Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette

Believe me when I say that Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr & Carolyn Bessette is the first truly captivating new show of 2026 and an instant addition to the list of shows you’ll want to watch and rewatch… just have a box of tissues at the ready.

The series is a respectful, sincere and humanized portrayal of a couple who were loved and mourned by the whole of America.

With only a few dips into crass sensationalism, this love story starring Paul Anthony Kelly and a standout star-is-born Sarah Pidgeon lets us share in John and Carolyn’s one brief shining moment and ache for what might have been.

Sometimes veers toward the overstated and melodramatic. .... “Love Story” is best at showing how damaging and merciless the scrutiny can get for the rich and famous and those thrown into it all without a life vest.

“Love Story” starts off as a glamorous, tantalizing modern fairy tale before devolving into a rather heavy-handed analysis of familial expectation and the perils of fame.

“Love Story” can’t capture John and Carolyn’s relationship with any flesh-and-blood humanity. It worships at the altar of reenactment, so when it’s time to depict the happenings that haven’t been splashed across the New York Post, the dolls don’t know what to do. Their performers don’t exactly liven things up.

If only the show was juicy enough to match the uproar. Love Story, all but the finale of which was provided to critics, turns out to be nothing more than an exquisite diorama: gorgeous to look at and not much more. Worse, it’s fundamentally inert.