Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee were a superstar couple in the 90s, and whether looking for an update on Casey Jean Parker, or anticipating the latest hits from the Mötley Crüe, there was hardly ever a moment where people weren’t dying to hear from the blonde bombshell and her rockstar spouse — especially after the leak of their sex tape. What was initially intended to be a private intimate film between the then-husband and wife became the talk of the tabloids after the video was stolen from their home and released across the Internet. The Hulu original Pam & Tommy takes Lily James and Sebastian Stan and paints them as the iconic pair navigating their lives following their step into infamy, and despite Anderson herself refusing to watch or support it, it’s been met with many positive reviews.
Reboots and revivals may be in the limelight for having taken the world by storm, but recently a handful of docudramas has been making their way onto heaps of TV screens. For years, Hollywood has given audiences biopic movies and biographical dramas and with films like Elvis and Oppenheimer coming soon, it’s clear that the industry won’t stop creating blockbuster movies based on true stories. Streaming services have not stopped pumping out content influenced by true events and with docudramas becoming notoriously sought-after, here are 7 shows like Pam & Tommy that you need to watch next.
7 The Act
Munchausen by proxy, the fabrication of illness, the treachery of what should’ve been a loving mother upon her innocent daughter — however you spin, it makes for a frightening home environment and while it undoubtedly is, it also makes for an Emmy Award-winning docuseries. In 2019, Joey King and Patricia Arquette took on the roles of Gypsy Rose and DeeDee Blanchard, respectively, the mother-daughter duo known for the maternal falsehood of Gypsy’s so-called many, many health conditions. The limited series had eight episodes, following Gypsy from a deceived, Disney-loving, young teenager to an 18-year-old wretch in pursuit to get revenge on her mother for ruining her life.
6 American Crime Story
The FX original series, American Crime Story has covered multiple real-life lawsuits and scandals among different seasons. In its debut, the series focused on The People vs OJ Simpson, a 1994 case that left the world in shock after the renown football player was accused of murdering his wife. It also tackled The Assasination of Gianni Versace, and most recently, Impeachment, narrating the shocking and wildly inappropriate relations between Monica Lewinsky and President Bill Clinton, with Lewinsky herself serving as a producer.
5 Inventing Anna
Julia Garner stars as Anna in the Netflix series, Inventing Anna, based on the true events of Anna Sorokin, a Russian-German con-artist who pretended to be a rich heiress named Anna Delvey. She single-handedly deceived banks and hotels, and was convicted of grand larceny, sentencing her to 4 to 13 years in prison. Her story was published in New York Magazine, under the title "How Anna Delvey Tricked New York's Party People" by Jessica Pressler, which engaged a great deal of readers anxious to know how the swindler was able to scam her way into upper class New York.
4 Joe vs Carole
Maybe it was the mayhem of the unhinged look into big cats, or maybe it was the entrapment of the human race due to the newly set pandemic restrictions in 2020. No matter what the reason, millions of people were preoccupied with the lives of the outrageous tiger keeper Joe Exotic and his cat-loving nemesis Carole Baskin on Netflix’s Tiger King. Though a mass of viewers were immersed in the series, and thus learned the premise of the story, Peacock dipped their fingers into the money-hungry world of producing content no one exactly asked for and gave us: Joe vs Carole, a dramatized retelling of the events of Tiger King starring John Michael Cameron and Kate McKinnon.
3 The Dropout
It’s likely that if there’s one thing everyone knows about Elizabeth Holmes, it’s the way she feigned a baritone voice in attempts to seem more authoritative. Hulu’s trailer of The Dropout even depicted Amanda Seyfried, who plays the former biotechnology entrepreneur, in the mirror practicing ways to lower her tone several notches. The series follows the rise and fall of Holmes’ corporation, Theranos, which was labeled a fraud for its misleading claims about the company’s blood testing technology. The case led to a book written by John Carreyrou, a podcast a documentary and if one docuseries wasn’t enough, AppleTV is also releasing its own take on the story, set to star Jennifer Lawrence.
2 WeCrashed
WeCrashed is an upcoming drama starring Jared Leto as Adam Neumann, the co-founder of WeWork and Anne Hathaway as his wife Rebekah. Based on the podcast, WeCrashed: The Rise and Fall of WeWork by Wondery, the show will follow the fluctuation of the titular real estate company, following its creation in 2010. The series is set to premiere on AppleTV on March 18.
1 The Girl From Plainville
The award winning thespian Elle Fanning took on the role of Michelle Carter in Hulu’s original upcoming series The Girl From Plainville. The show illustrates the events of the former high school couple made up of Carter, and her boyfriend Conrad Roy. Obviously being a TV show, the series will dramatize and create events for the sake of entertainment and duration, but given the bike rides and romantic dancing in the streets, it appears as if the two had somewhat of a fluffy relationship that viewers will get to see the downsides of.