By Chris Evangelista/Aug. 14, 2018 12:16 pm EST
The Romanoffs Trailer
Let’s look at the cast here: Isabelle Huppert, Marthe Keller, Aaron Eckhart, Diane Lane, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery, Amanda Peet, Jack Huston, Corey Stoll, Noah Wyle, Kathryn Hahn, Kerry Bishé, Jay R. Ferguson, Ben Miles, Mary Kay Place, Griffin Dunne, Cara Buono, Ron Livingston, Jon Tenney, Clea DuVall, Radha Mitchell and many, many more. That’s pretty damn impressive. Now, here’s the synopsis: the anthology series tells “eight separate stories about people who believe themselves to be descendants of the Russian royal family.”
The Ramanoffs (or Romanovs) were the second dynasty to rule Russia, and the family came to a bloody end when Nicholas II and his family were executed during the Russian Civil War. After the Romanoffs were executed, imposters came forward claiming to be descendants or survivors of the execution, and that seems to the idea that this show is drawing on.
All of this sounds great! But here’s an issue: The Ramanoffs comes from Matthew Weiner. Weiner is the creator of one of the very best shows in the history of television – Mad Men. But last year, former Mad Men writer Kater Gordon accused Weiner of improper conduct, even harassment, during the making of the show. Weiner denied the allegations, and then nothing seemed to come of the matter. But the shadow of the allegations now hangs over the show. I want to be excited about this series, and the trailer looks great. But I’m having a hard time balancing that excitement against the (seemingly ignored) allegations against Weiner. And now we’re getting into an issue of separating art from the artist, and that’s a whole different conversation.
For now, The Ramanoffs continues to seem enticing, but I’m hesitant to be too enthusiastic at this time.
The Romanoffs debuts Friday, October 12, 2018.
