Reviews

The documentary begins with gushing voices of people who watched the Wizard of Oz movie in their childhood. That section goes on too long and sheds no insight on the writer or his times. It seems to say "hey look, Baum is worth caring about because they made a movie you liked!" Having three different and forgettable narrators doesn't help make this a coherent documentary. Other voices including historians seem to be speaking off the top of their heads. PBS is falling over backwards to make the story relevant to people whose interest in history depends on their personal identity. At one point they stated that L Frank Baum was a white man. Thanks for the insight. Oh, American Experience how far have you fallen?

At first you think you're going to learn about the media obsession with NYC socialites in the 2010s, which I find interesting. It starts off OK seeming to be an overview of how people like Paris Hilton and pals blew up on the scene. I was expecting to hear more about all those girls and who they really were behind the parties and clothes. There are some interesting characters who share their stories in the first 40 mins. But that's all tossed in the garbage because apparently the Director didn't have a real vision for the story. The focus swiftly turns into being all about a striver from the Midwest who gains a brief entre into the NY gossip journalism scene. Things take a very unexpected turn from there, Involving theft, drugs, tons of plastic surgery, a gravity defying boob job, and hair as straight as an iron. It's not as interesting as it sounds.

Some of the facts seem distorted. All in all a few bad things went down, and people were hurt. But no socialites were harmed in the making of this movie. Bottom line it's not worth 90 minutes of runtime.

I've watched 6 episodes so far, and I have to bail on this show. It uses non-stop ominous sound effects and dramatic angles to hide the fact it's halting and withholding plot points to drag the story over 10 episodes. So little happens each episode. I understand the writers and directors are accomplished, but this story suffers from what a lot of streaming shows suffer from: a story that could be told in 3 hours instead of 10. Excellent cast can't redeem it. Also, the story wastes too much time on hardboiled cop show cliches (strip club action, yawn). Cynthia Erivo is amazing. If they cut out all the other parts and focused on her, well, I might go for that.

David has a cute kid and a cool wife now (Amber Tamblyn). He's funny and honest about his life right now, avoiding the typical comedy cliches. But the real gold in this set comes toward the end when David taps into a collective fantasy of many Americans. Enjoy!