Apple TV+ documentary series Dear... featuring Oprah, Lin-Manuel Miranda & more Inspires In Dark Times
While Apple (so far) lacks a deluge of offerings on Apple TV+, they more than make up for it in quality. From the incredible M. Night Shyamalan series Servant to the critically beloved The Morning Show, Apple TV+ puts out nothing but cream of the crop content. Their new documentary series Dear... is no exception.
Dear... is a 10 episode series that profiles "game changing icons" through letters written to them by people whose lives have been impacted by their work. Executive Produced by Emmy and Peabody Award winner R.J. Cutler (Nashville, upcoming Billie Eilish documentary), the series spawned from the popular "Dear Apple" marketing campaign, which highlighted letters from Apple Watch users documenting how Apple Watch saved their lives in various ways. Dear... takes that idea and broadens it to show 10 of the biggest names in their field and a few of the people whose lives were changed because of them.
The 10 icons profiled are Spike Lee, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Stevie Wonder, Oprah Winfrey, Big Bird, Aly Raisman, Yara Shahidi, Gloria Steinem, Jane Goodall and Misty Copeland. The first episode, Spike Lee, finds Lee telling a bit of his story in his own words. From growing up with his Mother who loved film to his Father who hated the way People of Color were portrayed in them, Lee took a bit from both and forged his path to the trailblazer we know today.
Through watching them read their letters, we see multiple people tell their story of how Lee changed the course of their lives. One person not only went to a HBCU after seeing Lee's 1988 HBCU film School Daze, but went on to become the President of a college. In an episode on Lin-Manuel Miranda, an undocumented girl goes on to become an American citizen and graduate college after being inspired by Hamilton. Multiple letters (& stories) are featured throughout each episode of Dear... bouncing back between the letter writer and the letter reader.
Beautifully shot and masterfully executed, Dear... is ultimately a story about how our lives can change the lives of others. Lin-Manuel Miranda may have said it best in his episode, "Every time you make something, you're throwing rocks in a pond and you have no idea the ripples that are going to come back to you.". This quote truly sums up both Dear... and our own lives.
All 10 episodes of Dear... are available to stream now on Apple TV+.
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