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This week our friends at AARP put out a guide to some of the best shows to check out this week. So, time to take some a few moments to enjoy why these are good shows.
Catherine the Great
(HBO, premieres Oct. 21, 10 p.m. ET)
All bow before Helen the Great! In HBO’s extraordinarily regal miniseries about Russia’s 18th century potentate Catherine the Great, Helen Mirren, 74, the queen of actresses who play queens, gets her most powerful regent role yet. She ruled much of the earth and murdered husbands who got in her way. Critic Ann Donahue notes that Catherine’s passion for her lover and coconspirator, Grigory Potemkin (the brilliant Jason Clarke, 50, of First Man and Chappaquiddick) has a vibe like Mirren’s real-life four-year live-in relationship with Liam Neeson. The script is by Nigel Williams, 71, who won an Emmy for writing Mirren’s triumphant Elizabeth I miniseries.
Castle Rock, Season 2
(Hulu, premieres Oct. 23)
In his first Stephen King drama since The Shawshank Redemption, Tim Robbins, 61, plays Maine’s Pop Merrill, a military vet with cancer who’s adopted Somali refugees (including Robbins’ fellow Oscar nominee Barkhad Abdi of Captain Phillips). They collide with a newcomer, Annie Wilkes — the same mad character Kathy Bates played in Misery, only this story happens 10 years before that film is set and Annie’s played by the dazzling Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex), consciously emulating Bates’ performance. Annie’s daughter is played by Elsie Fisher, who won fame in the masterpiece Eighth Grade.
The Kominsky Method, Season 2
(Netflix, premieres Oct. 25)
How could this killer comedy-drama about two old friends — an actor and teacher (Michael Douglas, 75) and his agent (Alan Arkin, 85) who quarrel incessantly in youth-obsessed Hollywood — get any better? By bringing in A-list guest stars: Paul Reiser, 63, as Douglas’ daughter’s lover; Jane Seymour, 68, as Arkin’s rekindled old flame; and Kathleen Turner, 65, as the ex-wife of her War of the Roses and Romancing the Stone costar Douglas. This is must-see grownup TV.
Mrs. Fletcher
(HBO, premieres Oct. 27, 10:30 p.m. ET)
Kathryn Hahn, 46, plays a divorced mom who gets empty nest syndrome after sending her son off to college and has a midlife sexual awakening. The show’s creator is best seller author turned Oscar nominee Tom Perrotta, 58 (Little Children, Election, The Leftovers).
 and his agent (Alan Arkin, 85) who quarrel incessantly in youth-obsessed Hollywood — get any better?){kind=link}