The Lady and the Dale

"The Lady and the Dale" (2021 release; 4 episodes of about 55 min. each) brings the unlikely, if not too good to be true, story of Liz Carmichael and her mid-70s three-wheeled car, simply called the Dale, which sells for peanuts and promises 70 MPG. In the opening episode, we get the background on the improbable rise of Liz CarMichael, just as we are dealing with the oil crisis and this country is crying out for an alternative car that is cheap and gas-efficient. Liz teams up with car designer Dale Cliff, and before you know it, they become the buzz of the car industry... At this point we re 10 min. into the opening episode.

Couple of comments: this series is the feature length/mini series-debut of directors Nicl Cammilleri and Zachary Drucker. Here they team up to bring us the life and times of Liz CarMichael, about as unlikely a star in the automotive industry as you will ever find. I am biting my tongue as the initial two episodes are facts-heavy and plot-heavy, so I want to make sure I am not spoling anyone's viewing experience. Let me just say that, from watching the initial two episodes, this is a rollicking and yes, super enjoyable, documentary tv mini-series. The less you know going in, the better. I will admit that I had never heard of Liz CarMichael or this concept car the Dale (probably because I moved from Belgium to the US only in 1983, after all of this played out).

"The Lady and the Dale" premiered this weekend on HBO with 2 of the 4 episodes. These 2 episodes are now available on HBO On Demand and other streaming services. Episodes 3 and 4 will premiere over the next 2 weekends. Can't wait to see how it all will play out. If you have any interest in a documentary that once again proves that facts are stranger than fiction, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

*UPDATE 2/14/21* I just watched the last episode tonight on HBO. This was a wild ride all around. So much territory was covered, from the automotive industry to trans gender issues and much more in between. In all, a documentary series well worth seeking out.

The overuse of paper cut out animation to depict a potentially interesting story makes this show unwatchable. I can only assume this show's creators thought their story was not interesting enough so they resorted to a cartoonish, paper cutout graphic with rapid frame to keep your attention. I found it very annoying. 1 episode and done for me.

Fascinating story with plentiful plot twists. It's crazy that it's taken this long for the story to be told.

Watching the promotional materials, it seems like this would be your standard true-crime documentary, though as the series progressed, it seems like that wasn't what the team behind this project wanted. The later episodes seemed to focus more about issues transgender individuals face in the criminal justice system, which I think would've made more sense at the beginning, and I get the sense that what they wanted to make the whole documentary about. It's an interesting subject, but it's not what I thought I was going to watch.

I don't think I've seen a true-crime documentary so uninterested in the actual crime.

I loved the way this was presented. Much more fun to watch than actors trying to portray famous people. An interesting story that I was surprised I never heard of before.