Stars: 4/5
Ryan Murphy has outdone himself again with his new Netflix show “Hollywood.” The miniseries goes back to 1947 where racism, homophobia and sexual abuse were accepted in Hollywood. The young and attractive characters are trying to find their way to stardom in the film industry, but they have many obstacles to face.
The audience will follow Jack Castello (David Corenswet), Raymond Ainsley (Darren Criss), Archie Coleman (Jeremy Pope), Camille Washington (Laura Harrier) and Rock Hudson (Jake Picking). These five characters will soon come together to create a movie that would have never been shown in 1947. 
The audience will be immediately met with the racism and homophobia that ran rampant in ’40s Hollywood. Camille is rightfully frustrated with only having maid roles, Archie has to hide his identity as a gay, black man to become a screenwriter and Rock also has to hide his sexuality and face sexual assault. 
The Golden Age of Hollywood has always been known as a time of glitz and glamour, but Murphy shows the audience what would happen behind close doors. I liked that Murphy brought up this narrative. It is usually unknown of the mistreatment that actors faced during this era. It may be a fictional TV show, but the truth still rings from it. 
The actors also showed in their performance of the optimism and naivety of what many young actors must have felt when they entered Hollywood. I can feel their hopes and dreams to make it big one day, but the optimism I felt shattered seeing what they had to go through just to get an audition.
I felt fully immersed with the costumes and language used to match the ’40s. The attention to detail also helped with the experience.
My favorite part about the miniseries is how Murphy made nods to actors and others who existed during that time. Rock Hudson, Vivien Leigh (Kate McGuinness), Hattie McDaniel (Queen Latifah), Anna May Wong (Michelle Krusiec), Tallulah Bankhead (Paget Brewster), Henry Wilson (Jim Parsons), George Cukor (Daniel London) and Noel Coward (Billy Boyd). 
The mixture of real life and fiction tells an interesting story of revised events in history. Murphy answers the question what could happen if people of color and the LGBT community had representation in the ’40s. 
There are some flaws. The ending was too rushed, and I had some skepticism about how the events played out. I know this is fiction and should give an optimistic outlook about diverse representation, but I don’t believe those same events would have played out as well as it did.
I understand that it’s a fictional show, but I can’t ignore what would have happened versus what could have happened. Although, I still enjoyed the show and recommend to watch it if you don’t want a big commitment. It’s only seven episodes, and I finished it in two days.
It’s an overall great show. I don’t think it’s Murphy’s best, but I still think he did a great job. It was fun to binge, and it’s on my re-watch list.