This could have been much better, as others have noted it's not balanced, no one "friendly" with Hefner speaks in his defense (who would?).
As they call him especially in the final two episodes, Hefner may have been "the devil". But he got away with it only because he had a team of enablers, many of whom are his accusers in this series.
Their claims may all be true, but too many of them sat by and enjoyed their lifestyle selfishly and did little or nothing while this took place. Especially the two "girlfriends", Holly and Sondra, whose epiphanies corresponded with when Hefner dumped them.
Sondra especially, who claims to have watched a lot of abuse of women, still returned to the mansion for Easter parties because of the "family atmosphere".
She and the bunny mother, also traumatized by her LONG relationship with Hefner/Playboy, appear to have kept well-organized scrapbooks of the "good days".
This doesn't speak to the validity of their claims (there's enough terrible stories there even if you disregard a lot of it), but they are unreliable narrators.
I exclude Micky from this; at least she got away early on and spoke out publicly. The others seem to have waited until years (and lives) had passed.
The series should have been 3 or maybe 4 episodes, but salacious accusations sell. A ful episode devoted to Dorothy Stratton, whose story was told years ago in "Star 80", but now it's Hefner's fault. Stratton was doomed when she hooked up with that husband of hers. One of the later episodes features two twins, who came to Playboy AFTER being hired and publicized by a Hooters-type pub when they were only 15.
The "secrets" are a microcosm of the Hollywood casting couch and young women coming from what used to be called broken homes.
Hefner may have been the devil, and a lot of the women featured may have sold their soul to him and regretted it later.
But he never would have gotten away with it without these (and many other) enablers.
As they call him especially in the final two episodes, Hefner may have been "the devil". But he got away with it only because he had a team of enablers, many of whom are his accusers in this series.
Their claims may all be true, but too many of them sat by and enjoyed their lifestyle selfishly and did little or nothing while this took place. Especially the two "girlfriends", Holly and Sondra, whose epiphanies corresponded with when Hefner dumped them.
Sondra especially, who claims to have watched a lot of abuse of women, still returned to the mansion for Easter parties because of the "family atmosphere".
She and the bunny mother, also traumatized by her LONG relationship with Hefner/Playboy, appear to have kept well-organized scrapbooks of the "good days".
This doesn't speak to the validity of their claims (there's enough terrible stories there even if you disregard a lot of it), but they are unreliable narrators.
I exclude Micky from this; at least she got away early on and spoke out publicly. The others seem to have waited until years (and lives) had passed.
The series should have been 3 or maybe 4 episodes, but salacious accusations sell. A ful episode devoted to Dorothy Stratton, whose story was told years ago in "Star 80", but now it's Hefner's fault. Stratton was doomed when she hooked up with that husband of hers. One of the later episodes features two twins, who came to Playboy AFTER being hired and publicized by a Hooters-type pub when they were only 15.
The "secrets" are a microcosm of the Hollywood casting couch and young women coming from what used to be called broken homes.
Hefner may have been the devil, and a lot of the women featured may have sold their soul to him and regretted it later.
But he never would have gotten away with it without these (and many other) enablers.