NPR

Lifetime and A&E's Janet Jackson docuseries promises more than it delivers

The famously private music legend has the opportunity to open up in a two-part docuseries. But the show leaves many stories left untold.
Janet Jackson speaks in her new docuseries, Janet Jackson.

The promise of A&E and Lifetime's four-part docuseries on pop icon Janet Jackson, titled simply, – with a period — is obvious.Executive produced by Miss Jackson and her brother Randy — with never before seen home movie footage and interviews with big stars like Tyler Perry, Samuel L. Jackson and Missy Elliot — the project offers a close-up look at a famously private music legend told from her perspective.But, after watching two of the four hours A&E and Lifetime will air over two days, I thought this artist — who has spent her entire career protecting her public image and private moments — wasn't really prepared to allow a fully incisive documentary about her own life.

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