McMillions

This six-part series looks at the McDonald’s Monopoloy game scandal that broke in 2001.

I had no memory of this scandal, but most people don’t because it first became public in August, 2001. A few weeks later everything changed and the frivolity of a fast food game scandal wasn’t important anymore. But the story is quite compelling and this series is well made.

I do have two quibbles, though. First, it didn’t need to be six episodes. It probably could have been four, maybe even three. Second, because this ran as a weekly series on HBO, each episode concludes with a bit of a cliffhanger. Sometimes these were warranted, but sometimes they weren’t. It’s problematic when there’s a big moment at the conclusion of an episode that turns out not to have been all that important.