Leave it to Ryan Murphy to bring the legendary rivalry between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford to the small screen with tonight’s premiere of ‘Feud’. I’m all for a camp-fest, and recreating the shooting of ‘Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?’ is camp by definition. Even if it’s subtly sophisticated, Murphy can’t help but indulge in his trademark excesses. Susan Sarandon (Davis) and Jessica Lange (Crawford) bring their scene-gobbling prowess to their roles, yet I remain skeptical that this can be anything deeper than, say, the ‘Vogue’ video homage Murphy concocted for Glee’s Madonna’s episode. Perfectly rendered, perhaps, but lacking in depth or substance. If you have something to say, it better be better than, or at least equally profound as, the original. Not sure how one can out-camp ‘Baby Jane’ but if anyone can do it, it’s the team behind ‘Feud’. Either way, I’ll be watching, so they’ve already won.
