SERIES PREMIERE: Ryan Murphy and Evan Romansky co-created this new Netflix series, a prequel of sorts to the Ken Kesey novel, and subsequent movie, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. But instead of giving us earlier insights into the character of R. P. McMurphy, the young rebellious protagonist played in the 1975 film by Jack Nicholson, Ratched hones in on the story’s antagonist instead. That would be Nurse Ratched, played in the film by Louise Fletcher – who, like Nicholson and the film and its director, Milos Forman, won an Oscar. In this TV series, Ratched is played by Murphy rep-company favorite Sarah Paulson, who’s been in every season of his American Horror Story, and played O. J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark in his American Crime Story. And her steely, determined portrayal is just right, in a series that makes room for one scene-stealing supporting player after another: Vincent D’Onofrio, Amanda Plummer, Sharon Stone, Judy Davis, Corey Stoll, and more. For my full review on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, visit the Fresh Air website. And for a full review here, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.

Leave a Comment: (No HTML, 1000 chars max)

Name (required)

Email (required) (will not be published)


Type in the verification word shown on the image.

New From TVWW

Netflix, 3:00 a.m. ET

PBS' 'Frontline’ Examines Pension Promises and — Spoiler Alert — Finds the Math Doesn’t Add Up

The Decadence of ‘Versailles’ Comes to Ovation

Prescribing Mamie Gummer in 'Emily Owens, M.D.'

Looking for a Free Ride? HBO Can Deliver

'Pass the Biscuits' Part of the Hatfield-McCoy Pop-Culture Legacy

1957: Julie Andrews Stars in 'Cinderella'

Dispatches From TVWW

'Extinction: The Facts' is a Sobering Call to Action

How 'Mayans' Has Been Influenced by the Show's Creator Elgin James

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Ken Burns and Lynn Novick Take on Ernest Hemingway, the Man and the Myth

In the Final Season, Sutton Foster's Liza is Now the Genuine Version of Her 'Younger' Self

Season 2 of 'City on a Hill' Returns with Kevin Bacon, Aldis Hodge, and Boston Corruption