President Obama is back with another Netflix release — a four-part series called Working: What We Do All Day — that almost certainly won’t make any of the streaming giant’s various Top 10 lists, but which is noteworthy enough, regardless, given that it comes from a former president and all.
Since its founding in 2018, the Higher Ground production company, founded by Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, has released more than 10 movies and TV series — including 2019’s American Factory, a Netflix documentary about the culture clash that arises from a Chinese company restarting a shuttered Ohio factory.
The Obamas’ new series, a joint production between Concordia Studio and Higher Ground, premieres May 17 on Netflix.
Here’s how the streamer describes it:
“What brings you joy in work? What gives you purpose? What makes a good job … good? These are the questions at the center of Working: What We Do All Day, a compelling documentary series that explores the ways in which we find meaning in our work and how our experiences and struggles connect us on a human level. Narrated by President Barack Obama, who makes appearances alongside everyday people in their homes and places of work, the series follows individuals at all levels of the workforce — from service jobs all the way up to the C-suite — across the industries of home care, tech, and hospitality.”
The former president, back when he was a college student, was inspired by Studs Terkel’s 1974 book Working, and what his Netflix series of the same name attempts to do is bring that same idea into the modern world. The project is built around intimate and behind-the-scenes portraits of people’s lives. And it’s meant to help give viewers a better understanding of the jobs that people do every day.
The series is directed by Caroline Suh, and Barack and Michelle Obama are the executive producers.
Speaking of Higher Ground and Michelle Obama: Another of their projects is currently the #7 Netflix movie in the US as of this writing. It’s The Light We Carry, in which Obama and Oprah Winfrey engage in a conversation about the former First Lady’s second book.
