NBC’s ‘Grosse Pointe Garden Society’ Delivers Murder, Mayhem and Soapy Chaos: TV Review

variety.com:

Aramide Tinubu A good murder mystery is one thing, but when a TV show also manages to infuse distinct characters and extreme albeit hilarious melodrama, it’s certainly worth tuning into.

From “Good Girls” creator Jenna Bans and her co-creator, Bill Krebs comes “Grosse Pointe Garden Society,” the latest unique drama with the same elements that made shows like “Desperate Housewives” and “How to Get Away with Murder” such standout hits.

Despite a handful of missteps, the NBC show is engrossing, and confounding and off to a promising start. Set in Grosse Pointe, Michigan (a wealthy suburb of Detroit), and centering on four local garden club members, the series is a reminder that putting a soapy spin on reliable formulas mostly leads to success. “Grosse Pointe Garden Society” opens as a shovel hits the dirt, and a body is dumped in a large hole.

However, before the audience can orient themselves into the scene, the series flashes back to six months in the past. At the garden society’s headquarters, Alice (AnnaSophia Robb), a naive high school literature teacher, desperately searches for her missing golden retriever, Molly.