A new series adapted from the 2013 book by Lily Koppel by writer-producer Stephanie Savage (“Gossip Girl”), “Astronaut Wives Club” turns out to be more “Desperate Housewives” than “The Right Stuff.”
I’ve not read the book, but the first episode available for review felt inauthentic (get a load of that impromptu episode-closing all-girl dance party) when it didn’t feel downright dull.
“Astronaut” feels every bit as disposable as “Pan Am” and “The Playboy Club” and “Vegas,” three other recent broadcast looks at the 1960s (all incumbated during “Mad Men’s” long streak of best drama wins) that also brought flat network TV writing to what should be quite interesting corners of history.
Those interested in a far more exciting look at the Mercury astronauts and their spouses are encouraged to seek out instead Phil Kaufman’s wildly underrated 1983 drama “The Right Stuff,” based on the Tom Wolfe book and starring greats like Pamela Reed, Kathy Baker, Veronica Cartwright and Mary Jo Deschanel in these roles, to say nothing of Scott Glenn, Jeff Goldblum, Lance Henriksen, Fred Ward, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Scott Paulin, Charles Frank, Harry Shearer, Sam Shepard, David Clennon, Barbara Hershey and Donald Moffat as LBJ. What a movie!
... The creators of “The Astronaut Wives Club” may have wanted to avoid belittling their heroines in a space age version of “Desperate Housewives,” but they did them a different disservice by sugarcoating them almost as much as NASA did some 50 years ago. …
... though there are no great claims to be made for it as drama or history, it is not the worst way to spend an idle hour on a summer night. …
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:
... gets off to a confusing start as it fails to clearly introduce and differentiate the seven women of the show's title and their husbands. … This clunky, thesis statement-style dialogue in the premiere episode script by executive producer Stephanie Savage (“Gossip Girl”) assures “Astronaut Wives Club” won’t be confused with serious cable dramas. At best, the show is an average prime-time soap rooted in history that improves somewhat in successive episodes.
The San Francisco Chronicle says:
... can’t make up its mind if it wants to be a serious, nuanced fact-based drama about the wives of the Mercury Seven astronauts, or “The Real Housewives of Cape Canaveral.” Fortunately, there’s enough legitimate drama in the show, premiering Thursday, to counterbalance its cheaper moments. …
... The scheming! The betrayals! The turmoil over the external release handle on the space capsule! Welcome to “The Real Housewives of NASA.” …
... underneath all of Wives' fakery is a more compelling true story of the earliest days of the space program, as The Right Stuff proved. …
... Essentially a slow-motion version of [“The Right Stuff”] … But if “The Astronaut Wives Club” experiences a failure to launch, it won’t be due to a malfunction at the controls.
... Sometimes history can be a little, well, boring. And herein lies the problem with The Astronaut Wives Club. … the result is surprisingly grounded and muted, leaving its likelihood of finding an audience rather up in the air.
8 p.m. Thursday. ABC.
