Prince Harry’s new documentary, Polo, is “proof that money can’t buy good content,” presenting a “pompous portrayal” of the sport, a PR executive has told Newsweek.
The Duke of Sussex’s latest contribution to Netflix triggered a volley of negative reviews last week and has now been given an audience score on Rotten Tomatoes of 24 percent. Its critics’ score on the site is yet to update.
The couple’s first show on the platform was a six-part biopic, Harry & Meghan, charting their exit from royal life. That flew to the top of the Netflix rankings, but also earned the couple significant criticism.
They followed up with two further shows, Live to Lead and Heart of Invictus, which had a soft landing, earning far less opprobrium, but attracting fewer viewers.
Polo therefore comes at a time when Hollywood is still waiting for Meghan Markle and Prince Harry to prove their worth as TV producers outside their own royal story.
Eric Schiffer, chair of Reputation Management Consultants, told Newsweek that Polo depicted “tone deaf, out of touch, self absorbed elites.”
“It’s a pompous portrayal of privilege posing as a documentary,” he said. “It feels fake. You could almost see an ad, ‘polo the new cure for insomnia, brought to you by royalty.’
“They’ve made it the new frontier of unrelatability. This ensures polo becomes even less popular for regular people. It just reeks of entitled and is disconnected, unrelatable.
“It leaves viewers cold. I watched it. It feels like they Googled how to bore the hell out of Netflix subscribers.”
Reviewers have been equally tough on the series, though some did note genuine interest in the relationship between a father and son who play for rival teams as well as a serious injury during one of the matches.
Miloš Balać, the showrunner, was also producer of Welcome to Wrexham, which folowed Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney as they bought a Welsh soccer club.
He recently defended the show to Variety, telling the magazine: “The goal was always to make this feel accessible, make this feel like a world that, even if you don’t know anything about polo, the whole idea is to break down this stereotype that it’s for exclusively the rich and famous and extremely beautiful, wealthy, opera society.
“I think we also can’t deny that obviously there are reasons why it’s associated with that—it is an expensive sport in so many ways—but living there in Florida and witnessing it, I can honestly say that it is much more accessible.”
Schiffer, though, said he felt the series did not achieve its goals: “It’s proof that money can’t buy good content. It had all the thrill of a broken Roomba circling a rug.
“It ensures polo becomes even less popular and yet it’s a great sport but it ensures people are not going to relate to it.
“Unfortunately this great sport, through this vehicle, does not really get a chance to come alive and show its humanity.
“It’s an example of half baked quality content that is consistent with their [Harry and Meghan’s] brand and they would do themselves a great service in doing less and focusing on higher quality.”
With Polo out, the couple will now be looking ahead to the full launch of Meghan’s lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard, and she also has a lifestyle show coming to Netflix.
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek‘s The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about Charles and Queen Camilla, William and Kate, Meghan Markle and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you.
The post Prince Harry’s Polo Show Was ‘Pompous Portrayal of Privilege’ appeared first on Newsweek.
