If you are a real person, there is probably a miniseries about you airing on television right now.
Darren Franich:I hate this, Kristen, I hate it all.
Is that too abrupt, or just radically unfair?
Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway in Apple’s ‘We Crashed’.apple tv +
People have been adapting recent history into TV drama for decades.
I date the current surplus back to 2016, and the astounding success ofThe People v. O.J.
Simpson: American Crime Story.
Beth Dubber/Hulu
It also soaked up Emmy nominations.
Is that the problem?
I’m reminded of how dexterouslyChernobylandWhen They See Usexplored their vivid history in five and four parts, respectively.
But I’m not sure those historical excavations even belong in this conversation.
Kristen, you’ve seenWeCrashed, the latest big-budget investigation into recent events.
How does it compare to other shows in this genre?
Can we officially declare this renaissance ameh-naissance?
Based on the podcast (of course!
The problem isn’t with the performances.
The problem withWeCrashedstems from its priorities.
(My grade: C+) I don’t get it, Darren.
How do these true-life shows manage to be so grandly overblown and yet so dull?
Darren Franich:TV gods, save me from pop-music fueled biopic montages!
Con jobs get wannabe-Scorsese montages.
Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda Seyfried) dances in her empty office.
I want to support creators making bold choices.
The whole staid biopic genre collapsed under the weight of sensitive cliche decades ago.
But you feel corners cut in the creative decisions here.
It’s as fun as a PowerPoint presentation, and there has never been a fun PowerPoint presentation.
That grotesque excess you’re talking about extends to these shows' presentation.
You’re left wondering: Why did it take so long?
I don’t buy it.People v. O.J.
Simpsonstarted the morning after the murders; can you imagine the moral calamity of an OJ/Nicole flashback?
That may be a defensive strategy.
Maybe that’s just the problem!
So many of these recent shows areaboutcelebrity-level people.
We’re TV critics, Kristen, and we can’t throw whole genres in the dustbin.
You never know when the right creator or cast will energize the right material.
Any of the upcoming docudrama series could be astounding.
Is anyone getting the magical feeling of discovery from these projects?
Frankly, they’d be better if they were better.
Simpsonand perhaps one of the best hours of true-life TV ever.
Leap forward to today.
(She was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 2017.)
spread out over eight somber hours.
But let’s end things on a positive note.
It’s got prosthetics (can you spot starRenee Zellwegerunder all that latex?
), it’s got fourth-wall-breaking silliness, it’s got flashbacks galore.
