Must See: HBO's 'Mildred Pierce'

I've not written much in this space since the Oscars. Partly because the Oscars were so predictable and boring, but also because there's not been much to say. I've not been to the movies in quite some time and apart from Southland, Big Love, and, well, nothing else, there's not been much in terms of serious drama on television.

Thank God for HBO. The cable network will deliver a powerhouse five-part miniseries starring Academy Award-winning actress Kate Winslet (The Reader): Mildred Pierce. The miniseries premieres Sunday at 9 p.m.

If the LA Times' review is true, Winslet has bypassed that leading lady Oscar trend of taking a dud role for the paycheck (Halle Berry does Catwoman after winning an Oscar, Charlize Theron does Aeon Flux? WTF!). Excerpt from the review: "Winslet, grim and unsmiling for almost the entire 5½ hours, is determined to create a woman driven by judgmental internal voices so loud you can almost hear them; her only sources of pleasure are the emotionally sadomasochistic relationship with her daughter and occasional bursts of hot but manic sex with men she doesn't much respect."

Winslet never got enough credit for her work in Revolutionary Road. In that film, she showed us the depths she could travel, the way she could carry pain and frustration and desperation on her visage. I imagine she'll take that craft to a new level in Mildred Pierce.