Monarch (2022)

Watchseries; The temptation to rebrand everything successful is Hollywood's stock and trade. Something works. You make a copy. And a copy of the copy. That's monarch. And it's just diluted Yellowstone/Empire.

I like a few of the "stars" of Monarch. But never Sarandon. Nope. And in a country music drama series? That just goes against all the laws of nature and morality. I couldn't help but think of the old SNL skit with John Love as the obnoxious sleazy actor in the smoking jacket. I half expected her to end every scene by taking a bow and declaring she was only "Accttiinng"!

If we keep tuning into this unimaginative writing and acting we are just encouraging the ultra wealthy Hollywood regulars who crank out this mess to take for granted the gift artists are afforded. You inspire or challenge or even shock us with something new or just creative and we make you wealthy and famous beyond your contribution to anything really. All we ask is that you don't take a crap on us while you look down your nose at our ordinary lives.

The temptation to rebrand everything successful is Hollywood's stock and trade. Something works. You make a copy. And a copy of the copy. That's monarch. And it's just diluted Yellowstone/Empire.

I like a few of the "stars" of Monarch. But never Sarandon. Nope. And in a country music drama series? That just goes against all the laws of nature and morality. I couldn't help but think of the old SNL skit with John Love as the obnoxious sleazy actor in the smoking jacket. I half expected her to end every scene by taking a bow and declaring she was only "Accttiinng"!

If we keep tuning into this unimaginative writing and acting we are just encouraging the ultra wealthy Hollywood regulars who crank out this mess to take for granted the gift artists are afforded. You inspire or challenge or even shock us with something new or just creative and we make you wealthy and famous beyond your contribution to anything really. All we ask is that you don't take a crap on us while you look down your nose at our ordinary lives.

Monarch watchseries. Because for the most part I have no use for modern C+W, I wouldn't have given this a second look if not for Trace Adkins' appearance on Real Time and Maher falling all over himself with praise. But to be honest, we barely made it through the opening credits before it was clear that it was going to be a sanitized, cookie-cutter, Hallmark-worthy torture session whose every moment made me want to watch the Righteous Gemstones instead. Maybe I shouldn't even be writing this; there's probably some unstated rule about how much of something you actually have to see before dismissing it as junk and putting on something else.

We know that Susan Sarandon still has it - she rocked Ray Donovan. So unless the age ceiling for Hollywood actresses that we keep hearing about has suddenly come down on her hard, I can't for the life of me figure out why she'd sign on to this turkey. Or maybe the producers, desperate to attach the name of an actual "serious actor" (rather than just an array of Nashville twangers), made her an offer she couldn't refuse.

In the end, it doesn't matter why. It has been seen and cannot be unseen. And if it goes on to earn praise from country music fans, it will, as a point of reference, tell you much more about them than about Monarch.

They should have called this Brits with bad accents. LOL I'm tired of so many Brits playing Anericans in movies & shows. Do we have a shortage of American actors? The one that plays the son I knew right away was a Brit because of his poor attempt at an American accent. The one that plays the daughter's accent is so over the top it's laughable. I like Trace Atkins and his music but he is a terrible actor. I don't know why Susan Sarandon is even in this show. I watched about 25 minutes of it and did not care anything about any of the characters and could not get past all of the over the top bad accents and bad acting to finish it.

Based on first episode, the accents are really bad. British accents don't translate to Texas accents very well. Very inconsistent. I loved Anna Freil as Marcella on PBS/Masterpiece.

I'm a huge country music fan. It seems there has to be country singers who can act, or actors who can sing country. Sorry Trace, you're a good singer.

The fancy clothes are, well, fancy. Susan Sarandon's clothes are great. Do sisters always have to compete and fight? Can't they both be successful singers? And the son is looked down on by the father and they can't get along, so cliche.

I watched this episode beginning to end. The ending has an interesting twist. I doubt I will watch future episodes. Don't think it will last past 3 episodes if it's not revamped. Just my opinion.

The MONARCH premiere was exactly what I had expected it to be - mediocre and forgettable. Despite the star power of veteran Susan Sarandon, country star Trace Adkins, and the always likable and impressively talented Brits Anna Friel (Pushing Diasies) and Joshua Sasse (Galavant), the only glimmer of substance this pilot episode had was a well-done duet of the 1997 hit ballad, "How Do I Live." The introduction of its plots, subplots, and backstories, I could've easily lived without. This question remains: Do I want to continue watching a blasé series far too similar to other fleeting series like PROMISED LAND and FILTHY RICH simply because I like actors Sarandon, Friel, and Sasse -- despite the blatant fact that none of them could carry a Texas accent worth a darn? Moreover, do we really need another NASHVILLE? Hasn't this been done and done over dozens of times? "How do I live" without this series? My apologies to the fine cast, but the answer is...just fine!

How could an obviously expensive show this bad be green-lighted? So bad, one might think it is a bad joke. Embarrassing. Can't believe Sarandon agreed to be a part of it; not a good project to go out on. The writing is bad, the acting is bad, the singing is bad (but for the source music). The family scenario/set-up is bad. Not to mention the fact that Sarandon is fifteen years older that Trace Adkins and everyone knows that! Hollywood clearly thinks the public is a dumb as rocks. One loathes this family five minutes into the first episode; any mother who asks what the Sarandon character asks of her daughter is evil.