Wednesday, January 11, 2023

SERIES WEEKEND: GEORGE & TAMMY

 Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

I don't care about George Jones.

I don't care about Tammy Wynette. 

I don't even care about country music, other than Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton.

So why do I love George & Tammy?

Michael Shannon as George Jones and Jessica Chastain as Tammy Wynette.


These two are magnetic.


This six-part series (2022, Rated TV-MA, streams on Showtime) is based on the 2013 memoir The Three of Us: Growing Up With Tammy and George by their daughter, Georgette Jones. 

The series has its flaws. The supporting cast is nothing to write home about. Steve Zahn plays Tammy's evil manager and last husband, George Richey. Nothing special about his performance, and he looks kind of dumb in a wig and fake beard.
 
Things also happen awfully fast. During the first episode, Tammy is an unknown singer married to another man. She meets George Jones. By the end of that episode, George declares his love for Tammy and they run off together.

I read a couple of reviews that said the two leads were great, though, and it's true. I've never been a Michael Shannon fan, but I like him now. I wasn't a Jessica Chastain fan until I saw The Eyes of Tammy Faye, for which she won the Best Actress Oscar. She was riveting in that role.

To say that George Jones and Tammy Wynette had a complicated relationship is an understatement. They were very successful performers, separately and as a duo, but their working association and personal lives were severely damaged by Jones' alcoholism and, later, Wynette's addiction to prescription pain medication.

I also read that much of what is portrayed is based on verifiable facts, while some events may or may not have happened, and are probably as a loving daughter saw them.

Shannon and Chastain do their own singing. I don't know if they do justice to George and Tammy since I'm not familiar with their voices. I only know I loved the series because of the two actors and the story of a loving relationship gone wrong.

Infinities of love,
 Janie Junebug

16 comments:

  1. Not a series I know or one I am interested in watching. Glad you enjoyed it.

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  2. Michael Shannon has never made much of an impression on me, but I know that Jessica Chastain is a marvelous actor and a true star! I've been wondering whether this series is worth watching, so good to get your review of it! I was a bigger fan of George Jones' music than of Tammy Wynette's but I know their lives and marriage were chaotic messes.

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    1. This series is the first time I've liked Michael Shannon. I watched because of Jessica Chastain and because I read a couple of brief reviews that said the two of them are great. I wholeheartedly agree.

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  3. I agree completely. i love these two actors and I think they were both fabulous in the show.
    Sad life that George and Tammy lived.
    xoxo

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    1. I'm glad you liked it, too. Sad and violent lives.

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  4. You know I will watch this because of those two! :)

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  5. I'd never heard of it before now. It doesn't spark my interest.

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  6. Now I want to learn more about the real Tammy. Her daughters seem to have hated her last husband.

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  7. We have watched a couple of the episodes, just have not finished it yet. I think Chastain is a remarkable talent, but I also like Michael Shannon. We have to finish Kaleidoscope before we finish George and Tammy.
    As an aside, I used to cater for talents who were playing venues in Birmingham (From Pavarotti to grunge bands) Being backstage I would watch a number or two of every performer, however, from the moment Jones stepped off his tour bus to the moment he got back on it, he was "on". I don't like CW music, but I brought out a chair and watched his entire concert from the wings. He was an amazing entertainer.

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    1. Thanks for sharing that, Anne. It's so cool that you got to watch the concert that way.

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  8. Replies
    1. Their lives were definitely filled with drama, Elizabeth.

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