American Rust

MURDERS AND SMALL towns make for riveting television (see: Mare of Easttown, Broadchurch), and American Rust, based on the Philipp Meyer novel, is a worthy addition to this very specific genre. Set in fictional Buell, Pennsylvania, the nine-episode drama centers on a conflicted chief of police Del Harris (Jeff Daniels), who considers crossing morality lines after the son of the woman he loves, Grace Poe (Maura Tierney, The Affair), is linked to a homicide.

- Jim Halterman

PREMIERES Sunday, Sept. 12, 10/9c, Showtime

“What attracted me to [the show] was people hanging onto their dignity in the face of having to do things they normally wouldn’t do,” Daniels explains. The two-time Emmy winner (for Godless and The Newsroom) tells us more about this corner of the country.

We meet Del measuring and crushing up pills. What does this tell us about him right off the bat?