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Canberra Today 5°/8° | Sunday, May 19, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

‘Harry & Meghan’, one show better left unstreamed

Harry and Meghan performing on Netflix… a glossy, one-sided, six-hour whinge fest about the public scrutiny the couple has faced. We’ve heard it all before.

Streaming columnist NICK OVERALL says no matter how much hate is piled on, no matter how much people have voiced their disdain, it hasn’t stopped them from staying glued to their screens watching Netflix’s “Harry and Meghan” series. 

“SNOOZEFEST”, “pity party”, “hypocritical attention grab”, “narcissistic wallow”.

Nick Overall.

Yes, I can only be referring to the shemozzle of schadenfreude that is the “Harry & Meghan” Netflix documentary.

With all six episodes of the $US100 million “tell-all” now released, the world has had the chance to digest what the Sussexes say is their side of the story.

Well digest, or throw it back up again.

“Vomit inducing” has been quite the popular means of describing the series.

Critics have had a field day with this one. 

“So sickening I almost brought up my breakfast,” said “The Guardian”. 

“The Sussexes surprise us yet again, with just how narrow their vision of their fame is, how pinched and unimaginative their presence on the world stage has become,” wrote a reviewer for “Variety”.

And that’s just the light stuff. The reviews from audiences unbounded by editorial guidelines have been all the more raucous as a quick Twitter search of “Harry and Meghan” will reveal.

For latecomers, or those who couldn’t really care, the series saw the couple recount what led to their controversial departure from the royal family, or as some have amusingly dubbed it, “Megxit”.

Interviews and never-before-seen footage were stitched together over a tedious six hours where the couple plead their case to the world.

If they were hoping to salvage their reputation, it seems they’ve only damaged it more.

The reaction has been amongst the most extreme and hate-filled to a documentary ever.

What many seem to be mad about is that there wasn’t actually a whole lot of new royal dirt to get their hands on.

For weeks leading up to the release of the show, monarch watchers salivated over rumours that the “global event”, as Netflix called it, would “blow up” the royal family. It turns out there wasn’t all that much new goss to spill. 

It was a glossy, one-sided, six-hour whinge fest about the public scrutiny the couple has faced. We’ve heard it all before.

If “Harry & Meghan” does reveal something, it’s more to do with the world’s obsession with the couple rather than their story itself.

No matter how much hate is piled on, no matter how much people have voiced their disdain, it hasn’t stopped them from staying glued to their screens.

The doco raced to the top of Netflix’s most popular content and smashed viewing records. On its first day alone it pulled in nearly two and a half million households.

That’s almost double the debut episode of the newest season of “The Crown”, Netflix’s popular drama series that chronicles the life of Queen Elizabeth II.

With every passing day, thousands of articles, videos, posts, headlines and more have emerged for people to get swept up in.

From Harry and Meghan themselves hitting back at the reception to the show to Prince William getting cranky over the use of unapproved footage, the “entertainment” here has extended well beyond what’s in the documentary itself.

Ironically, while the couple repeatedly condemn the tabloids in the series, it seems they’ve dropped a giant piece of bait right into the middle of the media-feeding frenzy.

Their desire for a “quieter life”, to put it in their words, seems rather absurd after giving the world one of the most contentious shows of all time.

But, hey, if a “quieter life” is what the Duke and Duchess want, perhaps that’s what should be given to them.

The relationship between the couple and much of the public who have rejected the documentary is almost paradoxical.

The hate that gets piled on them for fiascos like this is part of the reason the documentary exists in the first place. 

It was Harry and Meghan’s hope to clear their name with this production, to exonerate themselves in the public eye by talking about the hate they endure every day.

As we’ve seen, it’s well and truly backfired.

Personally, I can’t help but feel that if people really want to send a message, the simple solution here would be to just not watch any more.

I realise the irony in adding yet another article to the pile of commentary about the doco out there already, and the fact that this column is usually one reserved for recommending TV shows, but in the end “Harry & Meghan” is just one show better left unstreamed. 

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Thank you,

Ian Meikle, editor

Nick Overall

Nick Overall

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