Day: July 6, 2022

Before “Flowers”: fresh generations of gloom

Imagine someone asking you to spend four months abroad, encased in deceit, dismay and cruelty.
Hey, how could you resist? Jemima Rooper insists it was kind of fun. Actors “became a loving family – not the twisted family you see” onscreen.
She’s Olivia — show here, right, approaching her new domain — in “Flowers in the Attic: The Origin.” That reaches Lifetime at 8 p.m. July 9, launching an avalanche of gloom. On four Saturdays, we get the roots of the dark classic, “Flowers in the Attic.”
During the pandemic, acting jobs were scarce in England (Rooper’s homeland) and the U.S. But here were four movies, filmed back-to-back in Romania. “We just felt really happy to be working.” Read more…

Best-bets for July 8: Magnums (new and old) survive

1) “Magnum P.I.,” 9 p.m., CBS. Fans of this show are in a better mood now: CBS didn’t renew it for next season, but NBC has stepped in with a partial reprieve – 10 episodes in each of the next two seasons. For now, CBS has “Magnum” reruns; tonight, one private eye is tracking another: Magnum is suspicious of Higgins (they’re shown here in a jollier episode); he’s unaware that she’s undercover in a group that’s trying to destroy the MI-6, the British spy service. Read more…