THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 94 FEBRUA RY 12, 2020
DAY: STEVEN BAFFO/EPIX.BURN: CARA HOWE/OWN.SHORE: COURTESY OF MTV. ALBA: JON KOPALOFF/GETTY IMAGES. PORTER: SANTIAGO FELIPE/GETTY IMAGES. SHAFFIR: MONICA SCHIPPER/WIREIMAGE.After the rhetorical wheel-spinning (and
inevitability) of the past few months, are you
still suffering from impeachment fever? First
off: It’s probably time to seek medical help.
Second: Epix’s Slow Burn may offer a salve in
the meantime.
Based on the popular Slate podcast, the
six-hour docuseries is a resonant dive into
Watergate and its inexorable contribution to
the fall of Richard Nixon, told in a way that
will be revelatory for those whose knowl-
edge of this history comes only from All the
President’s Men — and offering just enough
new material and visual embellishment to
reward those who have already listened.
Still hosted by Leon Neyfakh, the show
begins with the same conceit as the podcast:
You think you know the story of Watergate,
but here are the on-the-ground catalysts and
subplots that may have been lost in the swirl
of time. Featured figures include eccentric
canary in the coal mine Martha Mitchell, cru-
sading and long-serving Congressman Wright
Patman and radio conspiracy theorist Mae
Brussell, as the series takes a fittingly gradual
approach that doesn’t get us to the Saturday
Night Massacre and nascent impeachment
process until the sixth episode.
Epix may have less faith in its audience
than Slate did in its podcast listeners; you can
sense the pressure the series feels to fill in
more rudimentary gaps, creating occasionally
whiplash-y pivots between “the story behind
the story” and “the story you already know,
just in case you don’t remember it.” It never
feels like the makers of Slow Burn are insult-
ing our intelligence — just like they’re erring
a bit too much on the side of caution.You’ve probably seen John Dean and per-
haps Alexander Butterfield talking Watergate
before, ditto ubiquitous period historian
Rick Perlstein. But there also are captivating
major players — Watergate burglar Eugenio
Martínez, Sen. Lowell Weicker — crucially
caught on film while they’re still around.
Also standing out are reporters like Lesley
Stahl and Connie Chung, both in the earli-
est stages of their careers during the Nixon
administration. You may think you know what
to expect from these savvy veterans, but you
truly haven’t lived until you’ve heard Chung’s
very similar Richard Nixon, Walter Cronkite
and Barbara Jordan impressions.
Chung also is one of the few subjects who
directly connects the events of Watergate to
what’s happening in Washington today —
though it’s hard to imagine any viewer not
making a few connective leaps when watching
Nixon stooges ranting about the media and
trying to evade subpoenas.
The visual opening up of the Slow Burn
world leads to trips to Miami and Arkansas
but mostly entails archival footage. There are
also less exciting expansions — used dur-
ing audio-centric segments — like fleeting
animation and pensive noodling around on a
set designed to look like a kitschy ’70s liv-
ing room. The high drama of Watergate is,
fortunately, gripping enough that Slow Burn
is satisfying and timely without these addi-
tional flourishes.Leon Neyfakh leads the audience through hidden history.Slow Burn
Epix adapts Slate’s acclaimed
podcast into a deft docuseries that
takes viewers behind the biggest
stories of Watergate By Daniel Fienberg
AIRDATE 10 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 16 (Epix)
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS Leon Neyfakh, along with
Ken Druckerman, Banks Tarver and John Marks for
Left/Right Productions; Dan Check, Julia Turner
and Gabriel Roth for Slate
Ava DuVernay’s new show Cherish the Day was clearly cre-
ated with lofty ambitions. Announced as an anthology
series, the auteur’s second major project for OWN (after
Queen Sugar) sets out to traverse a couple’s relationship
through pivotal 24-hour periods. Spanning five years and
starring relative unknowns Xosha Roquemore and Alano
Miller, the eight-part debut season showcases lushly lit
black skin, an aspirational black L.A. and a reverent appre-
ciation of black artists. It invites respect by paying it first.
But the first few episodes also suggest a show so adoringof its characters that it robs the storylines of their tension.
The drama strains to conjure flaws for Roquemore’s Gently
James, the live-in caretaker of a nonagenarian actress
named Luma Langston (Cicely Tyson). Miller’s tech exec
Evan is even more of an idealization — all crisp shirts
and confessions of love — but the actor lacks Roquemore’s
breezy charisma and Tyson’s seasoned magnetism.
The male half of the series’ central romance flags even
further because Gently and Luma are the kind of black
characters we seldom see onscreen. A restless roamer,
Gently treats the globe like most of us treat our brows-
ers — she goes anywhere the mood strikes her, anytime it
strikes her. Meanwhile, Luma is the type of retired actress
we rarely see of any race — free of bitterness and vanity,
her uncloying ladylikeness blossoming from within.
The biggest source of friction between Gently and Evan
is their class difference. On their first date, he offers to
help her pick up a used refrigerator, which means borrow-
ing a truck from a part of town where he’s loath to leave his
Tesla. But Evan’s snootiness dissipates quickly, leaving the
pair with little to separate them or deepen their charac-
terization. In the four hour-long episodes for review, the
angsty storylines soon feel forced and melodramatic, at
odds with the hangout vibe suffusing most of the series.
Luckily, the dialogue fares better, as when Gently
compares her view on religion to her M.O. at Hometown
Buffet: “Sample a little bit of this, a little bit of that, try to
get full.”Cherish the Day
Ava DuVernay returns to OWN with an admirably ambitious
but frustratingly friction-free romantic anthology drama in which
each episode takes place over 24 hours By Inkoo Kang
AIRDATE
10 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11
(OWN)
CAST
Xosha Roquemore,
Alano Miller, Cicely Tyson
CREATOR
Ava DuVernay
SHOWRUNNER
Ta ny a H a m i l t o nXosha Roquemore (left) and Alano Miller play a young Los Angeles couple
challenged by class differences.