The pilot, for example, is called “Arrangement in Grey and Black,” which is the title of the James M. Whistler paining better known as “Whistler’s Mother”—and at one point, mother Madsen sits in profile in an intentional visual echo of the painting’s pose. This American Gothic has nothing to do with the other CBS American Gothic series that aired in 1995, created by Shaun Cassidy and starring Gary Cole.
