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Noticing an uptick in scandalous tales on TV lately? You’re right. This season we’ve got series on clandestine wiretapping and canoodling; allegations of brutality and prosecutorial abuse; fiction that flirts with documentary; and sex, lies, videotape, and more lies. Likable impostors and plots like a Tilt-a-Whirl ride. (Anatomy of a Scandal, hand us the Dramamine!)
Welcome to the AARP’s scandal (cheat) sheet: the juiciest TV you can possibly binge, all streaming now.
Anatomy of a Scandal
There’s plenty of anatomy in this courtroom drama — which body parts touched when and where, and was consent given? Did ascendant Brit politician James Whitehouse (Rupert Friend) rape an underling with whom he’d had an affair, or is she out for revenge? Sienna Miller portrays wife Sophie, whose stance on her man is sorely tested by the incremental ways in which he confesses his sins. Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery dons the white wig as his prosecutor. Does her stony tenacity reflect a zealous belief in Whitehouse’s guilt, or is there more? Need you ask?
Watch it: Anatomy of a Scandal on Netflix
Gaslit
Writer-showrunner Robbie Pickering (Mr. Robot) returns to the scene of Nixon’s political crime of the century and its lunatic players. Only he cast his wryly smart eye on loudmouth whistleblower Martha Mitchell (and to a lesser extent John Dean). The ensemble for this power-play drama is power-packed with Julia Roberts playing Martha; Sean Penn portraying her hubby, Nixon-appointed Attorney General John Mitchell; Shea Whigham as G. Gordon Liddy; Dan Stevens as Dean; and Betty Gilpin as Mo Dean.
Watch it: Gaslit on Starz
A Very English Scandal
Hugh Grant once leveraged his hangdog demeanor to winning effect in romantic comedies. He plies that downward-tilted head and twist of the mouth in this fact-based show about Jeremy Thorpe, a member of the British Parliament. There’s comedy here, underlined by a winking musical score. There are faint hints of romance, or the anguished, closeted version of it. In the early 1960s, Thorpe attempted to rid himself of his pesky former boyfriend. Ben Whishaw won an Emmy for his portrayal of Thorpe’s politically dangerous liaison, Norman Scott. The show poses two universal questions: Why are posh criminals so inept? And why does their guilt so often not matter in the end?
Watch it: A Very English Scandal on Amazon Prime
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