Fosse/Verdon

Bob Fosse (Sam Rockwell) is the legendary American choreographer and director for Broadway and the big screen. Gwen Verdon (Michelle Williams) is his third wife, his dancer, and his artistic partner. This FX series examines the couple's relationship in eight episodes. Each one follows an aspect of their lives together.

The easiest praise is that Rockwell and Williams are great. That's a given. They are great actors. The structure of the show is somewhat different. It's not a straight linear story telling. It deals more with a single subject per episode. It takes some getting used to. At first, I couldn't take the way the show presents time in its text. It's some weird artsy indirect thing. I just want the date and year. Once I got used to it, it becomes a minor annoyance. The good aspect is that it narrows the focus of the episode. It's an intriguing way to do an bio mini-series. There is also the great acting.

"Fosse/Verdon," a miniseries on the FX cable network, is a well above-average show business biopic starring Sam Rockwell (Oscar winner, "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri") as director-choreographer Bob Fosse, and Michelle Williams ("Manchester By the Sea," "My Week with Marilyn," four-time Oscar nominee) as actress and dancer Gwen Verdon.

Rockwell and Williams, actors who can each change their screen personas dramatically, bring an authenticity both ebullient and tormented to the story of the legendary couple's troubled personal and professional relationship.

Set against faithfully restaged moments from their stage and movie hits, productions ranging from "Damn Yankees" and "Sweet Charity" to "Cabaret," the miniseries does what show business has always done enthusiastically, and well -- turn inward, both celebrating and condemning itself in an almost voyeuristic way.

The show biz odds and ends presented here and there are accurate, but later generations who weren't around when Fosse and Verdon were in their prime producing these hits will unquestionably view the pair's work in an entirely different light after viewing this miniseries, which in some ways seems unfortunate. It could color and taint one's appreciation of their undeniable individual brilliance.

You'll have to decide whether that's something you want to do, but either way, there's no denying this is a top-notch effort in exploring who they were and what went on behind the scenes. It begs the question of how performers can so compartmentalize, performing at such a high level even as their personal lives are in tatters.

The 1979 theatrical release "All That Jazz," a popular and critically acclaimed semi-autobiographical musical drama directed by Fosse, inspired by his manic effort to edit his film "Lenny" while simultaneously staging the 1975 Broadway musical "Chicago," is bigger and splashier, but this production (based on Sam Wasson's much-praised biography, "Fosse") cuts closer to the bone, probably because both central characters are gone now (Fosse died in 1987, Verdon in 2000).

Expect to hear about "Fosse/Verdon" at awards time, and deservedly so.

For anyone who has seen and enjoyed the 1979 semi-autobiographical film directed by Fosse, starring Roy Schneider and Fosse's last partner, Ann Reinking, this series will flesh out the saga. Rockwell and Williams do great turns as the titular characters, and the supporting cast playing so many luminaries of the stage and screen is both educational and entertaining.

I think this series is for those who know something about these two great artists. It´s a little gem. Michelle Williams (Verdon) IS Gwen Verdon. She´s astonishing in the part. Enjoyable.

One episode to Go but really think that FX did a terrific job putting together this Production !! I am going to sign up for FX plus so I can watch from start to finish without interruptions. Comment further, then......also having fun researching these real characters.