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The new Netflix true crime docuseriesDirty Pop: The Boy Band Scamchronicles the filthy antics of Lou Pearlman, the man behind the creation of the 90s boy band craze. Pearlman was responsible for some of the decade’s biggest acts, including the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and O-Town, which produced stars such as Justin Timberlake,Britney Spears, and Aaron Carter.
InDirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam, one of the now-adult boy band members credits Pearlman for creating a cultural touchstone in music history. However, this is not why many feel he should charged with crimes against humanity. (Even though we all agree, this should be added to the list.) Pearlman was behind the worst Ponzi scheme in American history.
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Netflix’sDirty Pop: The Boy Band ScamReview and Synopsis
Netflix’sDirty Pop: The Boy BandScam chronicles the incredible rise and lightning-fast fall of the godfather of boy bands. As the story goes, Lou Pearlman turned a blimp advertising business’s profits into aboy bandempire. As the story unfolds, director David Terry Fine reveals the eye-opening ways Pearlman imploded businesses to move on to the next scam.
This puts a whole new spin on the term “catch me if you can.” Pearlman is the first cousin of Art Garfunkel, a world-class artist with a reputation for turning remarkable profits for his investors. Remarkably, without getting into details that will spoil the true crime experience, it is estimated that he stole over 500 million dollars from his investors, and only 10 million have been recovered since.
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Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam’sSubject’s Lack of Humanity
Netflix’sDirty Pop: The Boy Band Scamis a three-episode series that can be riveting or even shocking. The filmmakers do a strategic and impressive job revealing how the subject’s business set up the following scheme, including making multiple boy bands and lying about competition being good business.
However, you may be struck by the utter lack of humanity of not just Pearlman, who died in 2016, but the creators capture the lack of humanity of the majority of the victims from the subjects. Many look back at Pearlman fondly if a strange tweet fromJustin Timberlakeappears, where most absolve Pearlman of his crimes.
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Is Netflix’sDirty Pop: The Boy Band ScamWorth Watching?
That’s not to say Netflix’sDirty Pop: The Boy Band Scamis not worth watching. The series is very engaging, surprising, and suspenseful. However, many who worked for Pearlman—former friends, secretaries, and nurses—talk about Pearlman with some sense of reverence. Yet they all defend themselves as if they had nothing to do with it, even if they suspected something.
One even says Pearlman didn’t hurt anyone, then laughs about how the common working man and woman were defrauded. (None of them look like they are hurting for money, either.) The only person who seems to have any guilt about being unwittingly involved in a scam that hurt so many is Natural’s Michael Johnson, and upset about it.
The series is a classic Netflix offering for anyone who enjoys the genre. However, for the majority, the series seems to highlight people defending Pearlman and justifying his actions. Maybe that’s an honest opinion from the people answering questions, but it’s the filmmaker’s job to note the difference, which they fail to do here most of the time.
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The whole series was screened for review. You can stream the true-crime docuseries Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam on Netflix on July 24.
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M.N. Miller
Film & Television Critic
Articles Published :336
M.N. Miller is a film and television critic and a proud member of the Las Vegas Film Critic Society, Critics Choice Association, and a 🍅 Rotten Tomatoes/Tomato meter approved. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Mansfield University and a Master’s from Chamberlain University. However, he still puts on his pants one leg at a time, and that’s when he usually stumbles over. When not writing about film or television, he patiently waits for the next Pearl Jam album and chooses to pass the time by scratching his wife’s back on Sunday afternoons while she watches endless reruns of California Dreams. M.N. Miller was proclaimed the smartest reviewer alive by actor Jason Isaacs but chose to ignore his obvious sarcasm. You can also find his work on Hidden Remote, InSession Film, Ready Steady Cut, Geek Vibes Nation, and Nerd Alert.
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