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My review of the Showtime series "George & Tammy"

smahala1991
My review of the Showtime series George & Tammy

(TW: Drug Use, Mental Illness, Electroshock therapy, alcoholism, domestic violence, premature birth, gaslighting, and manipulation)

The year is 1965. Tammy Wynette (Real name Virginia Pugh) moves to Nashville, Tennessee, with her new husband, Don Chappel. This came after leaving her first husband, whom he and her mother had Virginia committed for electroshock therapy while four months pregnant. Her baby was born prematurely and almost died due to the circumstances.

George Jones was considered the best Country Music singer of all time. He lived the life he sang about, which was alcoholism, bad relationships, and heartbreak. Tammy met George in 1968 after Don pitched a song to him called "When The Grass Grows Over Me". Over time George and Tammy fall for each other. Things only get messy from here.

The Story of George and Tammy tells about the lives of two Country singers who were married, sang duets with each other, and went through a lot of hell. However, this mini-series, in my opinion, seems to make Tammy more of a victim while vilifying everyone else. Jessica Chastain, in my opinion, is an outstanding actress; however her singing is a little to be left desired. Michael Shannon is George, although not a good representation since his version is a smart-ass 6'3 man when really Jones was only 5'6 and introverted and shy.

Throughout their marriage, George's alcoholism makes him abusive when he's drunk but depressed when he's sober. Tammy is more concerned about her career and making number-one hits. George ends up changing record labels to be with Tammy on the Epic label with one of the biggest producers in Nashville and modern music at the time Billy Sherrill. This is going to be a long story so, I'm going to condense it the best way I can.

George and Tammy run off together one night after being invited to dinner. Her husband, Don keeps making remarks to George about being in love with each other. George and Tammy get married in Mexico, but Tennessee Doesn't recognize Mexican divorces. But Billy Sherrill pulls some strings and finds a loophole. Turns out her first divorce in Alabama at the time she had to wait a year to marry again but only waited 10 months. Turns out the marriage to Don was never legitimate.

Throughout the 1970s, George and Tammy's careers skyrocket with hit after hit. But, George's alcoholism gets the better of him. He starts drinking hard and starts to miss concerts. On the other hand, Tammy is becoming dependent on pain pills after a non-consensual hysterectomy after the birth of their last daughter. Tammy has to take the keys from George often to keep him from running to the bar. However, he drives his lawn mower like he was famous for doing. One night George is so drunk he tries to shoot at Tammy in their house and destroys a lot of the property. After this chain of events, Tammy files for divorce.

Tammy, freshly divorced, ends up dating a lot of other men. One of them famously is Burt Reynolds. This does not resonate with many of her fans well, as many see her in a promiscuous light. George is still an alcoholic and has now also started to use cocaine. By 1978, both careers start falling apart. Tammy then marries the last man she will ever be with, George Richey. Richey, however, turns out to be a manipulative, abusive, gaslighting, drug-inducing son of a bitch. To begin with, Richey starts to paint words like Whore, Slut, and Pig on her doors in order to manipulate her into a relationship with him from protection from "vandals". He also becomes her manager and he controls her whole career afterward. Richey also gives Tammy injections often of painkillers and tranquilizers to keep her dependent on him.

Jones and Tammy do reunite for tours and concerts in the mid to late 90s. However, Tammy would die in the Spring of 1998 at age 55 at what many would suspect as a drug overdose. Jones would die in 2013 at age 81. He did end up becoming sober and having a very successful career even after the divorce.

The miniseries was a good story, but there were a lot of lapses, just as in any biopic like Ray, Walk The Line, Selena, or La Bamba. I don't like how they made Tammy the complete victim and everyone else a villain. If anything, George Richey should be the main villain in the story and not be portrayed as George Jones. If anything, Jones is a more sympathetic character. Chastain also helped to produce the series. While she is a great actress, she is also well known for being female-centric while telling a story. So the story is more about Tammy than anyone else.

Altogether I give the miniseries a score of 3/5. It tells a good story, although a kinda biased one. The singing is not the best, and it could have helped if each actor had lip-synched their respective parts. However, I'm going to let you judge. Here is a video of George and Tammy singing one of their songs

versus Michael and Jessica.

Now tell me who you think the real winner is?

The show was also very sex and nudity heavy as most biopics are. To be honest, I know it keeps a story interesting, but I don't want to think of these two singers as nude and having sex.

There is a podcast called "Cocaine and Rhinestones" on Spotify that tells the whole story of this and other stories in Country Music in a more detailed and background-oriented way than the miniseries ever did. I suggest you watch the series first, then listen to the podcast if interested.

My review of the Showtime series "George & Tammy"
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