TV - Reviews by ady

TV - Reviews by ady_lister

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Member	Item		Review/Comment
ady_lister 13th May 2021		TV Documentary Now! (2015 - 2022)	Review 'Mockumentary' series in which 'Saturday Night Live's' Fred Armisen and Bill Hader parody well known documentaries in a fictional but supposedly long running series celebrating it's "Fifty-First Season." Helen Mirren introduces each episode to provide a kind of false gravitas. It does help if you are familiar with the subject that is being parodied. For example, the first episode 'Sandy Passage' completely missed with me as I hadn't seen (nor heard of) 'Grey Gardens' which it was taking as inspiration. Once I corrected that, I realised how well crafted the episode was. The standout from the first season is the 'A Town, a Gangster, a Festival' episode in which they seemingly get an entire small town in Iceland to play it straight in staging a festival devoted to Al Capone. You assume that they put out a casting call for some local actors and Al Capone is just the right kind of subject in being slightly bad taste but plausible enough in terms of the mythology built up around him that it comes across as convincing. The whole episode is deliciously well staged. Like 'Spinal Tap' there are music documentary parodies as well. 'Blue Jean Committee' is based on a very obviously 'Eagles' style California band who’s members are facing up to the expected awkwardness of their upcoming Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame induction having been estranged for over 20 years. Does it always hit? No. But it's well written, well directed, well performed and nuanced enough that even when some of the episodes don't quite make it - it's still always a worthwhile watch. 'Spinal Tap' is obviously the granddaddy of the 'mockumentary' format... If you love that film as much as I do, then you'll definitely enjoy 'Documentary Now!' 6 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?