“The Terror” ends its 10-episode run Monday night as the first installment of a planned AMC anthology series, each season featuring a different show with a different cast. Monday night’s season finale ends the series on a high note, wrapping up loose ends and throwing in a few twists and turns along the way.
AMC hasn’t yet committed to a second installment, but if “The Terror” is any indication, that’s a no-brainer. Ostensibly, it’s the (true) story (based on Dan Simmons’ novel) of two British ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, dispatched in 1846 with 130 men to navigate the Northwest Passage. Both ships were stranded in the unforgiving Arctic ice and never returned. There were no survivors.
The ships were captained by Sir John Franklin (Ciaran Hinds) and hard-drinking Francis Crozier (Jared Harris). As time goes on in “The Terror,” and the situation grows more hopeless, their men fall prey to scurvy, probable lead poisoning and botulism (from tainted food tins), mutiny — and, ultimately, depravity. “The Terror” adds a supernatural element to an already hopeless situation: a bloodthirsty beast (resembling a ginormous polar bear) that stalks the men and reappears intermittently to literally rip them to shreds. The writing, acting and cinematography are all terrific and the action has been relentless, especially in the last three episodes.
Monday night’s finale picks up where Episode 9 left off, with Capt. Crozier (Jared Harris) forcefully transported to the camp run by mutinous, increasingly psychotic Cornelius Hickey (Adam Nagaitis), whose men have resorted to cannibalism. I won’t spoil anything, but suffice it to say that fans won’t be disappointed. Catch up on “The Terror” on demand if you haven’t yet seen this fine series.
Hollywood legend Robert Wagner takes a walk (and drive) down memory lane in “The Boulevard,” a new seven-part Amazon series exploring the fabled Hollywood Walk of Fame — both its history and the actors who’ve received stars over the years. (That list includes Wagner, who hosts “The Boulevard” with his daughter, veteran TV personality Katie Wagner.)
“It’s the second-largest tourist attraction in California, the first being Disneyland, which I didn’t know until we started putting the show together,” says Wagner, 88, who developed “The Boulevard” with David DiVona and George Schlatter (“Laugh-In”). “It’s really a wonderful opportunity to introduce these people that have given so much in their lifetimes.
“And it’s nostalgic for me,” he says. “Honestly, I used to go down to Hollywood Boulevard when I was about 14 or 15, put the collar up on my leather jacket and walk down the Boulevard hoping someone would discover me while looking [at myself] in the plate-glass windows to see how I looked. It’s a trip for me, particularly for the people I knew.”
It helps that Wagner, who recurs on CBS’ “NCIS” as Anthony DiNozzo Sr., worked with many of the actors honored with stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (And he often has an anecdote, like the time he caddied for Clark Gable.) He’s asked if there’s one personality that, to him, towers above all the others on the Boulevard.
“That’s an interesting question,” he says. “Spencer Tracy comes to mind. He changed my career; I did two films with him. A lot of people don’t know who Mr. Tracy was; this show affords us a moment to be able to say, ‘Here’s a man who’s considered to be the finest actor of his generation.’”