''Monarch'' is an American

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the narr ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

television series about a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

family. Created by Melissa London Hilfers, the series is the first production of Fox Entertainment Studios.

Susan Sarandon Susan Abigail Sarandon (; née Tomalin; born October 4, 1946) is an American actorMcCabe, Bruce"Susan Sarandon, the 'actor'" ''Boston Globe''. April 17, 1981. Retrieved January 21, 2021. and activist. She is the recipient of various accolades, ...

stars as Dottie Cantrell, with

Trace Adkins Trace may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Trace'' (Son Volt album), 1995 * ''Trace'' (Died Pretty album), 1993 * Trace (band), a Dutch progressive rock band * ''The Trace'' (album) Other uses in arts and entertainment * ''Trace'' ...

Anna Friel Anna Louise Friel (born 12 July 1976) is an English actress. Born in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, she has been acting professionally since age 13. Friel achieved fame with her portrayal of Beth Jordache on the British soap opera '' Brookside'' ...

Beth Ditto Mary Beth Patterson (born February 19, 1981), known by her stage name Beth Ditto, is an American singer and songwriter most notable for her work with the indie rock band Gossip. Her voice has been compared to Etta James, Janis Joplin and T ...

Martha Higareda Martha Elba Guadalupe Higareda Cervantes () (born August 24, 1983) is a Mexican actress, producer and screenwriter. Life and career Higareda was born in Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico, the daughter of actress Martha Cervantes and artist and th ...

Iñigo Pascual Iñigo Dominic Lazaro Pascual (born September 14, 1997) is a Filipino actor, singer and songwriter. He is popularly known for his 2016 hit single, "Dahil Sa'yo", the first number one song on ''Billboard Philippines'' then-new Philippine Top 20 ...

, and

Joshua Sasse Joshua Seymour Sasse ( ) (born 9 December 1987) is a British actor. He is known for playing Sir Galavant in ABC's '' Galavant''. Early life Sasse was born in Westminster, England to poet Dominic Sasse and Mary Rosalind Macauley. He has an ol ...

forming the main cast. The series premiered September 11, 2022, on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

and

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

. In December 2022, Fox cancelled the series after one season.

Premise

Dottie and Albie Roman lead a country music dynasty at the center of a multigenerational family drama. Daughter Nicky Roman does all she can to protect the dynasty's reign in country music while ensuring her own stardom.

Cast and characters

Main

as Nicolette "Nicky" Roman, Dottie and Albie's daughter who struggles to live up to her family's legacy. ** Taegan Burns as Young Nicky *

as Albie Roman, Dottie's husband and a legendary singer-songwriter known as the "Texas Truthteller". *

as Luke Roman, Dottie and Albie's son and the CEO of Monarch Records. ** Gavin Bedell as Young Luke *

as Georgina "Gigi" Taylor-Roman, Dottie and Albie's younger daughter who shunned the spotlight. ** Elena Murray as Young Gigi *

as Ace Grayson, Nicky's and Clive's adopted son. *

Meagan Holder Meagan Courtney Holder is an American actress, who is best known for her works throughout television. She portrayed Kelly Bowers on the comedy-drama series '' Born Again Virgin'', Evelyn Sanders in drama series ''Pitch'', Noelle Jackson in the ...

as Kayla Taylor-Roman, Gigi's wife. *

as Dottie Cantrell Roman, the "Queen of Country Music". **

Mandy Barnett Amanda Carol Barnett (born September 28, 1975) is an American country music singer and stage actress. Early life and music career Barnett has been singing since she was a child, performing at churches, local venues, as well as at Dollywood. In ...

as the singing voice of Dottie **

Eva Amurri Eva Amurri (born March 15, 1985) is an American lifestyle blogger and actress. Early life Amurri was born on March 15, 1985 in New York City, to Italian director Franco Amurri and American actress Susan Sarandon (whose mother's ancestry was It ...

as Young Dottie, as seen in flashbacks. Amurri is the real-life daughter of Sarandon. * Emma Milani as Ana Phoenix, an up-and-coming artist hoping to sign with Monarch *

as Catt Phoenix, Ana's mother, who has a link to the Roman's past.

Recurring

Adam Croasdell Adam Croasdell is a Zimbabwean-born English actor. He played the role of Dr. Al Jenkins on the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' and has appeared on shows such as ''Blood of Zeus'', ''Castlevania'', ''Monarch'', '' NCIS'' and ''Preacher''. He has a ...

as Clive Grayson, Nicky's adulterous husband who works in the film industry * Ava Grace as Tatum Grayson, Nicky and Clive's adopted daughter *

Faith Prince Faith Prince (born August 6, 1957) is an American actress and singer, best known for her work on Broadway in musical theatre. She won the Tony Award as Best Actress in ''Guys and Dolls'' in 1992, and received three other Tony nominations. Life ...

as Nellie Cantrell, Dottie's sister * Callum Kerr as Wade Stellings, a hot new artist signed to Monarch Records. * Libby Blake as Marybeth Oldenburg, the medical examiner *

Kevin Cahoon Kevin Cahoon (born July 21, 1971) is an American actor, director, writer, and singer-songwriter. Early life Kevin Cahoon was born on July 21, 1971, in Houston, Texas. Cahoon began his performing career at the age of six as 'The World's Younges ...

