Secrets of Playboy would've been a more effective Hugh Hefner takedown if it wasn't less than the sum of its parts

Los Angeles Times

The 10-part A&E docuseries on Hefner's Playboy empire "could have lived up to its title as an eye-opening exposé of previously uncharted terrain if it didn’t save its most damning revelations about the controlling, sadistic, power-hungry Hefner for the last episode," says Lorraine Ali. "Prominent docuseries using later or additional episodes to grapple with the fallout from new developments is now standard practice (See: Surviving R. Kelly: The Reckoning, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, but burying the lead as Secrets of Playboy does is a disservice to those who came forward to claim that they were trafficked by the 'evil' empire and raped by the 'creep' in charge." Ali adds: "The problem is that by mixing together allegations large and small, frightening and simply strange, public and previously unknown, Secrets of Playboy reveals less than the sum of its parts. It may be worth viewing as a time capsule of a tarnished brand, the depravity of the porn business and the evolution of the culture. But it’s a far cry from a devastating — or zeitgeist-shaking — case against Playboy’s suave figurehead. The real story of Hugh Hefner is still to be told."