TV miniseries about post-war Hollywood is a fictional look at a group of young talents who come to tinseltown and take various paths to reach their dreams. It's an odd and off-putting mix of fictional characters and real personalities with smidges of Hollywood history tossed in here and there when the histories fit the preachy plot.
Much of the early plot revolves around the making of a film centered on Peg Entwistle, the tragic actress who died in 1932 by jumping off the Hollywoodland sign. But about halfway through, it changes from a movie about Peg to a movie about Meg, a young Black woman who comes to Hollywood and battles prejudice etc. We also get a major rehash of the story about the gas station that served as a trysting spot for sex. I forget the guy's name but he wrote a book about it. Among the real-life characters in the series are the vicious talent agent Henry Willson and a very dumb Rock Hudson. We also get glimpses of Vivien Leigh, Tallulah Bankhead, Hattie McDaniel, Anna May Wong, George Cukor, Noel Coward, and even Eleanor Roosevelt. There's also a ton of name dropping and an homage to William Haines for standing up to Hollywood (by quitting MGM).
Anyway, the plot fits today's mania for moralizing about casting couches, ageism, glass ceilings, and the place of non-Whites in movies ad nauseum. The climax is the Oscars and the plot goes poof in a bizarre awards year where the heroes and heroines sweep the Oscars (pretty much) and even beat the REAL Oscar winners of that year. Talk about revisionism.
I wasn't familiar with any of the "young" actors in this saga, but a few old pros turn in tremendous performances and give this puff piece some ballast. Patti LuPone was the wife of a studio head (Rob Reiner) who takes over after he's debilitated. Joe Mantello plays a closeted producer who keeps the studio running. Holland Taylor is a talent scout/acting coach. Dylan McDermott plays the guy who runs the gas station. Mira Sorvino plays an aging B star, and Jim Parsons (from some TV show I never watched) plays the notorious agent Henry Willson.
Much of the early plot revolves around the making of a film centered on Peg Entwistle, the tragic actress who died in 1932 by jumping off the Hollywoodland sign. But about halfway through, it changes from a movie about Peg to a movie about Meg, a young Black woman who comes to Hollywood and battles prejudice etc. We also get a major rehash of the story about the gas station that served as a trysting spot for sex. I forget the guy's name but he wrote a book about it. Among the real-life characters in the series are the vicious talent agent Henry Willson and a very dumb Rock Hudson. We also get glimpses of Vivien Leigh, Tallulah Bankhead, Hattie McDaniel, Anna May Wong, George Cukor, Noel Coward, and even Eleanor Roosevelt. There's also a ton of name dropping and an homage to William Haines for standing up to Hollywood (by quitting MGM).
Anyway, the plot fits today's mania for moralizing about casting couches, ageism, glass ceilings, and the place of non-Whites in movies ad nauseum. The climax is the Oscars and the plot goes poof in a bizarre awards year where the heroes and heroines sweep the Oscars (pretty much) and even beat the REAL Oscar winners of that year. Talk about revisionism.
I wasn't familiar with any of the "young" actors in this saga, but a few old pros turn in tremendous performances and give this puff piece some ballast. Patti LuPone was the wife of a studio head (Rob Reiner) who takes over after he's debilitated. Joe Mantello plays a closeted producer who keeps the studio running. Holland Taylor is a talent scout/acting coach. Dylan McDermott plays the guy who runs the gas station. Mira Sorvino plays an aging B star, and Jim Parsons (from some TV show I never watched) plays the notorious agent Henry Willson.