Sun Records

Some viewers—particularly Presley fans, who study their idol's history with the fervid devotion of Biblical scholars—will likely be at least a bit put off by Sun Records' tangential detours from reality. But most will be able to put it aside, because Sun Records is just too damn much fun to watch to get hung up in the details. The stories are magnetic, and so are the performances.

It isn’t afraid to spend time in critical and somewhat obscure areas. It also enlivens the drama with sharply drawn non-musical characters.

Sure, it’s understandable that CMT wants to make the mini series interesting to non-music fans, but a little more music is what would take Sun Records from good to great.

Entertaining. ... While the musical numbers are all beautifully realized--everything seems to be performed live--the miniseries is more drama than musical; and as a drama it’s more a sampler of Early Scenes from Great Lives than a deep or driven narrative.

When it comes to Sun Records, the hook is there, but it can’t sustain the beat.

Repetitious (okay, we get it: Sam Phillips had an unhappy marriage and made out with Marion as frequently as possible) and clumsy in its lurch from one disparate subplot to another, Sun Records is such a slow burn, it’s kind of a fizzle.

The show is far more invested in being a lightweight, soapy set of biopics--there’s a lot of meet-cutes in charmingly ‘50s spots, like the roller rink or the high school gym--that is more about playacting with a sanitized version of the ‘50s than it is about the history of this moment. It doesn’t help that Sun Records is devoid of plot.