Ryan Murphy's HOLLYWOOD on Netflix — Page 2

Robbie2 said: "darreyl102 said: "uncageg said: "I am trying to remember what book I read that talked about the gas stations being a hot spot back then and aspiring actors wanting to get a job at one. Can anyone help me remember?!!"

I believe you are talking about Scotty Bowers' 'Full Service'. Kinda like Kenneth Anger's 'Hollywood Babylon', it was met with a lot of criticism of the validity of the claims. But who knows. Lol"

read many years ago

I think that's it! Thank you!

Reviews are coming out

54% rotten tomatoes


Kind of middle of the road so far

Updated On: 4/29/20 at 08:01 PM

I’m gonna give this a go, but I find a lot of Murphy shows hard to get through these days, like The Politician! The production values look great though and there’s some good casting.

Watched the entire series last night. Loved it. Yes, its the standard Ryan Murphy over-the-top and fun ride, if you allow yourself to just go with it and not dissect every whoopsie. Not everything in life runs smooth from start to finish, so just overlook the few bumps. Without fail, the big names SHINE. They are SO enjoying themselves its delicious. The extreme nature of Ryan Murphy's worlds are fun playgrounds and these older stars are so enjoying it and its so much fun to watch. Goes again without saying why Jessica Lange continues to work with Murphy -- those crazy characters he writes for her don't exist anywhere else. Pure escapism at its finest. Definitely plan on watching it again in a few weeks. We literally watched it in one sitting with a dinner break.

Almost finished watching. Already I think Taylor, Lupone, Parsons and Mantello deserve Emmy nominations.

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "
Escapism can also be quality in the hands of good writers though.

All I’m sayin..."

Absolutely, but I'm most surprised to see Murphy praised for setting all his series (except for ACS and a few episodes of AHS) at some nearby carnival or at the imaginary high school where GLEE was set.

Somebody needs to tell him that adults do not cover their world in primary colors; they buy the extra-large crayola box. (Or have him watch Amazon's THE LAST TYCOON or HBO's MILDRED PIERCE. I found the latter a snooze but it was a brilliant display of early mid-century Hollywood as it probably looked.) And USC lettermen do not wear scarlet; the school colors are "cardinal" and gold, FSU calls the same shade "garnet". It is vivid, but a little browner then scarlet. The San Francisco 49ers wear a similar shade.

And when does HOLLYWOOD take place, anyway? The 12-million or more GIs who were overseas when WWII finally ended in late 1945 took 2 to 3 YEARS to come home! There was nation-building to be done in our vanquished enemies and it took months to send everyone else home in a semi-organized fashion. Even assuming "Jack" was one of the first released somehow, he probably didn't get to California any sooner than 1946. Vivien Leigh is still deciding whether she wants to do STREETCAR, so it's no later than early 1947. That means all the action takes place in about six months or less.

But the biggest problem with the first few episodes is the writing. Believable characters do not speak in constant monologues! Each and every scene consists of a lengthy speech about the lack of minority rights or the "true nature" of Hollywood. The characters are mostly speaking the subtext, which even the African American screenwriter explains is not to be said out loud. If only Murphy would listen to his own characters!

And btw (this is really minor but) I worked with Rock Hudson briefly and he towered over everyone in a room. He wasn't merely "tall", he was a "giant". Wiki says he was 6'4", but I think that's conservative. I'm almost 6'3" and he seemed to tower over me.

Updated On: 5/1/20 at 11:19 PM

I really enjoyed it.

After the first two episodes I realized they were just going to mix it all up (Reality and fiction), not be really time specific and I just went with it and enjoyed the story.

It was pretty predictable but who cares. I found it to be well acted and beautiful to look at. It had its emotional moments and made statements.

A fun Friday late afternoon/evening of viewing. Parsons was just excellent. Loved every second of his performance. JMO

Updated On: 5/2/20 at 12:56 AM

The script is weak, the acting is tepid and the direction is far from realized. Holland Taylor stays above the stench. The concept is murky and the style is confusing. Funny how some Murphy projects hit the nail on the head and others are 2 dimensional. The lead male has something but needed better direction. I found it all very melodramatic and again the direction is just horrid. The dialogue is like some D movie and there is consistent gaps between the line readings.

Updated On: 5/2/20 at 03:57 AM

GavestonPS said: "rattleNwoolypenguin said: "
Escapism can also be quality in the hands of good writers though.

All I’m sayin..."

Absolutely, but I'm most surprised to see Murphy praised for setting all his series (except for ACS and a few episodes of AHS) at some nearby carnival or at the imaginary high school where GLEE was set.

Somebody needs to tell him that adults do not cover their world in primary colors; they buy the extra-large crayola box. (Or have him watch Amazon's THE LAST TYCOON or HBO's MILDRED PIERCE. I found the latter a snooze but it was a brilliant display ofearly mid-centuryHollywood as it probably looked.) And USC lettermen do not wear scarlet; the school colors are "cardinal" and gold, FSU calls the same shade "garnet". It is vivid, but a little browner then scarlet. The San Francisco 49ers wear a similar shade.

And when does HOLLYWOOD take place, anyway? The 12-million or more GIs who were overseas when WWII finally ended in late 1945 took 2to 3YEARS to come home!There was nation-building to be done in our vanquished enemies and it took months to send everyone else home in a semi-organized fashion. Even assuming "Jack" was one of the first released somehow, he probably didn't get to California any sooner than 1946. Vivien Leigh is still deciding whether she wants to do STREETCAR, so it's no later than early 1947. That means all the action takes place in about six months or less.

But the biggest problem with the first few episodes is the writing. Believable characters do not speak in constant monologues! Each and every scene consists of a lengthy speech about the lack of minority rights or the "true nature" of Hollywood. The characters are mostly speaking the subtext, which even the African American screenwriter explains is not to be said out loud. If only Murphy would listen to his own characters!

And btw (this is really minor but) I worked with Rock Hudson briefly and he towered over everyone in a room. He wasn't merely "tall", he was a "giant". Wiki says he was 6'4", but I think that's conservative. I'm almost 6'3" and he seemed to tower over me."



He was a Giant ~ 6'4

I found this to be very disappointing. A sprinkle of decent performances throughout but the material was garbage. The inconsistencies from episode to episode were unforgivable. There were so many times that HUGE plot points would happen at the end of an episode, just to be immediately resolved in the very beginning of the next. Very strange and disappointing TV. Joe Mantello (and many of the actors) deserve so much better.

When do people realize that Ryan Murphy's reign of TV should be over??