It’s been a huge summer on TV so far. Australia won the cricket (Seven), Ash Barty won the tennis (Nine) and the National Press Club became must-see TV (ABC). Now everybody is talking about PVO but it’s not Peter Van Onselen, it’s the penis voiceover in Pam and Tommy (Disney+).
Pam and Tommy proves there is no need to make up fictional stories when you can do documentaries and dramatisations instead. Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s sex tape saga is just eight episodes long, but when his talking penis turns into its own character, you might wonder where it’s going next.
Stay calm though, because Pam and Tommy has a lot to say about celebrity and how Pamela Anderson was treated worse in the aftermath. It is incredible to see how Downton Abbey’s Lily James has been transformed into the spitting image of the Baywatch star and her performance is, as always, spot on.
TV is also re-evaluating Janet Jackson, particularly that “Nipple-Gate” incident in which Justin Timberlake got off lightly for exposing her breast while she became a pariah for breaking the rule that freaks out America – nudity on free-to-air TV.
The Rise And Fall Of Janet Jackson (9Now) and Janet Jackson (Stan) have both hit the airwaves at the same time, but only the latter has been made in conjunction with Ms Jackson herself. Her documentary doesn’t dwell too long on that Super Bowl incident, and it’s much more revealing in showing Janet defending why her father was so strict.
While it might be possible to look at Joe Jackson in a different light, there is no such rehabilitation for Bill Cosby. We Need To Talk About Cosby (Paramount+) is a docuseries that shows former fans struggling to come to terms with the highs and lows in the career of the now-disgraced star.
Despite uncovering new stories about Cosby’s quiet work for the civil rights movement, it runs alongside a disturbing timeline that shows the superstar was drugging and raping multiple women from the 1960s. Even worse, there are also repeated clues to this behaviour littered throughout his career, including LP recordings for children and during The Cosby Show. Truly chilling.
The Gilded Age (Paramount+) is the new series from Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes where he has not one mansion to write about but two. That means twice the cast upstairs and downstairs but making everything bigger for an American setting doesn’t necessarily mean it’s better yet.
At least it’s more watchable than Hotel Portofino (FoxShowcase) which is hoping to be the next The Durrells. Unfortunately, this one is set in an Italian hotel full of people being dreadfully British even though the series is actually filmed in Croatia. Underwhelming.
CNN series The Story Of Late Night (Sunday on SBS) will be a must-see for anyone interested in American talk show hosts like Johnny Carson and David Letterman. And Oprah Winfrey drama Kings Of Napa (Monday on FoxOne) looks like good soapie fun as it sets its action in a family-owned vineyard, a la Falcon Crest.
Read more Mercado on TV