This is so perfect and wonderful to watch. It's captivating and opens up lots of discussions and insights to the world of film/tv production and Hollywood in general. Fantastic all around.

Season One Review.Ryan Murphy returns to our screens with another anthology series, this one focusing on famous true life historical feuds. This first season looks at the hostility that existed between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis before, during and after the filming of their seminal Oscar winning classic "Whatever Happened To Baby Jane". Murphy's muse, Jessica Lange, is perfectly cast as Joan Crawford. Lange, like Crawford, had won Oscar's earlier in her career only to struggle for better roles later in life but fortunately for Lange, Televisions current golden age has offered a career renaissance that just wasn't available in the seventies. It's a role filled with sadness and desperation, having spent her youth fighting to get to Hollywood, she's not willing to accept her marginalisation and is desperate for "Baby Jane" to be the hit that keeps her relevant. But it's a rounded portrayal, the series shows her as being as petty and devious as her co-star and never asks you to pick between them. Susan Sarandon is also perfectly cast as Bette Davies, the more legitimate actress of the two, witty and outspoken. The cast is rounded off by Alfred Molina, as "Baby Jane" director Robert Aldrich, Catharine Zeta-Jones as Olivia De Haviland and Stanley Tucci as Jack Warner. The performances are universally excellent and it's a testament to Murphy's drawing power that he can put together a cast like this. The plot is best described as loose biography. It attempts to capture the spirit of the feud if not the exact events that took place. They rightly choose the most entertaining version of the mythos that they can provide and the series is never less than hugely watchable. I felt that the series could have benefitted from slightly more of their careers before "Baby Jane" at the expense of slightly less after it as that occasionally started to repeat the story beats - but this is a minor quibble with an excellent compelling series that I thoroughly enjoyed. (Despite my enjoyment of this series, I can't help but feel that the controversial proposed second series - about the rift between Princess Diana and Prince Charles, prior to her death, is not going to go down anything like as well on this side of the Atlantic, but I'm prepared to wait and see).

This is not only a fantastic but also a terrific TV series, as we are used to with Ryan Murphy's series. But this one and this season (the only one so far) has something special, something magical and that is, that the story that it tells if did really happened. Maybe not exactly like this, of course some things might change, but still, as a whole it did happen and the story that is being told is as much magical as it is pure reality.The series depicts in a brilliantly way that part of the life of the two actresses that were Bette and Joan. They were tough at the time were women didn't matter much, even if they had a collection of Oscar awards. And who better to play these characters that two today huge actresses such as Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange? They absolutely nail it, and if you don't believe so you better look for a comparison video that now that the show is over there are more than mushrooms in the forest. They are the show. They portrait the two golden actresses in a formidable way that at some point you might think if it isn't the real ones on-screen. But it's not only these two that are brilliant, all the supporting actors and actresses are stunning. I must mention Catherine Zeta Jones playing Olivia de Havilland, she is just awesome, simply awesome.Besides the way they portrait the characters there is also the setting, the attrezzo, the glamour of the late 50s and early 60s in a Hollywood that it's not the Hollywood that we are used to. Something always interesting form a historical point of view that here is depicted in a real realistic way that helps you remember about what it was making a movie back then. Every tiny detail is well presented and you can only enjoy the show and feel like you were living back then.It doesn't matter if you had no idea about what this show depicts: the legendary feud between the two actresses because after watching this series you will only want to watch the movie that started it all "What happened to Baby Jane?", or did it continue the legend that was the feud? And if you did know about the story, you will simply enjoy it with all your senses and wish that there were more than 8 episodes.

What a nice surprise this mini-series was to watch. Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis, and Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford were just incredible performances. Mrs. Shullivan and I truly believed as the film rolled to and from a series of historical black and white silver screen images and then back to color images that we were witnessing the many personal exchanges between these two famous actresses.There is also a long list of terrific supporting performances such as Alfred Molina as the two Hollywood stars' director Bob Aldrich who in 1962 filmed "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?" and Aldrich's difficult relationship with the relentless studio boss Jack Warner (Warner Brothers Pictures) also played to perfection by Stanley Tucci. Oh, but we cannot forget the superb performance by Ms. Crawford's able assistant/confidant/housekeeper "Mamacita" played to absolute perfection by actress Jackie Hoffman. The relationship between Mamacita and Joan Crawford was more than endearing, it was more reflective of two sisters who were so close knit that nothing could keep them apart, not even Joan Crawford's habitual drinking nor her sometimes explosive temper. Their relationship was not one of a Hollywood film star and her housekeeper but it was exposed in this mini series as one in which one sister (Joan Crawford) was allowed to behave as a spoiled little brat until such time that her mother-like sister Mamacita would pull in those reigns with just a few sharp words and Joan would once again calm down and begin to behave...well Joan would at least behave until the next time she was in front of the camera with Bette Davis.Other great performances were achieved by the beautiful Catherine Zeta-Jones as Bette Davis's friend who was also an established actress in her own right Olivia de Havilland, Dominic Burgess as the plump but young up and coming homosexual stage actor Victor Buono, Kathy Bates as Joan Blondell and another perfect casting of Hedda Hopper played by Judy Davis.This mini-series is very deserving of a number of Emmy's for so many of the film stars as well as for categories such as for the magnificent period style costume design, set design (we loved seeing all that plastic covering Joan's living room furniture...even her pillows!) the excellent screen writing, and even for the episode(s) brilliant opening musical score which was a high grade animation credit role depicting some of the scenes from their only film together What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? The opening credit animation musical score was such a powerful opening credit score that we felt that we were watching an Academy Award best film and not just another TV mini-series.Mrs Shullivan and I truly enjoyed each and every episode which provided valuable insight into what initially may have caused the highly documented FEUD (thus the movie title) between these two A rated Hollywood actresses whose careers were winding down before they agreed in 1962 to co- star in the film classic What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?Both Joan Crawford and Bette Davis displayed those unacceptable and ugly characteristics of a Diva, a spoiled actress who was prepared to damage their own picture(s) to get what they individually wanted, to "one- up" each other at any cost. Pity they did not realize early enough that they were being played by both movie mogul Jack Warner and by their own Director Bob Aldrich. This is a story that was well worth telling, and even a better story due to so many outstanding performances not only by Susan Sarandon, Jessica Lange, Stanley Tucci, Alfred Molina, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and my favorite Mamacita played by Jackie Hoffman, but this mini-series was so well done because of the entire cast and because of a well written script whose interest never waned as the characters were all brought to life in period costumes and period set designs with the utmost sincerity and with great dialogue.We loved every last minute of FEUD. A perfect 10 out of 10 score!