American Soul

:

Season 1
  • Network: BET
  • Series Premiere Date: Feb 5, 2019
Season #: 2, 1
User Score
3.0

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 9 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 9
  3. Negative: 5 out of 9

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User Reviews

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  1. dkeller52
    Mar 7, 2019
    0
    I watch this show every week. I lived through these times but from a totally different perspective as I'm a Caucasian.

    I had a hard time keeping on watching but kept on trying. There were distinct stories but I couldn't keep them straight. There was the singing group looking for a chance, Don Cornelius, Don's assistant who had aspirations of her own, the deceased war vet family, a    I watch this show every week. I lived through these times but from a totally different perspective as I'm a Caucasian.

    I had a hard time keeping on watching but kept on trying. There were distinct stories but I couldn't keep them straight. There was the singing group looking for a chance, Don Cornelius, Don's assistant who had aspirations of her own, the deceased war vet family, a guy working at a restaurant and his mom's addiction, sometimes the police showed up corrupt (as I know was accurate). In other words, too many things for me to track. I wish they could have spent the first two episodes defining the families to make us care about them. By episode 6, yes, I cared but I still wasn't sure where everyone fit in with everyone else. Most liked: The singers from the time period.    … Expand
  2. Hoosierdaddy
    Mar 28, 2019
    4
    What I found exciting about American Soul is the anticipation of watching the back stories surrounding Soul Train. I used to watch Soul Train back in the day when I was a young teen, so I do have at least a foundation. This show is floundering. It doesn't spend a lot of time on the set, we're not hearing the music, we're not seeing the acts, and we're not seeing a lot of what happenedWhat I found exciting about American Soul is the anticipation of watching the back stories surrounding Soul Train. I used to watch Soul Train back in the day when I was a young teen, so I do have at least a foundation. This show is floundering. It doesn't spend a lot of time on the set, we're not hearing the music, we're not seeing the acts, and we're not seeing a lot of what happened behind the Soul Train set. The flashbacks are confusing and I'm losing interest. It needs to rebound and refocus on the MUSIC and the dancers, not burning buildings.… Expand
  3. coriiced
    Apr 7, 2019
    0
    Very disappointing, to see Soul Train, its positive impact on Urban culture, from teaching America to dance, to perpetuating the newest fashion, and hair styles, to popularizing a new era in television history, relegated to a storyline that cast its legacy in violence, sex, & drugs. Antithetical to Mr Cornelius vision, quote "I want black folks to be seen the way black folks should beVery disappointing, to see Soul Train, its positive impact on Urban culture, from teaching America to dance, to perpetuating the newest fashion, and hair styles, to popularizing a new era in television history, relegated to a storyline that cast its legacy in violence, sex, & drugs. Antithetical to Mr Cornelius vision, quote "I want black folks to be seen the way black folks should be seen, strong, powerful, and beautiful". I find it very degrading to the uplift, preservation and positive impact of AA culture. In the midst of positive story lines like Black Panther, why are we still writing New Jack City and Boyz In The Hood for every other story line?… Expand
  4. kirkeekirk
    Apr 10, 2019
    0
    I loved the show and hope there is a season 2. There is still much I don't know about the makings of Soul Train! All I know is that I watched Soul Train after my Saturday morning cartoons. Moms always hit that station in the afternoons on Saturdays!

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
70

Generally favorable reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: Troy Patterson
    Feb 5, 2019
    60
    It renders Don Cornelius (Sinqua Walls), the creator and host of “the hippest trip in America,” as an archetypal entrepreneur, and pushes the existential overtones of his striving to the front of the mix. ... The agonies of the secondary characters--the aspiring dancers and anguished assistants and shady scenesters--range from social melodrama to crime melodrama, from buppie-career-angst melodrama to escape-from-South Central melodrama.
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  2. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Robert Lloyd
    Feb 5, 2019
    70
    Corny in its broad strokes, with narrative twists that will shock no viewer familiar with television, it is often appealing in its particulars; the dialogue has a natural, twisty flow when it's not bent under the weight of exposition or stretching too far toward profundity.
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  3. Uncle Barky
    Reviewed by: Ed Bark
    Feb 5, 2019
    67
    The scenes from the set of Soul Train are well-captured and choreographed. But BET’s still limited production budgets are reflected in recurrent Vietnam War sequences involving the Clark kids’ father. They’re phony-looking to say the least, and really not needed at all. Walls, formerly of Starz’s Power series, is effective as Cornelius, although not to the point of blowing anyone away.
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