The First Lady is a fascinating series that does a great job at boiling down the important parts of three influential First Ladies and reintroducing them into the national dialogue (or, in the case of Michelle Obama, reminding us why we love her) — but I wanted more from each story overall. The first season of this purported anthology series manages to be perfectly emblematic of the saying that goes, “Always leave them wanting more.”

Perhaps it’s because Betty Ford’s story is the least known among the three that her scenes are the most compelling. ... Obvious dental prosthetics and an unfortunately mannered turn by Anderson — though less strained than her effortful pantomime of Margaret Thatcher on “The Crown” — distract from a rewriting of Eleanor Roosevelt that’s fairly bold, at least for a mainstream TV series. ... Michelle Obama’s time in the White House simply needs more time for it to be satisfyingly narrativized; she has decades yet to finish her story.

The First Lady seeks to do little but superficially celebrate its subjects. Consequently—and ironically—it undermines each woman’s individuality, muddying the role it set out to clarify and repeating the history it’s trying to correct.

“The First Lady” fails because it’s telling us stories that we already know in a fairly surface-level fashion. While it’s certainly commendable that the show shines its light on the forgotten struggles of these three notable women, it’s almost a shame that the show chose to highlight first ladies whose stories have already been so vigorously told.

It’s too content to tell us mostly what we already know about three of the most well-known first ladies in history—a better version would have tried to bring some less-recounted stories to life—even if the consistently strong performances keep it watchable.

Pfeiffer deserved better than for her performance to get chopped up into so many moving pieces, but it’s to her credit that she makes the most of what she gets. Otherwise, despite Laura Bush’s insistence that Michelle might find something in common with the women who came before her, “The First Lady” struggles to do the same for its three leads.

It is terrible. ... The First Lady will draw viewers in who want to see great actresses play great women, but unfortunately the show’s abysmal writing lets us all down. The scripts are honestly insulting to the real women The First Lady is about.