Spector

:

Season 1
  • Network: SHOWTIME
  • Series Premiere Date: Nov 6, 2022
Metascore
74

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
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Critic Reviews

  1. Variety
    Reviewed by: Daniel D'Addario
    Nov 3, 2022
    90
    The documentary does an excellent job of telling the story of Spector’s music career — economically but with sufficient context, and soundtracking, to understand both the textured quality of his music and the hell his performers went through to achieve it. ... But it’s in the parallel telling of Spector’s and Clarkson’s stories that “Spector” distinguishes itself within its genre. ... “Spector” corrects the record, not by inflating Clarkson’s work, but by illustrating the person that she was, in intriguing and moving counterpoint to her convicted killer. ... Viewers will not come to love Phil Spector, and that’s not the goal here. But will certainly know him.
  2. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Richard Roeper
    Nov 4, 2022
    88
    Not every true-crime documentary series requires a four-episode arc to tell the story, but in the case of Showtime’s exceedingly well-crafted, meticulously researched and consistently compelling “Spector,” the overall running time is justified.
  3. The Times
    Reviewed by: Carol Midgley
    Jan 10, 2023
    80
    It is inevitable that his father's suicide when he was a child affected Spector. But it's good that this series isn't losing sight of the real victim here: Lana Clarkson.
  5. The Guardian
    Reviewed by: Leila Latif
    Jan 9, 2023
    80
    The trial is examined with a fine-tooth comb, as is its broader context. ... It speaks to what makes this documentary so compelling: a refusal to diminish Clarkson’s value, plus a determination to sit in grief with those who love and miss her, and to define her as more than just a stain on Spector’s legacy.
  6. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: David Browne
    Nov 4, 2022
    80
    The result is a gripping retelling of the story, with dollops of new perspectives and details along the way.
  7. CNN
    Reviewed by: Brian Lowry
    Nov 3, 2022
    80
    Phil Spector provides another cautionary tale about legacy – and what will lead one’s obituary – thanks to the four-part “Spector,” which seeks contextualize the producer’s musical genius in order to emphasize his erratic behavior and eventual murder conviction. Perhaps most notably, this Showtime docuseries gives near-equal time to victim Lana Clarkson, including how the media posthumously denigrated her.
  8. Decider
    Reviewed by: Johnny Loftus
    Nov 17, 2022
    60
    At times, Spector doesn’t seem to know how to align the man’s competing legacies. But it does its best to portray a fuller picture of the woman who paid the ultimate price for his behavior.
  9. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Daniel Fienberg
    Nov 6, 2022
    40
    The documentary is awash in questionable decisions that left me scratching my head instead of wanting to engage with any of the challenges in its portrait. There are weird aesthetic choices, limitations of structure and drawbacks to the self-selecting talking heads. Plus I’d argue that the choice of how to end the documentary undermines almost everything that came before.