Paul T. Goldman

What if Werner Herzog and Nathan Fielder had a child?

They would have named him Paul T. Goldman.

The line between real and fiction is a thin and blurry one, often crossing and blending together in various forms of media. In literature, for example, authors often take inspiration from real-life events and people, but then add their own imagination and creative twists to create a fictional story. In film and television, real-life events and people are often depicted in a fictionalized manner, blurring the line between fact and fiction even further. Thanks ChatGPT for providing 400 characters needed it to publish this review.

Wow! And I say that for a reason! This show is just so much different from anything that I have ever seen. Anything?! Yes, ANYTHING!

When watching the first episode, I was completely caught. And it was not only the story - which by the way is pretty interesting in itself - but more so on the way that this story is brought to film. It is namely shot in a very professional way - studio included - but with the real person as the main actor. And this is exactly what makes it special! Because the guy has totally no acting experience and he can't keep himself from smiling. It's like watching Seinfeld's Kramer playing Marlon Brando's role of Godfather!

So yes, it is in my opinion pretty amusing to the point of hilarious.

That a company like ComCast - with its valuable Peacock brand - is willing to experiment with content of this kind, deserves a thumbs up. But who in his right mind would have ever expected this to be so good. I mean... just watching the guy explaining how he is being screwed - literally actually - is an awesome experience to see.

And I hope that the actual mr. Goldman reads my review, because I want to give him credits for the most innovative tv format in a long time!

And the score? A well deserved 8.1/10, which results in an IMDb score of 8 stars!

Having watched three episodes it was entertaining, though the main character gets more annoting as time goes on - I can see why his wives left him! It is next to impossible to tell what is real or not - maybe the whole show is one big spoof in which case I will be rather annoyed at the end.

Still I will keep watching though with guarded reservations. Its also not clear whether the movie in a movie concept is real or just something for the show - e..g will it see the light of day separately.

If it turns out that the whole show is fake then the lead character Paul deserves an Oscar for playing someone so gormless so well.

Paul T. Goldman is part Tommy Wiseau from "The Room," part Forrest Gump, a dash of Gene Wilder, a healthy dose of straight up "Florida Man," and all parts ridiculously funny.

His story never stops spiraling, from seriousness to absurdity and back again, like "Serial" meets "The Rehearsal." The more Paul tells us about his life, the less we believe him, and the harder we laugh and shake our heads.

While the show continually "zooms out" to the behind-the-scenes, and even behind-the-behind-the-scenes, for all its confusion it tells the story of a man who is so wildly unpredictable you can't take your eyes off him.

One of the few new shows that made me want ti rewatch episodes. I seriously hope there's another season. Who knows what zany adventure this guy is going to get into next.

I'm not sure how much the titular character is aware of what's happening, and it's hard to have sympathy for he comes across as quite an unlikeable egomaniac. For fans of obscure B-movies, he is essentially a Neil Breen type character, who is caught in the writers' and director's web. He thinks they are making an emmy-level documenatry while they essentially parody the recent spate of cheap Netflix true crime documentaries (e.g The Tinder Swindler). By largely allowing Paul T. Goldman to tell the story, and leaning into the more asburd elements of the story (e.g a psychic medium), they beging to reveal the embellishments and question if any of this really happened. In turn, this makes it much more honest than other so-called true crimes. Your enjoyment of the show will depend on whether you can tolerate the strange title character, and enjoy seeing a well-loved genre be torn apart.