Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam

It’s hard not to compare Dirty Pop with Quiet on the Set, a documentary that also recently exposed the dirty machinations that went into creating teen stars. But where Quiet on the Set was compelling and revelatory, Dirty Pop is just frustrating. It stretches its story so that you’re not really sure, up until the final half of the pilot, what the documentary is trying to point fingers at. And it takes until the last episode to truly care about the real victims of Pearlman’s scams. The interviews don’t feel fresh, either, and you get the sense that a lot of what’s said can simply be read online. But maybe the most disappointing part of the documentary is that it uses AI to bring Pearlman, who passed in 2016, to life. It’s exploitative and unnecessary, especially since the documentary doesn’t even have anything new to say.

Backstreet Boys. NSYNC. Lou Pearlman created the biggest boy bands of the '90s — and one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history.