Daisy Jones and The Six: Stream or Skip?

One of my favorite books I've read in the past few years was Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. It's told in an interview format- which I really liked and it gives a look at a band that was popular in the 70's and a female singer that joined the band and took them to stardom. There was a lot of conflict in the book, struggles with drug and alcohol abuse, and also the hard task of trying to maintain a normal family life while also being in the hottest band in the world. Plus a lot of not getting along with your fellow band mates... it was a lot these people had to overcome and in the end- they became extremely popular- and there was even some heart and genuine love with the characters that made the story so sweet and just... made a lot of the characters almost larger than life good.

This Amazon Prime adaptation- while brilliantly cast strips away a lot of the heart that I really loved in the book. The end still had that sort of hopeful feeling you got from the book... but it didn't feel earned. A lot of the characters were very mean spirited in the show and that just wasn't the case in the book. Particularly with Camilla- Billy's wife. Her whole thing in the book was that she cared so much about Billy and his success and she didn't want to lose him- and she genuinely wanted the best for him. And that kindness even extends to other people in the band. In the show... she really doesn't care the same way she does in the book. She helps Billy- but she doesn't love him in the same way I don't think. She kind of uses someone in the band, she doesn't help Daisy the way she does in the book... and she seems a little bit more selfish... which just isn't the Camilla from the book. There's a lot of lines that weren't used in the show that were some of the best in the book... it just seems like they didn't really make the best changes to her character.

A lot of the cuts that were made from the book also felt very lazy. There were actually 6 people in the Six in the book... in this one there's only 5 people- Eddie didn't have a brother... so it kind of doesn't make sense that he stays in the band when he's so unhappy and he hates Billy so much. I guess it's because he's in love with Camilla but... they really don't have chemistry and they aren't on screen together that often so it's not great.

Daisy Jones also is not the main character of this show sadly. Because it's an ensemble cast- I feel like we missed out on a lot of Daisy Jones that we had in the book. In the book she had a solo album before she joined The Six- in this she doesn't. All the moments we got with her were great- but I just wish there was more.

Daisy and Billy also have more of a romance on the show than in the book... and part of what I liked about the book was that Daisy and Billy never kissed and Billy was so committed to Camilla because he kept thinking about how long it took for him to hold Julia. That makes the ending more powerful in the book... and it just felt a bit lackluster in the show by comparison. I guess it makes sense that tv viewers might want more from Daisy and Billy whereas book readers might prefer the slow burn- they don't really end up together romance... I do actually think both versions kind of work- but again because Billy's love for his daughter Julia is such a good part of the ending of the book... it might have been stronger if they kept it the same as the book.

The book had a lot of very memorable moments and the show kind of kept them all for the very end of the show. I think that was a weird choice because it just seemed very rushed and I wished they had gotten the Karen and Graham storyline a little further seperatee from the very end of the show and the breakup of the band. Teddy's death was such an important part of the book and such a footnote of the show that it seemed kind of pointless to even include it in my opinion. It was just such an odd choice to have everything rushed at the very end and so many changes.

All that being said- I think the cast did a great job- it was pretty entertaining for the most part although... there were some moments where I just felt like I had to finish it not because I wanted to finish it. It's not bad by any means and I don't think I'd say Skip It entirely... but if you've read the book... maybe lower your expectations a little. It's not a perfect adaptation- but it's definitely not bad and not the worst.

Bye!

-Shann