MINISERIES PREMIERE: This is not a recommendation. Helen Mirren stars as the Russian empress – and while I’ve loved Mirren as an actress ever since O Lucky Man! and Excalibur, and think her Prime Suspect miniseries are TV at its best, this new HBO miniseries doesn’t do her, or its subject, justice. Mirren is very good, but the script, and most of her costars, are not up to the same standard.For my full review on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, listen to today’s show, or, later today, visit the Fresh Air website. And for a full review here at TVWW, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.

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