‘The Horror of Dolores Roach’ Is a Sweeney Todd Riff That Lacks Bite: TV Review
variety.comAlison Herman TV Critic Nonfiction podcasts have proven to be a rich vein for the IP-starved TV industry to mine, from true crime (“Dirty John”) to unauthorized biography (“The Dropout”).
Scripted podcasts have been a less fruitful source of material, with the first season of Sam Esmail’s star-studded “Homecoming” serving as the sole exception to date.
Even then, luring Julia Roberts to the small screen likely had more to do with the show’s success than the story’s medium of origin. “The Horror of Dolores Roach,” a new series produced by Blumhouse Television for Amazon Prime Video, seems unlikely to reverse this trend. “Dolores Roach” began as a one-woman play called “Empanada Loca,” but found a broader audience in audio form.
Released under the auspices of Gimlet Media, the studio recently absorbed into parent company Spotify after drastic cuts, the retitled podcast riffed on the urban legend of Sweeney Todd, the mythical barber made famous by Stephen Sondheim. (Disclosure: I previously worked at Gimlet’s sister studio The Ringer, also owned by Spotify.) “Dolores Roach” changed the antihero’s name, gender and nationality — but kept the cannibalism and twisted love story that still define the character.
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