and the John Adams character, in every episode preferably. Perhaps even actual gay sex scenes for him and Oscar.

Season 3 is not going into production until January now.

I was starting to wonder if they would do a third.

Why shoot then? If they were going back to Troy it's about the least hospitable time of year, weatherwise.

Morgan Spector, fourth image.... Mmmmmmmm....

And the twink sliding down the bannister!

The acting in this show is horrendous. They're all "on stage", projecting to the back row. And let's not even go into the plastic surgery on some of those ladies!

Pass.

I prefer the acting genius of Emma Roberts on all those Ryan Murphy shows

Or Project Runway. Now that's real!

That picture of the main cast at the bottom of r301's link is very interesting. Carrie Coons is a lovely woman, but she doesn't look good in a mini-skirt and those cocktail heels. Christine Baranski looks the best (as usual--she really knows what clothes suit her best).

The show would benefit from being shaken up. I hope they can get the Van Rhijn/Brooke sisters out of that dark house more--it's accurate to the time, but it's kind of depressing. The Russell house would have been thought vulgar for the time (and even today), but at least its bright and spacious inside.

I'm glad someone finally made a show about my childhood

I read today that True Detective has been pushed to 2024. Boo, hiss.

Season 2 begins Sunday, October 29th.

But there’s confusion as to all eoght episodes being dropped that night.

Link which claims all eight episodes will be released on 10/29:

Why drop all eight at once when they'll be crying for content this fall?

It turned out to be a mistake, R307. They will air once a week.

I hope this season is less boring.

Fun review.

Re the link @ R310, I loved this:

[quote]“TV is back!!!!!!! Who will cross the street this season?????” tweeted writer Rose Dommu, referencing a Season 1 climax in which Baranski … crossed a street. (You had to be there).

My laugh from the Slate article: "Baranski’s Agnes is no longer imprisoned in her fusty drawing room for five straight episodes—she goes outside twice in the season premiere, practically tying her first-season tally in just one episode. What a thrill!"

My prediction from the Slate article, based on this quotre: "Coon’s Bertha Russell is finally given some worthy opponents in Murphy’s Mrs. Astor, as well as an old friend whose surprise return made me genuinely gasp."

The only person missing from S1 is Turner, the ladies' maid and failed seductress. My prediction: she learns Oscar's secret and blackmails him into marriage.

Didn't they have to shoot around Baranski's TGF schedule during the first season? That would explain the largely chamber piece nature of her character.

I think Covid also played a part. Very few scenes of her interacting with more than a few other actors in every scene.

Both Baranski and Nixon were on other projects simultaneously while filming TGA, hence all the parlour scenes.

I'll read the posts later. At this late date I have just watched all of season 2. IMHO, Season 1 was engaging but it did not make me pine for season 2. HOWEVER, I REALLY enjoyed Season 2. IMHO, the writing was much better, the storylines much better, and the characters (leading and supporting) were much more interesting. I'm looking forward to Season 3