FX takes Britney Spears seriously
Sometimes, recent history can seem the most remote. A new entry in the documentary series “The New York Times Presents” (10 p.m., FX and FX on Hulu, TV-MA), “Framing Britney Spears” reaches all the way back to the late 1990s for the origins of a media melodrama and peculiar legal case.
Using a wealth of interviews and readily available footage, “Framing” recalls the meteoric rise of a talented young woman from Louisiana and her memorable appearances on “Star Search” and “The Mickey Mouse Club” before being packaged into a Lolitalike image for MTV and selling tens of millions of CDs.
“Framing” interviews former colleagues and managers, dancers from her entourage and a family friend who acted as her chaperone back in the 1990s. We also meet her contemporary fans and supporters, passionately devoted to her cause of getting herself removed from a custody arrangement with her estranged father.
How she got there is the subject of the film’s middle, a saga of media, from TMZ to network news alternately shaming Spears as an out-of-control bimbo or a bad mother, and worse. We see Jay Leno use her as a misogynistic punch line in much the same way he regarded Monica Lewinsky during her time in the media glare.
Nearly everyone interviewed here attests to Spears’ self-awareness as both a person and a performer. Legal experts describe her custody arrangement as highly unusual for anyone not mentally enfeebled by disease or advancing age. Legal experts interviewed here describe the highly murky nature of her custody status and the judges’ reluctance to release medical histories, discuss their ruling or explain why it has lasted so long.
After a very lucrative residency in Las Vegas, Spears stopped performing altogether, apparently tired of earning money that would go to her father and his lawyers. Neither Spears nor her parents agreed to be interviewed for this film, which, while thought-provoking in many ways, is arguably at least 30 minutes too long.
› Not entirely unrelated, the 2020 documentary
“You Cannot Kill David Arquette” is now streaming on Hulu. It follows the actor, better known for his quirks than his performances, as he attempts to revive his professional wrestling career.
› Now streaming on Amazon Prime, the 2019 horror thriller “Vivarium” stars Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots as a house-hunting couple who drive to a creepy new development then cannot find their way out of town.
› Apple TV+ launches “The Snoopy Show,” a cartoon series for youngsters based on the “Peanuts” comic strip, which ran from 1950 to 2000. It continues to run in classic repeat form in many newspapers. “Peanuts” TV adaptations have been around since 1965.
“Snoopy” offers brief adventures featuring the beloved beagle in many of his incarnations. Snoopy is a great example of a secondary character rising in status until he all but eclipsed his co-stars. Not unlike Fonzi on “Happy Days,” Snoopy’s many guises became the most popular (and merchandisable) aspect of “Peanuts,” overshadowing Charlie Brown’s sad sack story, Lucy’s crabbiness and her brother Linus’s philosophical musings.