Parents' Guide to

Angelyne

By Jenny Nixon, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Tacky yet fun faux-docu has language, lots of cleavage.

TV Peacock Drama 2022
Poster art for the Peacock drama series ANGELYNE, depicting a white woman with a platinum blonde bouffant hairdo wearing a bubblegum pink tank top and pink new-wave style sunglasses. The reflection in her glasses shows a billboard emblazoned with a full-body photo of the same blonde woman, with her name emblazoned on it reading "Angelyne".

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What's the Story?

Since the early 1980s, Los Angeles has been home to an array of candy-colored billboards scattered throughout the city, each bearing the mega-busty image of a mysterious blonde woman identified only by her name -- ANGELYNE -- and a phone number. Emmy Rossum (Shameless, The Phantom of the Opera) disappears into the lead role under a platiunum blonde bouffant, thick shellac of makeup, and a pair of cartoonishly large prosthetic breasts. The series follows a mock-documentary format in which characters regularly contradict each other, break the fourth wall, and sometimes just disappear if Angelyne's recollections will it so. The series draws inspiration from the 2017 profie written about Angelyne by The Hollywood Reporter's Gary Baum, which charted the ultra-secretive pseudo-star's climb up the ranks of fame and outed, against her wishes, her true identity and upbringing. Martin Freeman (The Hobbit, Fargo), Hamish Linklater (Midnight Mass), and Alex Karpovsky (Homecoming, Girls) play the men in her orbit who enable and, arguably, exploit her.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

Anchored by solid performances and bubblegum-fun visuals, the show works best when allowing its wacky, tacky star to cut loose as opposed to trying to interject some deeper meaning to it all. Angelyne's modus operandi has always been to achieve fame, yes, but on her terms -- the name recognition of a Marilyn Monroe without all the trauma and drama. A huge part of her appeal has always been the mysterious backstory and her steadfast refusal to placate those who would seek to expose it (who, it is worth noting, are mainly men).

Where is this dazzling woman from? What does she even do? Why is she famous? Despite journalists' best efforts at dismantling the personal mythology that this bimbo cipher created for herself in the wake of what we now know (or do we?) are complicated origins, Angelyne only reinforces the truth that some stories hold more magic when told by the myth-makers who dreamed them up in the first place.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about potential parallels between Angelyne's story and that of our current social media culture and its myriad "influencers." Additionally, is Angelyne comparable in any way to tabloid-fixture celebs like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian? What might they have in common? How do their stories differ?

  • How does this series present its characters? Does the show portray its subject as a likable person, and do you find yourself rooting for her? Why or why not?

TV Details

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