Here we go again with Tyler Perry, whose latest series for Netflix Beauty in Black has made a strong debut chart-wise but is getting slammed with poor reviews.
The series, in which the worlds of the hair care business and a seedy strip club collide, is the #1 Netflix show in the US as of this writing — and that’s despite pretty abysmal reviews thus far from Rotten Tomatoes (a 53% audience score) and IMDb (4.7/10). Unfortunately, this feels rather par for the course when it comes to Perry’s work, with his Netflix movie Mea Culpa from earlier this year meeting a similar fate — a strong initial showing, but god-awful reviews.
Opines a Decider reviewer about the new series: “Tyler Perry’s Beauty In Black is about a subtle as a slap in the face, which is something we’re surprised we didn’t see in the grim, abuse-filled first episode.” Adds Ready Steady Cut: “Since becoming a billionaire mogul on the back of the Madea movies, of all things, it’s like Perry has deliberately isolated himself from anyone who’s willing to tell him that something like Beauty in Black is a terrible idea.”
In other words, let this serve as your latest reminder that Netflix’s Top 10 charts, while offering a raw sense of what’s hot or not on the streaming giant at any given moment, are in no way a measure of quality. On a related note, I can’t imagine Netflix is especially pleased with the initial response to Beauty in Black, which is part of Perry’s creative partnership with Netflix that involves him writing, directing, and producing films and series under a multi-year first-look deal with the streamer that also included the disastrous Mea Culpa.
As for what Beauty in Black is about: The 16-episode show “follows two women on very different life trajectories on a collision course toward each other,” Netflix explains.
“Taylor Polidore Williams (Divorce in the Black, Snowfall) plays Kimmie, who struggles to make ends meet after her mother kicks her out, while Mallory — played by Crystle Stewart (For Better or Worse, Acrimony) — finds success running her own business. Eventually, they find themselves entangled in each other’s lives. Set in Atlanta, the story brings together a wealthy Black family atop a hair care dynasty and an exotic dancer caught up in the seedy underbelly of a famed Magic City strip club.”
The show is split into two parts for some reason, and Perry said in a Netflix promotional interview that he took inspiration from Atlanta’s strip club scene as well as from his familiarity with real-life hair care dynasties. “The hair care business here is huge [and] Magic City is huge, and I was like, ‘What happened if those worlds collided — the stripper world and this hair care business?’” Perry continued. “Never ever underestimate the power of the underdog.”
