“The Undoing” had seemingly everything going for it.
A Sunday-night time slot on HBO, real estate that still carries weight with audiences in an era of on-demand viewing. A script by David E. Kelley, one of TV’s most prolific and celebrated writer-producers. Susanne Bier, an acclaimed Danish auteur, directing all six episodes. Hugh Grant, a beloved comic performer in the throes of a fascinating career renaissance.
And, perhaps most of all, it had Nicole Kidman, a Big Time Movie Star who has fast become the medium’s favorite status symbol. An Oscar-winning performer who confers instant prestige on every project she joins, Kidman gravitates toward playing a breed of affluent but troubled wife and mother that’s become pervasive on TV.