The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel just so happens to be one of Amazon’s most critically acclaimed properties, and even the actors who star in the show know the property is pretty special. In fact, Tony Shaloub has spoken out about one thing he really likes about Amy Sherman-Palladino’s series that most other shows can’t or won’t do.
Characters typically evolve at least some as shows stay on the air for a length of time, but in the case of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the show has only been on for three seasons and a lot has changed, particularly with Tony Shaloub’s character, Abe Weissman’s, arc. He told THR:
It's so rare in a TV show you get to go through all of these changes. Oftentimes, if you're on series television, your character has a certain voice, serves a certain function in the story, and that very often does not change much, which can be frustrating for actors. Yes, you have job security, but you get sort of stuck playing two or three colors continually, and that can be frustrating. Whereas with these writers? Man, it's curveball after curveball, and you're never on sure footing, and it makes it really challenging and keeps it alive.
So far, we’ve seen a bunch of different permutations of Abe Weissman on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. There’s the Abe Weissman who is comfortable in his career and then the Abe Weissman who quits his job. There’s the Abe Weissman who is willing to compromise for his wife and move to Paris, and who startlingly thrives there. In Season 3, he gets involved with writing for the Village Voice and behaving in a more youthful, anti-establishment manner while his wife looks to move back to the Manhattan she knows and loves.
There’s often a lot going on in this show, with everything changing and staying the way it was at once. Audiences clearly dig it, as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is up for a slew of Emmys this year –including a nom for Tony Shaloub. However, it’s certainly a different concept for how characters should work on TV. Joey may have gotten dumber as Friends wore on, for example, but it wasn’t like he was evolving heavily every single season.
Still, Abe seemingly suits Tony Shaloub pretty well, as he revealed elsewhere in the Awards Chatter podcast that he’s someone who is pretty “restless” and needs change pretty frequently. (Though it's worth noting he managed to stick with Monk for eight whole seasons.)
I have a kind of restless streak in me. When things are going really well, I have to sort of change things so that things can go poorly again. It's a terrible habit.
We’ll see how things are going for Abe Weissman when The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel returns for Season 4, which will be coming at some point. The last we checked in on the Amazon series, filming for that new season was still up in the air, but it will happen eventually.
