--- title: "Mrs. America" year: 2020 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/mrs-america" fi1m_score: 79 critics_score: 78 critics_reviews: 12 published: "2026-09-17T03:40:13.008583+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T03:40:32.718481+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Mrs. America (2020) Created by Dahvi Waller · MPA TV-MA · Drama **Fi1m score: 79** · Critics 78 from 12 reviews *In a sentence:* Everyone in it wants to speak for women, and nobody wants to take the minutes > Dahvi Waller’s nine-part drama about the fight over the Equal Rights Amendment is intelligent, fair to both sides and extremely well acted, with Cate Blanchett giving Phyllis Schlafly a smile you learn to fear. It is also tidier than the history it describes. ## Synopsis Alton, Illinois, 1971. Phyllis Schlafly (Cate Blanchett), a Republican activist and mother of six who has already lost one run for Congress, wants to be taken seriously on defence policy. She travels to Washington to brief congressmen on missiles and is asked to take the minutes. Back home, her friend Alice (Sarah Paulson) mentions the Equal Rights Amendment, which is about to pass Congress and go to the states. Phyllis thinks it harmless, then sees a cause nobody else on the right wants. Her husband Fred (John Slattery), a lawyer, corrects her in front of guests. In New York, Gloria Steinem (Rose Byrne) is launching *Ms.* magazine, Bella Abzug (Margo Martindale) sits in Congress, Betty Friedan (Tracey Ullman) wants credit, and Shirley Chisholm (Uzo Aduba) is running for president. ## Review *Mrs. America* covers the decade in which the Equal Rights Amendment passed Congress in 1972, went out to the states and ran into a housewife from Alton, Illinois, who decided against it. Dahvi Waller’s series gives each of its nine episodes to one woman in the story, most of them real, and moves between the feminists in New York and Washington and the opposition Phyllis Schlafly builds from her kitchen. It is good, and good in a way that is rare for television about recent politics: it takes both sides seriously and lets neither off. Cate Blanchett plays Schlafly as a woman who has worked out how much she will be allowed and takes a little more each time. In the first episode she goes to Washington to brief a table of congressmen on missile defence, is asked to take notes, and does. Our jaw set, because Blanchett does not let Schlafly show the insult landing; she smiles, picks up the pen and files it away for later. John Slattery’s Fred, her husband, corrects her errors at dinner parties in a fond voice, and the series lets us notice how often she has to ask his permission. Blanchett never asks for our sympathy. She takes it anyway, in small amounts, which is more unsettling. The other side is played by people who could each carry a series of their own. Margo Martindale’s Bella Abzug arrives in a hat and a temper and is the one person here who plainly enjoys politics. Tracey Ullman’s Betty Friedan is vain, wounded and right about more than anyone admits, and Ullman finds the comedy in a woman who wrote the book and watched younger faces take the credit. Uzo Aduba’s Shirley Chisholm moved us more than anything else here: a candidate asked, courteously and repeatedly, to stand aside for the good of the movement, and answering each time with less patience. Rose Byrne’s Gloria Steinem is the weakest of the leads, and not through Byrne’s fault. Steinem is written as the woman everyone else reacts to, and there is not much underneath the aviator glasses to play. The craft holds across five directors, Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, Amma Asante, Janicza Bravo and Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, and three cinematographers, Jessica Lee Gagné, Pepe Avila del Pino and Chris Teague. The Schlafly house is kept in warm lamplight and polished wood, the *Ms.* office in flat daylight, paper everywhere. Bina Daigeler dresses the opposition in pastel suits and pearls and, once the campaign starts, in the red of the STOP ERA badges, so a crowd of them reads at a glance as one body. Mara LePere-Schloop’s production design gives Schlafly a kitchen that looks like a command post, telephone and card index doing the work. Kris Bowers’s score stays under the period songs and rarely tells us how to feel, and the editors, Robert Komatsu, Emily Greene and Todd Downing, cut so that a line said in Alton is answered in Manhattan a scene later. What holds it back is neatness. Sarah Paulson’s Alice is an invented character, a friend of Phyllis’s who is there so somebody in the opposition can have doubts. Paulson plays her well and the device shows; every time Alice learns something, we can see the writers’ hand on her shoulder. The series has a thesis, that women were set against women and both lost, and it repeats it more than it needs to. Episodes end on a face that has understood something. History rarely does. Waller and her writers are also surer of what Schlafly did than of what she believed. The series shows her ambition, her skill, and her willingness to say things to a microphone she would not say at home. It is less certain whether she meant any of it, and it hedges. That may be honest. It leaves a gap where the lead’s convictions should be, and Blanchett fills it with manner. It is well above the run of prestige drama about American politics: it does not lecture, and it trusts us to know how the story ends. Watch two episodes at a time, so Alton and Manhattan can answer each other. *Fi1m score 79, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics come away impressed, and the praise clusters in two places. The first is Cate Blanchett’s Phyllis Schlafly, described across the reviews as the performance that holds the series together and gives a woman many viewers arrive disliking something close to humanity. The second is the ensemble around her, with Rose Byrne, Uzo Aduba and Tracey Ullman singled out most often. Nearly every review also credits the writing for refusing to make either the feminists or their opponents into saints or cartoons, and several find the parallels to present-day politics well judged rather than laboured. The spread is narrow, running from good to very good, with a single mixed notice. Variety is the outlier, arguing the series never quite gets a grip on Schlafly herself and works better with its lesser-known figures. The Ringer, otherwise warm, agrees the material on her private life overreaches. The British reviews, arriving later, are a shade cooler than the American ones without disagreeing on much. ### Reviews we read (12) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Inkoo Kang (85/100, inferred): The miniseries is a tremendous balancing act between historical accuracy and humanizing its figures in the ERA battle. It excels at making history come alive through strong performances and thoughtful parallels to the present. