Piven Is Awful
I must admit that I didn't even finish the first episode. I have always liked Jeremy Piven since first watching him play a bitter writer on the excellent "Larry Sanders Show", and I thought that even when "Entourage" started to seem tired and aimless, Piven always held up his end in his delightful portrayal of the ruthless, preening agent Ari Gold. And so I was interested to see if this man could step out of his usual character and play retail pioneer Selfridge, a role that if played successfully would prove the Piven is truly a gifted actor, not just a reusable character.The answer comes all to quickly in the first episode: Piven can't act. What is the point of watching, or even discussing, a show called "Mr. Selfridge" when the guy playing the titular role is just so completely, irredeemably awful? The rest of the production might be great or terrible, I don't care because I will never force myself watch Piven stomp around the set completely sucking every moment he is on camera. He is so bad, he doesn't even have to say anything to make one cringe! Just that phony fleeting half-smile that seems to scream "Look Ma, I'm ACTING!" instantly demonstrates that he is in way over his head.
For Heaven's sake, Jeremy, come to your senses and RUN, and tell everybody you had a horrible psychotic break with reality and you can't remember anything that happened. Then maybe...MAYBE you can land a future role in the kind of comedy farce at which you excel, and redeem yourself from the nightmare that is "Mr. Selfridge."
score 1/10
gooroov 1 January 2014
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2932455/14540
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