as Earl Clark, Dottie's faithful personal assistant, who later becomes Nicky's * D. W. Moffett as Tripp DeWitt, the district attorney “Uncle” of the Roman family * Damon Dayoub as Jamie Burke, a music producer who begins working with Albie and later becomes Nicky's love interest

Guest

Martina McBride Martina Mariea McBride (née Schiff, born July 29, 1966) is an American country music singer-songwriter and record producer. She is known for her soprano singing range and her country pop material. McBride was born in Sharon, Kansas, and relocat ...

as herself *

Shania Twain Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( , ; née Edwards; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and one of the best-s ...

as herself *

Little Big Town Little Big Town is an American country music vocal group from Homewood, Alabama. Founded in 1998, the group has comprised the same four members since its founding: Karen Fairchild, Kimberly Schlapman (née Roads), Phillip Sweet, and Jimi Westbro ...

as themselves *

Caitlyn Smith Caitlyn Smith (born June 13, 1986) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She was raised in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Smith's debut album ''Starfire'' was released on Monument Records on January 19, 2018. Her second studio album, ''Supern ...

as herself *

Tanya Tucker Tanya Denise Tucker (born October 10, 1958) is an American country music singer and songwriter who had her first hit, "Delta Dawn", in 1972 at the age of 13. Over the succeeding decades, Tucker became one of the few child performers to mature int ...

as herself *Devan Katherine as Imogen Lowe *Gabriela Hernandez as Rosa Flores

Episodes

Truthteller 1839

Tying into the first season’s 7^th episode (“About Last Night”), FOX Entertainment partnered with ReserveBar and Next Century Spirits to create a “new double-barreled straight bourbon whiskey” named Truthteller 1839. The whiskey took its name from Albie Roman’s legendary moniker – The Texas Truthteller – and the product was featured in show as part of the Monarch empire’s latest business venture.

Production

Development

The series was announced in May 2021. It is created and executive produced by Melissa London Hilfers. Michael Rauch was the original showrunner and one of the executive producers but he was replaced by Jon Feldman in November 2021. Other executive producers are Hend Baghdady, Gail Berman and Jason Owen. The episodes will be hour-long. Jason Ensler has been tapped to direct and executive produce the two-part pilot.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

for the series began on September 13, 2021, and concluded on March 31, 2022, in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, Georgia. On December 7, 2022, it was announced that the series was cancelled after one season by Fox.

Casting

In September 2021 Susan Sarandon, Trace Adkins, Beth Ditto, Josh Sasse, Megan Holder, Inigo Dominic Pascual, Martha Higareda and Emma Milani were announced to join the series in leading roles along with the recurring cast: Eva Amurri, Adam Croasdell and Faith Prince. In November 2021, Callum Kerr, Kevin Cahoon, Reshma Shetty, Damon Dayoub and D.W. Moffett were announced to join the series' recurring cast. On August 17, 2022, a trailer for the series revealed that several country stars would appear in the show as themselves, including

and

Release

The series was originally scheduled to premiere on January 30, 2022. On January 12, 2022, Fox announced that due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

-related issues and the change in showrunner impacting production, and to allow for reshoots and a more thorough promotional campaign, the premiere of ''Monarch'' had been delayed to fall 2022. The series premiered on September 11, 2022, as a lead out of Fox's NFL coverage, with the pilot airing four times in a timespan of four days.

Music

The title track of the series "The Card You Gamble", which was written by Nashville songwriters

Liz Rose Elisabeth Wagner (born September 6, 1957), known professionally as Liz Rose, is an American country music songwriter, best known for her work with Taylor Swift. She has co-written seventeen of Swift's officially released songs, including "You Bel ...

Lori McKenna Lorraine McKenna ( Giroux; born December 22, 1968) is an American folk, Americana, and country music singer-songwriter. In 2016, she was nominated for the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and won Best Country Song for co-writing the hit sing ...

and

Hillary Lindsey Hillary Lee Lindsey is an American singer-songwriter. She has written songs with or for a number of artists including Michelle Branch, Faith Hill, Martina McBride, Shakira, Lady A, Gary Allan, Sara Evans, Carrie Underwood, Kellie Pickler, Bon ...

and performed by singer-songwriter

, was released on January 14, 2022. On August 3, 2022, "American Cowgirl", a song written by Casey Brown,

Heather Morgan Heather Morgan is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member and writer on '' The Dana Carvey Show'', writing and performing such notable skits as Jenny and First Ladies as Dogs, the latter being called "one of the two or three funni ...

and ''Monarch'' music supervisor

Adam Anders Adam Anders (born October 10, 1975) is a Swedish film, television and music producer who has sold more than 100 million albums and in recent years has become one of the most in-demand Executive Producers for music-driven film and television. Ander ...

which is performed by Friel's character Nicky in the show, was released. The series features a mixture of original and cover songs and is released through

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

Reception

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

reported a 33% approval rating with an average rating of 5.8/10, based on 12 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Heavy on the clichés while disappointingly light on

, this ''Monarch'' is a so-so successor to a lineage of soaps about families warring over their business empire."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 43 out of 100 based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Ratings

Notes

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title 2020s American drama television series 2020s American music television series 2022 American television series debuts 2022 American television series endings American musical television series Country music television series English-language television shows Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Television series about families Television series by Fox Entertainment Television shows set in Texas