What can I say? A truly captivating and spellbinding series, one that positively overflows with meaning and poignant reflection of the world and society around them. This is the story of the beginnings of the MGM conglomerate that ruled the world in pictures. You see their heartbreaking struggles in the very beginning; the great depression is starting up, and there's the Nazi threat looming ever son dangerously over the horizon. We hear TRUE meaning in the conversational pictorials between the producer, who has a real knack and talent for getting the best out of such great stories, and the studio owner, who has a gruff exterior but hides a true heart of gold. There are deaths (without revealing too much) and they hit HARD. They hit hard and they change the lives of those who come to be in the magic world of storytelling. You see the blond actress delivering her lines and you FEEL it, you can see that there's not a better deliverer of lines, nor of the most honest, simple and stunning beauty. The period looks and feels like Hollywood circa the 1930's. Every character has a story, and it takes a few episodes for things to really pan out, but once they do, it's like a snowball effect: more things happen. You feel joy for great discoveries, new plot twists, and even one of the biggest and most well known movies of all time (I won't reveal what it is) starts to breathe and take form right before your very eyes. The way Monroe Stahr explains the art of storytelling and movie making, you can tell that the actor who portrays him HAS to have a REAL passion for the silver screen. When Kathleen says that she's just a humble waitress, you believe right along with her, as she effortlessly slips into character. I could go on and on for hours about little details, but you already get the point. It's a rare show that when each and every character speaks, it's a grandiose moment in time, and the words convey strong emotion and feeling. You walk away from each and every episode FEELING something, and that's absolutely RARE in this day and age. Unfortunately, I never read the novel by Fitzgerald, but I'm sure that it's a classic in it's own right. Just like this series is. Damn shame that all the great and innovative programming gets thrown right out the window for vacuous and vapid programming showcasing imbeciles who's biggest claim to fame is how much profanity they can spew or how much arguing they can spitball. Yes, true intellectually stimulating dialogue is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, but this series never "talks down" to it's audience. These are the shows that dreams and soaring aspirations are built on. Bravo!!

Had been meaning to start watching the show ever since it came out but only found it because of my browsing through Amazon's library. Although I feel Amazon did a poor job of marketing it, I flew through the entire season 1 and am now devastated to find that they've canceled the show. As much as I enjoy learning about history, the World War eras have never been of much interest until I started watching this show and now I'm completely sucked in... with no resolution! Fantastic story lines, great actors... I've been on the edge of my seat at the end of each episode. I haven't paid much attention to TV lately since there hasn't been much on to watch but after finally finding something I couldn't wait to turn on, Amazon pulled the plug.

I started watching this past week and couldn't wait to see the next episode so I watched Season 1 within 3 days. I love, love, loved it. The story line and the actors played their part perfectly, I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. Monroe, Pat, Rose, Celia, Kathleen all the characters came to life and the actors played their parts perfectly. I loved the costumes, cars, the movie sets everything made me go back to that period in time. Please, please let us see more with Season 2. I am anxiously waiting to watch more. Thank you Amazon for a job well done.

Soapy rendition, shallow characters, every story point stamped out in bold capital letters like a trashy novel. And yet still just a little bit dull. Such a waste really. Add fairly generic casting (except for Grammar) and schmaltzy music and you really have a dumbed down offering that sit happily in the daytime TV space, watched by people who only use their eyes, no their brains. F Scott would be mightily disappointed.