Watched episode three of Fosse/Verdon - terrible. There is no way around it - the writing is so horrible and the anachronisms and inaccuracies are unforgivable for a show with a budget like this. This one was directed by someone else and he's not to hot either. To wit:
Once again, we have Miss Verdon saying "on set" in 1972. No, never, no one ever said that then. EVER.
We have the editor of Cabaret telling Fosse he'd like to show him the assemblage. Fosse acts like he doesn't know what that means and says, "You edited my movie?" It's not hard to know that EVERY editor in HISTORY does an assemblage of all the chosen takes, start to finish. The first assemblage of Nudie Musical ran almost 160 minutes. Then the editing process begins. Cabaret was not Fosse's first movie and this idiotic writer makes Fosse look like a moron.
In 1972, they did not make paper shopping bags with HANDLES. Did not exist. Real hard to find that out.
At one point, Miss Verdon, in talking about a meeting with a director of a straight play says, "I'll see if we can establish trust." No one said that back in 1972. Ever.
Fosse leaves daughter Nicole with Paddy Chayefsky in Fosse's hotel room. Miss Verdon says just what you'd think and that was not a thing in 1972 - "That's inappropriate." No.
In the play she does, Children! Children! the director, which I'll get to in a minute, says, "Play something active." Not in 1972, baby. And the director - if I were the estate of Joseph Hardy I would sue this writer from here to kingdom come. No director would talk to a Tony Award-winning STAR the way this writer has this awful actor playing Joseph Hardy. But any director who'd talk to ANY actor the way he does would get nothing at all from that actor. Furthermore, he wouldn't have had much of a career, either. It's shameful. It's lazy writing.
And then there's the crying baby, the endlessly crying baby, only in the shots where the baby has his back to the camera it is very clear he's not crying at all.
They couldn't find a performer who actually resembles Joel Grey? And Sam Rockwell is horrible, I'm sorry. The fake bald cap, the fake beard, which looks NOTHING like Mr. Fosse's beard - this thing is way too thick and hairy, where Fosse's was trim.
There's more, but why bother. And people LOVE it. I understand it to a point, and then the inaccuracies are so silly and unnecessary that I just can't.
