One doesn’t expect to see great American works of art referenced in a new television series. But Corinne Brinkerhoff, executive producer of “American Gothic,” is determined to change that.
Her new show, which takes its title from the painting by Grant Wood, is about a wealthy Boston family trying to cover up a scandal when police suspect one of its members may be the “Silver Bells Killer.” Each of the 13 episodes is named after a famous painting.
The titles are well chosen, as Brinkerhoff and her team of eight writers have made the paintings “organically part of the episode.” For example, Wednesday’s premiere is called “Arrangement in Grey and Black” (more commonly known as “Whistler’s Mother”), and based on the 1871 painting by James McNeill Whistler. In the final scene actress Virginia Madsen, who plays devious matriarch Madeline Hawthorne, is posed, with some modifications, as the figure in the painting: seated and seen in profile, against a gray backdrop with one framed work of art on the wall.
“We matched some of our favorite paintings to what is going to happen in each episode,” says Brinkerhoff (“The Good Wife”), who spoke to The Post about how some of the renowned canvases will be captured this season.
Your third episode is titled “Nighthawks,” after the 1942 Edward Hopper masterpiece. Do you have a diner scene in that episode?
Yes. In the scene, Garrett Hawthorne [Antony Starr] sees a woman in a late-night diner. It is a real diner. You can’t have an exact placement of people as they are in the painting, though, because the Hopper estate [wouldn’t allow it]. We had her dressed in red [like the woman in the painting] and we had to change it to purple.
Your fourth episode is called “Christina’s World,” after the 1948 painting by Andrew Wyeth. How did you work that famous image of Christina looking at the farmhouse into the episode?
It wouldn’t be a farmhouse because the characters are in Boston, but it could be in a park. And Christina is the name we gave the character Garrett meets in “Nighthawks,” and she is played by Catalino Sandino Moreno [“The Affair”].
What other paintings will we see over the course of the season?
“The Gross Clinic” [1875] by Thomas Eakins. “The Veteran in a New Field” [1865] by Winslow Homer. And “Freedom From Want” [1943] by Norman Rockwell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfxJ2Ca-KDk
And here’s what else to watch this week:
Game of Thrones
Sunday, 9 p.m., HBO
This is the episode everyone has been waiting for, “The Battle of the Bastards.” Will Jon Snow (Kit Harington) butch up his act, defeat cruel Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) and take back Winterfell for his half-sister, Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) — thereby liberating poor Rickon Stark (Art Parkinson) from a gruesome death? Snow will have some help from Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju) and he will need it.
Unreal
Monday, 10 p.m., Lifetime
Quinn (Constance Zimmer) targets two vulnerable contestants in hopes of producing a dramatic episode of “Everlasting”; and Rachel (Shiri Appleby) suspects the show’s bachelor Darius (B.J. Britt) is hiding a secret. Meanwhile, the contestants engage in a silly race through a course of spare tires.
The Tunnel
Sunday, 10:30 p.m., PBS
Series Premiere. When a French politician’s body is found on the border between the UK and France, detectives Karl Roebuck (Stephen Dillane) and Elise Wassermann (Clémence Poésy) investigate on behalf of their respective countries. Turns out the crime is a comment on societal moral bankruptcy.
The Fosters
Monday, 8 p.m., Freeform
Season premiere. Callie (Maia Mitchell) admits her previous relationship with Brandon (David Lambert) to her moms, Stef (Teri Polo) and Lena (Sherri Saum). Before they can process the information, the school goes into lockdown when it’s discovered that Mariana’s (Cierra Ramirez) boyfriend, Nick (Louis Hunter), showed up with his father’s gun after seeing her kiss her ex, Mat (Jordan Rodrigues).
Person of Interest
Tuesday, 9 p.m., CBS
Series finale. Finch (Michael Emerson), Reese (Jim Caviezel), Fusco (Kevin Chapman) and Shaw (Sarah Shahi) try to stop Samaritan from destroying the Machine and strengthening its grip on humankind.
Animal Kingdom
Tuesday, 9 p.m., TNT
Craig (Ben Robson) and Baz (Scott Speedman) sharpen their focus on old associates in Mexico. Meanwhile, Pope (Shawn Hatosy, near right) needs cash and draws J (Finn Cole) into a job without Smurf’s (Ellen Barkin) knowledge.
The Night Shift
Wednesday, 10 p.m., NBC
Local riots impact the night shift when the doctors take one of the instigators to the ER, triggering fights over how to handle the situation. Also, TC’s (Eoin Macken) motives are questioned. With Robert Bailey Jr. as Dr. Cummings.