THE SCREENING ROOM
MOTHER GOAD: Shailene Woodley, Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman as the three alpha females in Big Little Lies.
1. HBO 2. HAYLEY MADDEN/REDFERNS/GETTY
ANYONE WHO thinks premium cable television is awash in testosterone should feel well disposed toward Big Little Lies, the new series from HBO. Adapted from Liane Moriarty’s darkly funny best-seller from 2014 about competitive women and abusive marriages, it stars Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley as three mothers whose children all attend the same kindergarten in Monterey, California. Think of the show as a riposte to Tony Soprano, Walter White, Don Draper, or any other of the anti-heroes whose pockmarked psyches have held us in thrall these past few years. What the Bada Bing! strip club was to Tony and his boys, the kindergarten drop-of is to these power moms—an arena for alpha females staking out their territory in a bloody turf war.