A new season of Karina Longworth's incredible Hollywood history podcast "You Must Remember This" dropped Tuesday, and this one may prove to be the most groundbreaking season yet. If you're not already familiar with "You Must Remember This," it's a spellbinding oral history throughout the first century of Hollywood's hallowed halls, researched, written and narrated (in her signature style) by the film critic and author.
She's done seasons on Charles Manson in Hollywood, movie stars and World War II, Howard Hughes and his many loves (which she also spun off into a book, "Seduction"). Now she seeks to inscribe a new piece of Hollywood history with a season dedicated to Polly Platt, who came to prominence collaborating with her ex-husband, Peter Bogdanovich, on "The Last Picture Show," and was later seen as the spurned wife when Bogdanovich left her for "Picture Show" star Cybill Shepherd (whom she suggested he cast). Platt later became a successful producer in her own right. Longworth, with a manuscript of Platt's unfinished memoir furnished by her daughters, will spend the season exploring Platt's imprint on the films she made with Bogdanovich, which far exceeded the production design credits she received. She'll also dive into Platt's subsequent career in Hollywood, as well as the systemic barriers that prevented her from becoming the kind of deified director like her male contemporaries.
Based on the first episode, the season won't simply be an exploration into Platt's life, but a bracing corrective to the public narrative and an assertion of her influence.
For sports fans missing live sports, ESPN has been holding it down in the docuseries department. The Michael Jordan/Chicago Bulls series "The Last Dance" just wrapped up, and ESPN immediately dropped the first installment of a two-part "30 for 30" documentary about controversial cyclist Lance Armstrong, directed by acclaimed filmmaker Marina Zenovich. It's a fascinating and instantly addictive watch, as Armstrong attempts to spin his own narratives while Zenovich's probing questions about his use of performance-enhancing drugs and his poor treatment of his teammates continually punctures the cocoon of his carefully crafted truth. Hoisted by his own petard, as they say. The second installment drops Sunday at 8 p.m. Central.
-- Katie Walsh
Tribune News Service
NAN What's Up on 05/29/2020