2WHITE HOUSE PLUMBERS

Mondays beginning May 1 on HBO NEW SERIES!

We are now 50 years removed from the infamous Watergate break-in of 1972 and the ensuing 1973 hearings that ultimately led to President Richard Nixon’s resignation in August 1974. While many people may know the names of the people involved, and have a general idea of what went on, there are some lesser-known details — some almost too incredible and at times humorous to believe — that may not be as well known.

HBO’s five-part series White House Plumbers delves into those details. It follows Nixon’s political saboteurs, the “White House plumbers” of the title — E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, who are portrayed, respectively, by sureto-be Emmy nominees Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux in fantastic performances — as they accidentally topple the presidency they were zealously trying to protect, and their families along with it, through a combination of bad luck and, mostly, their own clumsiness.

The series is directed and executive produced by David Mandel, with Alex Gregory and Peter Huyck on hand as creators, writers and EPs. Those three men were all involved behind the scenes with HBO’s acclaimed political comedy series Veep, and

Judy Greer: © 2022 Getty Images. Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story: © 2023 Netflix, Inc. Credit: Liam Daniel they bring a similar sensibility to this satirical drama.

Since White House Plumbers is based on a real story that represented a very serious moment in our nation’s history despite how humorous some of the incidents surrounding it may have been, this creative team expertly keeps the series balancing a fine line between drama and wit throughout, while never becoming an outright comedy, as Veep did on occasion.

“Any great producer will tell you the trickiest thing is maintaining tone,” agrees Judy Greer, who costars as Fran Liddy, Gordon’s wife. “It’s really hard with five hourlong episodes. It’s like a five-hour movie.” shocking the Hunts while Fran simply continues the conversation and keeps the cocktails flowing.

As great a character actress as Greer is, portraying Fran Liddy, even in limited scenes, had its challenges.

“I was playing someone that there wasn’t much information on,” she says. “There wasn’t a ton about her that I could find, so I kind of decided to just create this character and play off Justin in my own way.”

It works quite well. As overthe-top and often belligerent as Theroux’s Gordon can get, Greer’s Fran tends to balance the couple out.

QUEEN CHARLOTTE: A BRIDGERTON STORY

Thursday, May 4 on NETFLIX NEW SERIES!

India Amarteifio as young Queen Charlotte

Judy Greer

Greer’s role in this sort-of “movie” is not particularly large, but it’s one of those supporting roles that she has seemed to specialize in and become most renowned for: a character who may not be a big part of the overall story, but who you also can’t look away from when she’s onscreen, thanks to Greer’s portrayal.

She features in some of the series’ wildest scenes, as when the Liddys invite Howard and his wife, Dorothy (Lena Headey, Game of Thrones), over for dinner. At one point, Fran’s off-the-wall husband drops the needle on a record album of Hitler speeches as casually as if he were simply playing some after-dinner music,

In forming the character, Greer says that after first reading the scripts for all five episodes in order, she then started from the end to “create” Fran.

“[I] saw at the end when Gordon’s in jail, she stays by him, and she supports him. … She’s committed to him, and raising their kids, and keeping their family together. I wanted Fran to not be stupid; I wanted her to have made a choice to be a devoted wife and mother.

“I think she kind of knows the drill. She’s probably more streetwise than book smart … and that’s what I found just from the scenes that were written that I think is an interesting way in. Because I didn’t want her to be rolling her eyes at her husband. … I just think it’s more interesting if she kind of knows her husband’s a bit dopey, but she doesn’t care, because she loves him.”

3 White House Plumbers: © 2021 PVC. Credit: Phil Caruso/HBO

— Jeff Pfeiffer

Oh the pomp, the pooches and all the circumstance! Golda Rosheuvel reprises her role as fan-favorite Queen Charlotte from the flagship Bridgerton series. In this series, however, we are introduced to India Amarteifio, who takes on the character in her younger years: as a determined woman on the rise to both prominence

Fdr

Monday, May 29-Wednesday, May 31 on HISTORY

NEW SERIES!

Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and Bradley Cooper are executive producers of this six-hour docuseries, which is the fifth installment of History’s successful series of presidential documentaries, following Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt, all of which also involved Goodwin, and Grant

This production, airing in two-hour installments over three consecutive nights, is based on Goodwin’s bestseller Leadership: In Turbulent Times and explores the political and personal trials that shaped Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his presidency. It charts FDR’s formative years, his marriage to Eleanor Roosevelt, his early political career, his affliction with polio and how he translated his personal struggle with disability to connect to and help the American people navigate the depths of the Depression, and to ultimately be the right person at the right time to confidently lead America and the Allied nations through World War II. The series uses dramatic narrative sequences, expert interviews, contemporary scholarship, archival footage and never-before-seen documents to chronicle Roosevelt’s growth as a leader at one of the most perilous moments in history, with the immeasurable help of his wife and adviser, Eleanor.

“It’s been a dream of mine to tell the story of Franklin and Eleanor in this way,” Goodwin says, “so audiences can truly know them and understand how they inspired and improved our country with a ‘new deal’ that forever altered the way in which the federal government contributed to the health and wellbeing of its people.” —

Jeff Pfeiffer