I gotta say I really don’t care for this series, solely because of Jeremy Piven’s portrayal of the main character. But the wife likes it, so I watch with her. Just thought I’d give you all a head’s up, in case you’re interested.
I’ll be there. I like Piven here, but a little bit of Ari Gold occasionally trickles (seeps?) into his performance. It’ll be fun seeing Ms. Mardle again, after watching the actress as Watson’s bride in Sherlock.
I like Selfridge a lot better than The Paradise, but I’ll watch The Paradise too, assuming there’s a second season.
Both shows are unabashed soap, but they’re fun.
I’m the opposite – although I watch both, I much prefer The Paradise. The second season has already been broadcast in the UK; unfortunately for me, they will not be filming any additional seasons.
I have it set to record as I’ll probably be going to sleep about that time. I’m with AuntiePam; I like this series better than The Paradise and I like Jeremy Piven.
I want to see how Miss Mardle recovers from her relationship with that HR jerk. Maybe she’ll pull out that Walther PPK and shoot him.
Call me shallow, but my main problem with The Paradise was – for a show with a focus on fashion – Katherine’s clothes. Cheap fabric, not fitted well, and those awful tassels. Denise the shop girl, on the other hand, always looked great. Maybe that’s what the designer was going for, to show the difference between real and phony. ??
That was a weird show for me, the Denise character was almost like a Japanese manga babe - some perfect object.
I liked the stuff about proto-consumerism but the rest was a bit hammy.
Didn’t progress to Selfridges, though I do pop in there sometimes - good shopping in there.
I like this series. I am not well-versed in Jeremy Piven’s work — I’ve never seen Entourage — but I like the bonhomie he brings to the part, the sense that Harry Selfridge is always selling himself, like he’s a product in his own store. Downton Abbey has kind of jumped the shark for me so this is my current favorite period drama.
We like the show, but I am not a big fan of Priven - from all I have read and heard, he is really an arrogant prick in real life.
Still, for a period piece soap opera, it is interesting enough to keep watching.
I actually think Mr Selfridge is improving. I wasn’t wowed by the first series but really enjoyed the second, which has just finished in the UK. They’ve commissioned a third series too.
Miss Mardle has a blast this series.
I liked this episode. It had an even richer, detailed feel than the last series.
I thought the down-at-heels character that Mrs. Selfridge went to visit in the tenement was the creepy artist guy at first, as I was struggling to remember the names of everyone from the last series.
Miss Mardle didn’t get much screen time this episode, so I’m happy that SanVito says that she’ll have more to do.
Much ominous foreshadowing what with World War I starting. Unfortunately it’ll probably result in the death(s) of some of our young men characters.
Can someone spoil (or refresh?) what happened between Henri and Selfridge? I either didn’t see the finale or forgot…
Henri got a repeat job offer from his [del]ex[/del]girlfriend to go work in New York for the same ad agency as she does. This time, he accepted. When Henri went to Selfridge to tender his resignation, Selfridge was so hurt (and still recovering from the fired saleslady who jumped in front of the train, can’t recall her name) that he dismissed him off-hand. He regretted it later, but by then Henri was gone.
While they previewed at the end of the last season that this season would jump five years forward to the eve of WWI, I was a bit disappointed to not resolve from the season finale:
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Did the King set up Selfridge for the play embarrassment; in other words, did he know it was a bitter parody of Selfridge (and Lady Mae and others)? On one hand, he and his date
left the play early. On the other, he had invited the Selfridges over for the weekend, which would be supremely awkward at best if he knew what was coming. 
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What happened to Selfridge when Mrs. Selfridge & children took off for Chicago presumably before the Selfridges could visit the King at Sandringham? He’d look even more foolish than he did after the play, and the gossip would presumably be rampant and ugly.
Turning to this season, Lord Loxley is an asshole of the first order and I hope the writers are setting up for Selfridge to have to punch him publicly. 
Wait: this opener is five years after the store opened and his marriage to whatshername, but they have a 15-year old kid? Did Selfridge have kids from his first marriage?
? Selfridge had four children with Rose who featured regularly in season 1. The oldest was cynically wooed by the artist guy. The little boy who liked cricket, Gordon, was born in 1900.
I didn’t think I’d like this show but my brother had me watch it just before Season 2 came out, and I got hooked. I’d heard it was very soap-opera-y, which I don’t like, but I think it’s not too heavy on the opera and I like the historical stuff, and also the other characters.
I like how Selfridge isn’t a total ass. It coulda gone that way but he actually keeps getting softer as the series wears on. Firing the lady who stole the fabric could have taken him over the edge of total assholishness but I think they did a good job of showing how he was just being firm, not a jerk for jerk’s sake.
I also like how Selfridge isn’t trying to hit on Agnes. Maybe a stupid thing to notice but I get so bored with shows and movies that go that cliched route where everyone is trying to get with everyone and men of power take what they want. Even tho he’s a philanderer I like how he is otherwise respectful to and even humble to women.
The Selfridge character and his relationship with his wife and kids is pretty much 100% the same character as Piven played in Entourage. It’s freaky.
I must be mixing in some plot elements of the clone of this show, The Paradise. Please carry on.
I was under the impression that season one of Selfridge ended with him on his wedding day to the rich woman whose father had invested in the store. Selfridge was in love with the shop girl but married the other woman. Now the store is five years old but he has children who are teenagers. Did I mix this up with Paradise also?
What? nope. In both season 1 and 2 Selfridge has a wife of many years and preteen-to-teenage children.
The head of HR, ginger beard guy, marries a shop girl but not Selfridge. He does not have any teenagers, just toddlers.
fwiw, S1 of The Paradise was finished before this started, at least in the UK.
Neither are a patch on Are You Being Served …
I finally figured it out. In Paradise the owner married the rich woman even though he loved Denise. What is so confusing that the main character in both series is the same actor and the actress that played Denise is now in Selfridge. I wish they wouldn’t run two shows about a store and have the same actors. After a year who can keep them straight? I think I’ll quit watching Selfridge as I keep associating the main character with the guy in Paradise.