First thing's first: The target audience for this show is not anyone that already knows a lot about the U.S. space program. If you've seen HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon", the 11th episode of that series does a better job in an hour than this ABC-TV series did in 10 hours—and a more accurate one, too.
That being said, the primary actors carry this show—you do care about the characters and what they go through in support of their husbands, et al. As a period piece of Americana and history, too, the TV series excels. The writers could have toned down the portrayal of Louise Shepard, but otherwise, the other six leads are fantastic. The actors playing the Mercury Seven themselves are completely overshadowed, and rightfully so—this is about the women behind the astronauts.
I gave this a low review for its VERY poor accuracy, which even the real Rene Carpenter acknowledged publicly as a retired journalist herself. It's like the writers tried to turn these stories into a soap opera for ditzy 20th-century housewife viewers—which was a terrible idea, considering the real, enlightened and liberated 21st-century audience. Basically, the series insulted its audience by talking down to it.
As a companion piece to the HBO series, it's okay, but again, just watch that series instead of this one, and you won't miss a thing really—except some fine performances from JoAnna Garcia, Yvonne Strahovski, Odette Annable, Azure Parsons and Zoe Boyle. These five amazing actors carried this series and are the only reason I bothered watching after the first episode.
That being said, the primary actors carry this show—you do care about the characters and what they go through in support of their husbands, et al. As a period piece of Americana and history, too, the TV series excels. The writers could have toned down the portrayal of Louise Shepard, but otherwise, the other six leads are fantastic. The actors playing the Mercury Seven themselves are completely overshadowed, and rightfully so—this is about the women behind the astronauts.
I gave this a low review for its VERY poor accuracy, which even the real Rene Carpenter acknowledged publicly as a retired journalist herself. It's like the writers tried to turn these stories into a soap opera for ditzy 20th-century housewife viewers—which was a terrible idea, considering the real, enlightened and liberated 21st-century audience. Basically, the series insulted its audience by talking down to it.
As a companion piece to the HBO series, it's okay, but again, just watch that series instead of this one, and you won't miss a thing really—except some fine performances from JoAnna Garcia, Yvonne Strahovski, Odette Annable, Azure Parsons and Zoe Boyle. These five amazing actors carried this series and are the only reason I bothered watching after the first episode.