Mariah's World

Carey is unwilling to cede control of her carefully-wrought image to the show’s producers; as a result, she’s a spectral presence on her own show. (James Packer, her fiancé at the time of filming, is even more absent.) It’s startling to see Carey, usually volubly chatty, weighing her words so carefully in the confessional and draining them of their typical backspin of askew wit.

The real reason why “Mariah’s World” seems stale is that it comes off as a TV remake of “Madonna: Truth or Dare,” and Madge did it better in 1991.

Carey may not be acting in Mariah’s World, but she’s still putting on a show, and not a terribly interesting one at that.

There's entertainment value here for Carey fans, of course. But if you're not a fan, Mariah's World certainly isn't going to turn you into one.

With so much TV to watch right now, surely you can do better than this. The world is big, my friends, and there’s a lot more to explore in it than Mariah Carey doing her best attempt at a Keeping Up With the Kardashians knock-off.

There’s a fascinating sideshow here--Carey’s tough manager--otherwise this is a by-the-book celebrity reality series that just happens to star one of the world’s biggest celebrities.

Though it may seem counterintuitive, the docu-series does offer a candid view of the singing sensation. The tapes have presumably passed rigorous screening before making it onto the E! network, but there’s still a spontaneous quality to the proceedings.