Janet Jackson.

Joe Jackson apology tour out in full force. They let all the physical and emotional abuse go. It's all ok because their father loved them. Terrible message.

I love Janet Jackson so I was really looking forward to seeing this. But I came away disappointed in the sterile storytelling and lack of music.

Rene's home videos were interesting to see and I enjoyed the brief interview with Paula Abdul. But where's the music?! The lack of concert footage is astonishing, to the point where you never really get a feeling for Janet as a performer on stage, nor a renewed appreciation for her music. On top of that, the unbelievable number of commercial breaks ensures the story never gets to "breathe" (this would have been better suited for HBO).

By the end, I still couldn't say I really knew or understood who Janet is as a person other than someone who is shy and likes her privacy.

This is a nice and very informative documentary that I saw in one episode. We see an amazing number of Janet's family and friends being interviewed. Which I guess indicates she had a heavy say in the making of this very complimentary biography piece. However, she does have a real talent, she is very smart and level-headed, and you have to admire her courage and persistence in breaking away from her brother Michael's shadow, and becoming a huge success in her own right. She comes across as a nice person, and very soft spoken and quite shy, which is a welcome change from the cliche of the loud, extrovert rock star. And she's fortunate in having an amazing number of close supporters. Her friends and family do genuinely love and respect her. She's not at all the cliche wasted, bedraggled has-been rock star. It must be said however, that she is incredibly rich, so any claims of hardship have to be put in perspective.

I just finished part 1-2 and I'm enjoying how open Janet is about sharing her life story with us. I'm glad she is being so candid because her story is relatable. I even got emotional as she discussed how her first marriage ended. Moreover, she addresses all the questions I ever had about her in this documentary. You rock Janet!

This is a fairly typical American biography.

Overly humble, talented star looks over her life with a lot of child-like wonder and a small amount of wisdom. Other players are introduced and they all bang on about how she was a force, a talent to be reckoned with, a true artist hungry for it and all that. Add to this mix a few standard angles about being a queen, owning the stage and working hard and you have a bio like this one.

The main problem is that it doesn't really give away anything that most fans don't already know or have seen online. Archival footage is always fascinating and while there's some unseen footage here, it's pretty everyday stuff and certainly not particularly revealing. Janet is never painted as anything more than a sweet, talented woman with a saintly nature.

So far, it's like a souped-up episode of Intimate Portrait and that's not a bad thing. It's not terrible by any means, but if you're looking for something new, you're not going to get it here - so far, anyway.