TV Review - The D'Amelio Show
Images courtesy of Hulu.
Going into The D’Amelio Show, I was only watching to see if they could be the next Keeping Up with the Kardashians now that the famed family have finished up their triumphant reality TV careers. To my great disappointment, the D’Amelios had no interest in being the next Kardashians.
The D’Amelio Show presents the story of down-to-earth parents, Heidi and Mark, helping their kids, Charli and Dixie, chase success in the big smoke after they’ve hit pay-dirt on TikTok. The old fairy-tale of moving to L.A. is something we’ve all either dreamed of or seen in the movies, now it’s time to watch it again through the 21st century entrepreneurial view of influencers and businesswomen.
The business in question is whatever comes out of two of the most successful social media careers of the past decade: celebrity opportunities which have the potential to net big bucks – whether it’s an opportunity to launch a music career or clothing line. The show arguably functions as an advertisement for these pursuits as Dixie’s latest songs play over montages and the sisters giddily launch their own merchandise. But with success comes pressure – which is why each of the eight episodes begins and ends with a mental health trigger warning.
This warning foreshadows the major theme of the entire show: mental health is agonising and continuous. The bulk of the entire show, which is filmed over the course of a year, captures the collapse of Charli as hate comments, Billie Eilish fans, and a suffocating schedule take their toll on the rising star. The culmination of this exhausting descent arrives during the opening of episode six as her anxiety causes a panic attack, making her want to “just cry forever.” This takes a turn for the worst in rapid succession as the title card appears on screen with the sound of sobbing as Charli vents her mother about the impact of haters, before concluding that “it just gets more difficult every time.” It’s clear that the workaholism has consumed this family by the time Dixie says, “it’s hard to [be myself online] with the nature of my job”, and when Charli admits that she wants to consider time off but “if I quit, [my staff] doesn’t have a job.” This reality television chooses to make its audience swallow some pretty sour medicine.
The tragedies of Michael Jackson and Britney Spears show what fame can do at its worst, and in these scenes it’s hard to justify saying yes in answer to the question: should this show even exist? Sure, Charli has a week off of TikTok (spread over the course of a year) after the meltdown, but the pressures are adding up by the end of the season. Charli is turning 17 and she still has the next three years of her life scheduled in binders.
It’s hard to justify watching The D’Amelio Show as mind-numbing reality television in the same way that Keeping upthe Kardashians could be at its finest. The politics and ethics surrounding the D’Amelios rear their heads too much for audiences to be able to drown out the sounds of child abuse like they could with Toddler & Tiaras.
The D’Amelio Show is available to stream online in Australia now via Disney+.