Linnapea Choose (2011–2012) Online

I'm used to seeing Kelsey Grammar doing light, witty comedy, ala "Frasier." His newest endeavor, "Boss," dramatizes vestiges of "Richard III" interlarded with the vendetta approach of La Costa Nostra.

Women are powerful. If they love you, they can make sure you say the right things and make the right moves to get elected or re-elected - or not. If they despise you, you'd better change for the better or get left or dismantled and discarded.

Connie Nielsen is the glue that really molds and develops the plot. Beautiful, shrewd, tough and ambitious, she seems to know we aren't quite living in a truly free age where women can easily move to the top hierarchy in most cases. But they are working on it. Sex is a weapon among many.

Ironically, idealism also courses through the moves of aldermen, the mayor, a flawed female minister and daughter - and others. As in Shakespeare, Dickens, and other great writers, there are no minor characters. Every personage, however fleetingly on the stage, represents some pivotal idea or feeling.

"Boss" is very much like a medieval morality play. The cinematography, especially the startling camera angles and double-exposures, are like works of art.

Most of what I see on television I can fully absorb while working simultaneously on a crossword puzzle. With "Boss," I have to put down the book, put down the puzzle and stay focused. I DVR it so that I don't have to leave my seat for any reason until the final images and tremulous voices fade out.