Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Superstar: Whitney Houston’ On ABC, Part Of A New Docuseries That Explores Superstars’ Lives And Deaths

Superstar: Whitney Houston is the first episode of ABC News’ new Superstar docuseries, that takes a look at the lives and deaths of megastars from around the entertainment world. Kobe Bryant, Robin Williams, Richard Pryor and others will be profiled in these one-hour (42 minutes without commercials) mini-documentaries, which will feature insights from friends and family and supposedly behind-the-scenes footage that’s rarely been seen.

SUPERSTAR: WHITNEY HOUSTON: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Archival footage of a concert; Whitney Houston is introduced as one of the greatest singers of all time.

The Gist: The Houston episode combines archival interviews with the late singer, who died of an overdose in 2012 at 48, with new interviews with friends in the business like Brandy Norwood, Bebe Winans, Chaka Kahn, Darlene Love and others. The documentary tracks Houston’s life growing up in Newark and East Orange, NJ, surrounded my music loyalty, thanks to the friendships her mother Cissy had in the business.

It then talks about her desire to sing for a living and her big break when Clive Davis signed her to Arista Records, and the amazing success of her first solo album. Then the talk of the pressures of fame start, from the constant touring to being booed at the Soul Train Awards to people wondering if her marriage to Bobby Brown started the downward spiral that led to her going to rehab and eventually the OD that killed her in the Beverly Hilton.

Brown is heard from during a 2016 interview he had with Robin Roberts, as well as a 2002 joint interview he and Whitney did with Diane Sawyer. But most of the interview footage of Whitney comes from one she did with Barbara Walters in 1993, where she talks about all of the “other stuff” that has come with stardom, why she and Bobby are so right for each other, and how her attitude had changed over the first decade of her career.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Superstar treats Houston’s life with reverence and has a less exploitative vibe than other network news documentaries we’ve seen in recent years. This is more Behind The Music than 20/20.

Our Take: We were a little disappointed when we realized that Superstar: Whitney Houston was only going to be one episode of an overall Superstar docuseries, rather than a docuseries in and of itself. Houston’s life and death is ripe for a three- or four-part series, examining her childhood in New Jersey, her rocket ride to megastardom, her marriage to Brown, and how she struggled to stay sober and keep her magnificent voice in shape in her final years. The episode did manage to touch on all of these issues, but not in any in depth way that would give audiences any new information on Houston.

That’s not to say that the doc doesn’t do a nice job of getting new insight from people who knew her, like the aforementioned singers and producers and songwriters who worked with her.

But the doc generated questions from us that begged for deeper explorations. Is Brown really to blame for her downfall and death or did the two of them feed off each other? After all, Houston was more of a tough Jersey girl than people realized, and it seemed that her match with Brown was deeper than what people saw in tabloids. How much pressure did Whitney feel from Cissy, famous family like Dionne Warwick, and others, and how did they help her navigate her skyrocketing fame? How did this all affect her daughter with Brown, Bobbi Kristina, who died at 23 in 2015, in a very similar manner that her mother did?

All of that would have made for a fascinating docuseries. And perhaps ABC or someone else may take the cue from this episode and make something more in depth. But, even if this first episode of Superstar doesn’t really cover new ground, the emotions from the interviewees and the footage that reminded us of how special of a talent Houston was is more than enough for now.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: As one of the interviewees, Savion Glover, tap dances, the different people interviewed talk about how Houston was only around for a short time but had a major impact. The final shot is of a young Houston belting out a song on The Merv Griffin Show.

Sleeper Star: Brandy gives the best interview of the episode, full of emotion and regret about how her mentor’s life ended. But when she also talks about the big note Whitney holds in “I Will Always Love You,” she says “Who sings like that?” This is Brandy, possessor of a fantastic voice herself, marveling at how brilliant of a singer Whitney was.

Most Pilot-y Line: We were a little taken aback with yet another appearance by Chris Connelly, whom ABC seems to drag out any time they do a documentary on anything pop culture-related; his interview responses sounded like they were being read from a teleprompter.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Superstar: Whitney Houston is a good overview of Houston’s life and death, with a lot of good interviews, but don’t expect to learn anything new from the episode.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

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