TV review: Mrs America
MRS AMERICA
Fox Life (StarHub TV Ch 501/Singtel TV Ch 301), Thursdays at 10pm
This political period drama, set against the women's lib movement's push to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in 1970s America, is prestige TV at its finest.
Despite a leisurely start and a premise that may not appeal to mainstream audiences, Mrs America builds up to a fascinating, thought-provoking portrait of all the soldiers on both sides of this particular battleground.
Anchoring the show is Cate Blanchett as conservative activist and ambitious housewife Phyllis Schlafly, a real-life anti-heroine who opposes the ERA and seemingly betrays her sex by arguing that a woman's truest place was in the home.
It is almost a given that Blanchett, Uzo Aduba (as Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to the US Congress) and Tracey Ullman (as Betty Friedan, the mother of the feminist movement) will be awash in award nominations and wins this year.
Oozing style and substance, Mrs America will open your eyes to how the fight for women's rights started to go so wrong. - JEANMARIE TAN - 4 Stars
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