Ratched (TV Series)
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''Ratched'' is an American
psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting ...
television series created by Evan Romansky, developed by Ryan Murphy and starring Sarah Paulson in the title role of Nurse Mildred Ratched. A prequel to Miloš Forman's 1975 film '' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest'' (based on
Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (; September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and Counterculture of the 1960s, countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies o ...
's 1962 novel of the same title), it depicts the life of Mildred Ratched prior to the events portrayed in the film, albeit in a different state (
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
as opposed to
Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
). ''Ratched'' received a two-season series order. The first season premiered on
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
on September 18, 2020. In August 2022, Paulson said she was unsure if the second season was still happening. In February 2024, ''Ratched'' was canceled after one season, with Paulson also confirming the fate of the series.


Premise


Cast and characters


Main

* Sarah Paulson as Mildred Ratched, a nurse who is hired by Dr. Hanover to work at Lucia State Hospital. Secretly, her motive is to break her foster brother Edmund out of the hospital after he is admitted there for killing several priests. * Finn Wittrock as Edmund Tolleson, the murderous and mentally unstable foster brother of Ratched, a nurse at Lucia State Hospital. * Cynthia Nixon as Gwendolyn Briggs, Governor Willburn's press secretary and campaign manager, and Ratched's love interest. * Jon Jon Briones as Dr. Richard Hanover/Dr. Manuel Bañaga, the director of Lucia State Hospital who hires Ratched. * Charlie Carver as Huck Finnigan, an orderly at Lucia State Hospital, his face badly disfigured from a war injury. He later gets promoted to head nurse after Betsy takes over the hospital from Dr. Hanover. * Judy Davis as Nurse Betsy Bucket, the head nurse at Lucia State Hospital and a rival of Ratched. She later takes over the hospital from Dr. Hanover after he goes on the run from the police for his past crimes. * Sharon Stone as Lenore Osgood, a wealthy heiress who hires a hit man to kill Dr. Hanover for disfiguring her son after she hired him to treat her son's mental illness.


Recurring

* Corey Stoll as Charles Wainwright, a
private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a wikt:private eye, private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. ...
and hit man who accepts a contract on Dr. Hanover from Lenore Osgood * Vincent D'Onofrio as Governor George Wilburn, the governor of California * Alice Englert as Nurse Dolly, a nurse trainee with undiagnosed nymphomania at Lucia State, and Edmund's love interest * Amanda Plummer as Louise, the owner of the motel that Ratched and Wainwright stay at and a friend to Nurse Bucket * Jermaine Williams as Harold, a security guard at Lucia State * Annie Starke as Lily Cartwright, a patient at Lucia State who is being treated for her
lesbianism A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homo ...
* Brandon Flynn as Henry Osgood, Lenore's
psychopath Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality Construct (psychology), construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, along with boldness, bold, disinhibited, and egocentrism, egocentric traits. These traits are often ma ...
ic killer-turned-amputee son who was disfigured by Dr. Hanover when he was his patient * Michael Benjamin Washington as Trevor Briggs, Gwendolyn's husband with whom she is in a lavender marriage * Sophie Okonedo as Charlotte Wells, a patient at Lucia State with dissociative identity disorder


Guests

* Hunter Parrish as Father Andrews * Robert Curtis Brown as Monsignor Sullivan * David Wells as Father Murphy * Emily Mest as Nurse Amelia Emerson * Daniel Di Tomasso as Dario Salvatore * Harriet Sansom Harris as Ingrid Blix, an opera singer who is lobotomized * Liz Femi as Leona * Joseph Marcell as Len Bronley * Ben Crowley as Reggie Hampson * Rosanna Arquette as Anna, Ratched and Edmund's former case worker in the
foster care Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home ( residential child care community or treatment centre), or private home of a state- certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent", or with a family mem ...
system * Kerry Knuppe as Doris Mayfair * Benjamin Rigby as Case Hitchen * Teo Briones as Peter, a boy who is lobotomized by Dr. Hanover to cure daydreaming


Episodes


Production


Development

On September 6, 2017, it was announced that
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
had given the production a series order for two seasons. Netflix reportedly won a bidding war over
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and
Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
who also were interested in developing the project. The series was created by Evan Romansky who also wrote the pilot. His script was eventually received by television producer Ryan Murphy, who then spent a year securing the rights to the Nurse Ratched character and the participation of the Saul Zaentz estate and Michael Douglas, who owned the screen rights to '' One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest''. Murphy directed the pilot and executive produced alongside Douglas, Aleen Keshishian, Margaret Riley and Jacob Epstein. Production companies involved in the series included Fox 21 Television Studios, The Saul Zaentz Company, and Ryan Murphy Productions. Mac Quayle, who has frequently collaborated with Murphy, composed the series's score.


