Doc Review 🧐✒️

Documentaries Worth Watching

Hi readers!

Welcome to a new feature inspired by the Music Mondays comments section: Doc Review.¹

I’m sure it will come as quite a surprise that I’ve watched a few documentaries in my day — so I figured I’d share cool ones I come across and we could have fun discussions in the comments.

First up: Citizen Hearst — a 2012 documentary from PBS’s American Experience series.

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I’ve been on a Gilded Age kick recently — wonder why — and this bibliographic profile of William Randolph Hearst was fascinating.

I remember learning about “yellow journalism” in high school history, and any study of Old Hollywood mentions his relationship with Marion Davies and their court at San Simeon.

But I never knew too much about Hearst’s background or his long career as one of the most innovative and influential media moguls of his day.²

Turns out he was the Rupert Murdoch of the late 19th and early 20th century.

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Particular points of interest for me were his rivalry with Joseph Pulitzer — and his papers’ involvement with getting the United States into the Spanish American war for the splashy headlines.

Shoot, the guy practically invented headlines!

But what an asshole. Rich guys thinking other humans are their playthings.

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The documentary is two episodes long — and each episode is roughly two hours.

PBS is currently offering Citizen Hearst on its streaming service. It’s also available on Amazon Prime.

Here is a link.

Have any of you watched Citizen Hearst? Let’s chat about it in the comments!

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I’m thinking about starting a “documentary club” here — like a book club except we would watch a documentary and have an online chat about it.

Are you interested?

This poll will be open for a week — let me know what you think!

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If you’re looking for something relaxing to enjoy with your coffee, why not take a virtual walk in Lake Como?

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Cabbages and Kings — part of Curd Culture — is a reader supported publication where we have fun discussions on interesting topics.

Thank you for supporting a cheese monger telling my story and sharing my love for Virginia’s history and wildlife.

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If you can’t swing a paid subscription right now, you can support my work by buying me a coffee!

1. I’m glad that most of us agreed that the Yacht Rock Dockumentary is unquestionably awesome.

2. Before you ask, I’ve never seen Citizen Kane.