While broadcast TV limps along with reality shows featuring hunky bachelors and aspiring singers, cable channels and other outlets are offering thought-provoking scripted series that are garnering critical attention and high ratings.
AMC has had record-breaking success with Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. The History Channel has scored stratospheric ratings with The Bible. And the Netflix series House of Cards has caused subscribers to look at the movie rental service in a whole new way.
Now the Sundance Channel is getting in the act, with a new scripted series, Rectify, that premieres on April 22 at 8 p.m. Houston viewers can get a sneak preview of the first two episodes of the six-part series Tuesday night, April 16, on the big screen at Sundance Cinemas at Bayou Place.
After the screening, cast members will engage in a question-and-answer session with viewers via Skype.
The series, from the producers of Breaking Bad, tells the story of a man released from prison after 20 years in isolation on death row who returns as an outsider to his family, his community and a world he has never known. It stars Aden Young (Killer Elite, The Tree) as the freed prisoner, Abigail Spencer (Cowboys and Aliens, Oz the Great and Powerful) as his younger sister and Hal Holbrook as his former attorney.
After the screening, cast members will engage in a question-and-answer session with viewers from more than a dozen theaters across the country, including Houston, via Skype.
The screening is free, with donations accepted for the Osborne Association, a national organization that advocates alternatives to incarceration and focuses on family-focused reentry from prison programs. To attend the 7 p.m. screening, RSVP to RSVPSundanceHouston@sundancechannel.com.
The Sundance Channel recently generated a lot of buzz with the mini-series, Top of the Lake, starring Elisabeth Moss and Holly Hunter and directed by Jane Campion.