Casting

Alongside the initial series order announcement, it was confirmed that Sarah Paulson had been cast in the lead role of Nurse Ratched. On December 11, 2018, it was reported that Finn Wittrock and Jon Jon Briones had joined the cast of the series. On January 14, 2019, it was announced that Charlie Carver, Judy Davis, Harriet Harris, Cynthia Nixon, Hunter Parrish, Amanda Plummer, Corey Stoll, and Sharon Stone had been cast in the series. In February 2019, it was reported that Rosanna Arquette, Vincent D'Onofrio,
Don Cheadle Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. (, ; born November 29, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his roles in film and television, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Don Cheadle, multiple accolades including two Golden Globe Award ...
, Alice Englert, Annie Starke, and Stan Van Winkle had been cast in recurring roles. On July 29, 2020, it was reported that Sophie Okonedo, Liz Femi, and Brandon Flynn were cast in recurring roles.


Filming

Filming took place in early 2019 in Los Angeles and 20th Century Fox Studios. One of the filming locations was the historic Adamson House in Malibu.


Reception


Audience viewership

In its first week of release, ''Ratched'' was ranked number one in the
Nielsen ratings Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
, who announced that the show had been viewed for a total of 972 million minutes. According to Netflix, the series was viewed by 48 million people in its first four weeks.


Critical response

For the first season, review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...
collected 96 critic reviews and identified 61% of them as positive, with an average rating of 6.3/10. The website's critics consensus states, "''Ratched'' is undeniably stylish, but salacious plot holes and cartoonish characterizations undermine its gorgeous production and committed performances."
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
assigned the season a weighted average score of 50 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". In a 5/5 stars review, Nicholas Barber from ''
BBC Online BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...
'' wrote, "''Ratched'' ratchets up everything, from the deeply colourful design to the Bernard Herrmann-like music to noir-ish soap-opera plotting that drips with sex and violence. But it isn't pure camp. Romansky's superb scripts keep tight control of the characters and their intertwining stories, and there are some chillingly accurate depictions of brutal 1940s psychiatric treatment. Ratched is also oddly big-hearted for such a gruesome series. The characters are a crowd of villains, with next to no one who could be classed as heroic, but they are all vulnerable, and most of them are motivated by love – even if that love inspires them to hire a hitman to decapitate an old enemy." ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
''s Alexandra Pollard, who rated it 4/5, found the origin story to be "thoughtful and beguiling". Darren Franich of ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' gave the series a C− and described the series' clothes as "nice, but they're dressing a corpse." Reviewing the series for ''
The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'', Inkoo Kang wrote that, "The performances are across-the-board fantastic, but Nixon—playing Ratched's love interest—exhibits such frailty, sensuality and decency that her turn ultimately ends up feeling like it belongs in a much better production." ''
TVLine ''TVLine'' is a website devoted to information, news, and spoilers of television programs. It covers various topics including the latest news on television, reviews, latest releases, and more. History In late 2010, ''Entertainment Weekly''s ...
'' wrote that the series "might be yan Murphy'semptiest effort yet", giving it a D.


Accolades


References


External links

* * *
Ratched
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Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...
'', Flixster Inc. *
Ratched
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Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
'' , Red Ventures {{Netflix original current series 2020 American television series debuts 2020 American television series endings 2020s American drama television series American prequel television series 2020s American LGBTQ-related drama television series Dissociative identity disorder in television American English-language television shows Netflix television dramas Lesbian-related television shows Psychological thriller television series Psychological thriller web series Television series by 20th Century Fox Television Television series by Touchstone Television Television series created by Ryan Murphy (producer) Television series set in 1947 Television shows based on American novels Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Television shows set in California Works about nursing Works set in psychiatric hospitals Television about mental health Mass murder in fiction Fiction about matricide Television shows about murder Television shows about suicide