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/mrs-america-review-1288076/) - **Vulture**, Matt Zoller Seitz (85/100, inferred): The limited series succeeds as engaging television by focusing on complex characters and political dynamics rather than strict history lessons. It excels through its strong ensemble performances and nuanced portrayal of both feminists and their conservative adversaries. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2020/04/mrs-america-fx-on-hulu-review.html) - **Radio Times**, Flora Carr (80/100, inferred): The series humanizes Phyllis Schlafly through Cate Blanchett's standout performance and colors in the black-and-white portrayals of both sides in the ERA fight. It makes the story multi-dimensional by showing hypocrisy and complexities on each side. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/drama/mrs-america-review-cate-blanchett/) - **The Times**, Hugo Rifkind (80/100, inferred): Blanchett is mesmerizing in this broadly excellent biopic of Schlafly, which sympathetically portrays the conservative right and shows how her politicking and charisma reshaped the landscape despite her ultimate misalignment with changing times. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/mrs-america-review-its-no-longer-the-homemakers-world-they-just-dont-know-it-gcf7809dj) - **Evening Standard**, Lucy Pavia (★★★★✩): The series is a nuanced, stylish drama that examines second-wave feminism through Schlafly as its anti-hero; Blanchett delivers an impeccable performance bringing humanity to the character. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/tvfilm/mrs-america-review-episode-one-phyllis-a4492356.html) - **IndieWire**, Kristen Lopez (70/100, inferred): The series showcases an ensemble cast led by Cate Blanchett and Rose Byrne in a compelling look at 1970s feminism and its opponents. It highlights the divisions among women that ultimately hinder progress toward equality. [Read](https://www.indiewire.com/criticism/shows/mrs-america-review-1202220003/) - **The Guardian** (70/100, inferred): The miniseries offers a nuanced portrait of Phyllis Schlafly without reducing her to a simple villain, showing how she mobilized opposition to the ERA while highlighting the broader context of 1970s feminism and its setbacks. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jul/08/mrs-america-review-cate-blanchett-fights-off-feminism) - **Variety**, Caroline Framke (55/100, inferred): The ambitious limited series paints an impressive historical picture of the ERA fight but struggles to get a grip on its central characters, especially Schlafly. It succeeds more with lesser-known figures than with the biggest names. [Read](https://variety.com/2020/tv/reviews/mrs-america-fx-review-cate-blanchett-phyllis-schlafly-1234569426/) - **Paste**, Allison Keene (9.7/10): The limited series offers a fair and balanced portrayal of the fight over the Equal Rights Amendment, avoiding both reverence and caricature in its depiction of real women on both sides. It excels through its stellar cast, authentic humanity, and insightful exploration of feminism's complexities. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/mrs-america/mrs-america-review) - **Consequence** (85/100, inferred): The star-studded series powerfully depicts the battle over the ERA through courageous women leaders on both sides of the debate, emphasizing their personal experiences and the ongoing fight for equality. Strong performances, especially by Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, and Uzo Aduba, drive this nuanced historical drama. [Read](https://consequence.net/2020/04/tv-review-mrs-america/) - **The Ringer**, Alison Herman (85/100, inferred): The critic praises the series as a shrewd, clear-eyed exploration of power and politics, placing it among the finest TV series of the year. She singles out its ensemble cast and structure centering different women for praise, while noting some overreach in portraying Schlafly's personal life. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2020/04/15/tv/mrs-america-review-womens-lib-best-shows-2020) - **Collider**, Liz Shannon Miller (★★★★): The series shines thanks to Cate Blanchett's lead performance as Phyllis Schlafly and an exceptional ensemble cast that brings depth to historical figures. Standout portrayals include Tracey Ullman as Betty Friedan and Uzo Aduba as Shirley Chisholm. [Read](https://collider.com/mrs-america-review-fx-hulu-cate-blanchett/) ## Details - **Created by:** Dahvi Waller - **Creator:** Dahvi Waller - **Director:** Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck, Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, Amma Asante, Janicza Bravo - **Writer:** Dahvi Waller, Micah Schraft, Joshua Allen Griffith, April Shih, Tanya Barfield, Sharon Hoffman, Boo Killebrew - **Cinematography:** Jessica Lee Gagné, Chris Teague, Pepe Avila del Pino - **Editor:** Todd Downing, Robert Komatsu, Emily Greene - **Music:** Kris Bowers - **Production design:** Mara LePere-Schloop - **Costume design:** Bina Daigeler - **Producer:** Boo Killebrew, Tanya Barfield - **Cast:** Cate Blanchett as Phyllis Schlafly; Rose Byrne as Gloria Steinem; Uzo Aduba as Shirley Chisholm; Margo Martindale as Bella Abzug; Tracey Ullman as Betty Friedan; Elizabeth Banks as Jill Ruckelshaus; Sarah Paulson as Alice; John Slattery as Fred Schlafly - **Certificate (MPA):** TV-MA - **Release (the US):** 15 April 2020 - **Genres:** Drama ## Where to watch in the US - Hulu: streaming, uhd - Disney+: add-on, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: buy, sd - Apple TV: buy, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, EC, ES, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, JP, KR, MX, NL, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SG, SI, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Mad Men* (2007): The same offices, a decade earlier, and the women taking the minutes - *Made in Dagenham* (2010): Equal pay fought out on a factory floor, cheerful and unfussy about it - *Lincoln* (2012): An amendment counted vote by vote, with Spielberg unusually patient - *A Very English Scandal* (2018): Seventies politics as comedy of manners, Hugh Grant at his least likeable - *Battle of the Sexes* (2017): The same decade, the same argument, settled on a tennis court --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/mrs-america