‘Monarch’ Is ‘Empire’-Lite, With Susan Sarandon MIA: TV Review

variety.com:

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV Critic The prospect of Susan Sarandon leading an “Empire”-style music drama set in the world of country music is an instantly alluring one.

Not merely is Sarandon a compelling screen presence (one who FX’s “Feud” proved works well on TV), but the particular contours of her public image as a stalwart leftist activist would seem to rub up intriguingly against her character, a survivor in the culturally conservative world of Nashville.

Bad luck for viewers, then, that Sarandon, largely at a remove from the story for plot reasons, is such a minimally used part of Fox’s new drama “Monarch,” and that the elements that supersede her hold such little interest.

Dottie Cantrell Roman and Albie Roman, played by Sarandon and Trace Adkins, are the parents to three children, two of them rival vocalists (Anna Friel and Beth Ditto); Dottie and Albie’s son (Joshua Sasse) must try to hold the clan together despite his sisters’ egos and need for validation.