Obama’s Star Power Overshadows the Worthwhile Message of Docuseries ‘Working: What We Do All Day’: TV Review
variety.comAlison Herman TV Critic In 2020, the Academy Award for Documentary Feature went to “American Factory,” a portrait of a former General Motors plant taken over by Fuyao, a Chinese company that lowered safety standards and pay while fiercely resisting unionization.
The Oscar was a victory not just for filmmakers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, but for the company that acquired “American Factory” as its first major feature: Higher Ground, the production outfit of former President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama.
The new Netflix series “Working” — subtitle: “What We Do All Day” — is inspired by the Studs Terkel book of the same name, published in 1974.
But it’s also an informal sequel of sorts to “American Factory,” making many of the same points about the evolution of labor and the erosion of the middle class. “Working” also shares with its predecessor the same inherent tensions that stem directly from the Obamas’ sign-on.
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