The Greatest Show Never Made

I am almost 20 minutes into the first episode. And I think that is as far as I am going to get.

It is so long drawn, and mindnumbingly boring, that it´s impressive. I think they are trying to set the scene, for what is about to come. But get to the point, FFS!

I have watched shows on Netflix mostly, before. And some of them suffer from the clear fault, that they are reminescent of when someone has to write a X letters essay for school, but can´t really come up with enough content for it. So it just becomes a matter of being as long winded as possible, without having any actual meat on the bone.

And it seems to be the same for this show.

As Episode 1 of "The Greatest Show Never Made" (2023 release from the UK; 3 episodes ranging 42 to 49 minutes) opens, we are reminded that reality TV was exploding everywhere, and the biggest show was of course Big Brother, making stars out of the contestants. One day an ad appears in a London publication called The Stage, calling for contestants for a year-long new reality show. A number of candidates apply, and show up for the first audition... At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: this mini-series is directed by Ashley Francis-Roy, an up and coming British talent. Here the director reflects on the madness that was Britain in the early 00's, including reality TV. This mini-series looks at how a con-man tries to make a reality TV show out of nothing, literally. One of the talking heads appearing in this observes today: "Back in 2002 people were more trusting, today it would be called for what it is: a scam." That just about sums it up. It nevertheless is fascinating ton see how the contestants take it all, and even more so, how they reflect on this now 20 years later. That said, the 3 part mini-series could've probably been deal with in a regular 90 min. Documentary.

"The Greatest Show Never Made" started streaming on Amazon Prime just this past weekend. I read an interesting review about it in Friday's NY Times. If you are a fan of reality TV, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

I really enjoyed this crazy and bizarre story. If you like really interesting bizarre pop culture stories like I am, you'll love this docu-series.

At its core, this story is about the bringing together of some lovely but vulnerable young souls in the strangest of ways...and a few little lies- where the bad guy isn't always a bad guy. Maybe just a broken kid who was trying to make something of his life and unknowingly and irresponsibly dragged others down and under in his wake.

A side note, I really loved the production of this show, the recreation of the apartment was so clever and was a really fun way to tell the story. Kudos to the production team for that one.

The first episode takes way too long a time to state the obvious about reality TV in the late 90s and early 2000's.

Persist anyway. It's worth it.

In episodes two and three the characters start to come out more and the tale develops into a very interesting drama.

Finally in episode 3 the series builds into a story about young people reaching for their dreams, facing disappointment and then looking back at how our decisions make us who we are.

It all came together in a welcome closure by the end.

Finally in episode 3 the series builds into a story about young people reaching for their dreams.

The current trend of docuseries, covering a single topic over several episodes, has caused series like this one. While the topic is intriguing it appears that the producers felt compelled to stretch this topic, painfully over 2 hour long episodes. In truth, the subject could have been edited down to a tight 60 or loose 90 and, in turn, have been a more successful production.

Unfortunately, the direction taken was to repeat footage, interviews, etc. Again and again to fill an unnecessary void in order to achieve 3 episodes. If that was not the case, then perhaps the producers should reconsider there choice in career path.