Ryan Murphy’s latest series has broken streaming records for FX and become the network’s most-watched limited series ever on Disney+ and Hulu.
Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette, which premiered its first three episodes on 12 February on Hulu and Disney+, follows the whirlwind romance and high-profile relationship between the attorney and his publicist wife before their tragic deaths in 1999.
It features Paul Anthony Kelly as JFK Jr, Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette, Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy, and Naomi Watts as former first lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis.
According to internal viewership data from Disney, Love Story has racked up more than 25 million hours on the first five episodes alone.
A Deadline report stated that viewership has gone up with every weekly episode drop, with the most recent and fifth episode of the series seeing 51 per cent more viewers than the premiere.
The limited series is the latest controversial project from Murphy, who has faced accusations in the past of glamorising serial killers and profiting off tragedy, in his shows about serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer and Monster: The Erik and Lyle Menendez Story.
The couple famously pleaded for privacy from the press throughout their highly publicised relationship before their untimely deaths in a 1999 plane crash.
The series initially got pushback when audiences saw the first looks at Pidgeon and Kelly in character last summer, with some criticising the costumes and the casting choices.
JFK Jr’s nephew, Jack Schlossberg, released a statement at the time slamming the anthology series, saying: “Lately, my news feed has been filled with pictures of my uncle, John F. Kennedy Jr., a great man. For those wondering whether his family was ever consulted, or has anything to do with the new show being made about him, the answer is no, and there’s really not much we can do.”
Schlossberg then added his concern that Murphy was “profiting off of it in a grotesque way.”
Murphy responded to Schlossberg’s comment at the time by saying, “I thought it was an odd choice to be mad about your relative that you really don’t remember.”
After the first set of episodes dropped, viewers were left divided over Naomi Watts’s portrayal of Onassis, with some critics describing her performance as “unsettling” and “truly terrible,” while others have described it as “another outstanding performance”.
New episodes of Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette will be released weekly on Thursdays through 26 March.
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