Surviving R. Kelly: Season 1

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 10 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Ratings

See All

6.6

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

6.6	Your Score
6.6	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 23 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Surviving R. Kelly: The Survivors Share

Now Playing: Surviving R. Kelly: The Survivors Share

Season Details & Credits

Lifetime | Season Premiere Date: January 3, 2019

Summary: The six-part documentary series features interviews with the young women who allege to have suffered sexual, mental, and physical abuse from the R&B singer as well as music industry professionals, journalists, former employees and family members of Kelly.

Genre(s): Talk & Interview, Documentary

Watch Now

Stream On

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Season 1 Episodes

tbd
S1:E4. The People vs. R. Kelly
Air Date: January 4, 2019
tbd
S1:E2. Hiding in Plain Sight
Air Date: January 3, 2019

See all Seasons and Episodes

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

Willa Paskin

Jan 8, 2019

An extremely effective piece of entertainment journalism--though it may be more accurate to think of it as an extremely effective piece of activist entertainment journalism. The series is comprehensively damning and powerfully disturbing--while also being riveting. Read full review

Hannah Giorgis

Jan 7, 2019

It is a staggering, stomach-churning narrative work--especially for those who have experienced similar traumas. Read full review

Caroline Framke

Jan 3, 2019

Aside from some dramatic musical stings and fades to black, the docuseries mostly eschews salacious framing in favor of measured, thorough documentation and extensive interviews with people from every stage of Kelly’s life. ... Surviving R. Kelly isn’t an easy watch; I dreaded pressing play. But once I started, it was impossible to look away--which is as it should be. It’s been too easy for too many to avert their eyes when the truth was staring back all along. Read full review

Lorraine Ali

Jan 7, 2019

Smart, moving and deeply researched. Read full review

Selena Fragassi

Jan 3, 2019

By the end of the series, as the producers follow families desperate to loosen their daughters from Kelly’s grip, it’s impossible to come to terms with the fact that this is not an overly dramatized saga you’d normally find on Lifetime, but the very real story of a person the subjects say is a “predator.” Read full review

IndieWire Liz Shannon Miller

Jan 4, 2019

[Executive producer dream] hampton keeps things simple, to the point of starkness, but that matter-of-fact approach makes “Surviving R. Kelly” all the more heartbreaking. The series relies largely on talking-head interviews, with many participants shot against a plain black background. It’s not the most innovative format, but it ensures we never lose focus on what’s being said. ... It is brutal viewing. But it’s so good to know it exists. Read full review

Angelica Jade Bastien

Jan 4, 2019

The women’s testimonies are indeed moving and necessary, and we should honor their perspectives. But watching those testimonies, I often felt like I was stepping into a private moment, as the women pore over the details of what they experienced, the majority of whom were very young teenagers at the time of their abuse. Aesthetically, the documentary trades in the coarse rhythms of a tabloid. Read full review

SEE ALL 10 REVIEWS

User Score

Write a Review

6.6

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

User Reviews

realreviews123

Jan 10, 2019

- great stories from various woman and opinions of what was going on
- felt honest and real
- touching sad moments
- makes you mad, sad and ready to take on r. kelly

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

JPK

May 31, 2019

A Look Into A Shocking Truth
Surviving R Kelly reveals the shocking disturbing allegations against rapper R. Jelly in an emotionally powerful way.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Ike_Hayes

Jan 11, 2019

First and foremost: this is not a well-done documentary! This six part-series does not offer many revelations. People who observed the issues of R Kelly carefully, would already know most of the facts presented here. In essence: the guy has serious issues with his sexuality and personality &First and foremost: this is not a well-done documentary! This six part-series does not offer many revelations. People who observed the issues of R Kelly carefully, would already know most of the facts presented here. In essence: the guy has serious issues with his sexuality and personality & he likes to manipulate way too young girls into becoming his sex slaves. Let's not forget that this is the same guy who urinated on a 14 year old girl on video and despite it made a big comeback in the music business, after he paid off his victim to remain silent.

The series is a compilation of the various allegations levelled against Kelly and features many of the affected women, who are presented to the viewer in an overly dramatic way as "survivors", as if they were just freed from some Nazi death camp. While the whole narrative could be told in two hours, the makers decided to overstretch it into six one-hour parts. Hence, a lot of the footage is used repetitively. Constantly, the narrative is accentuated by overly dramatic background music and close ups of the victims faces, especially when they show emotional reactions. It doesn't help that they wear too much makeup, so that their faces look plasticly, motionless and mask-like. To be fair: many of his victims were under the age of consent and mentally immature, when Kelly manipulated them into becoming his mistresses. Most of them were basically naive, impressionable and overly enthusiastic teenage groupies of Kelly, who ended up being invited to the backstage by their idol, from where it often spiralled down into abusive relationships.

Maybe such a documentary is needed, in order to get a comprehensive picture of Kelly's transgressions, even though the information has been out in the public. At best, this documentary can spark a discussion about the powers we grant to famous and wealthy persons, whom we choose to put on our pedestrals. Surely, it doesn't help that R Kelly is functionally illiterate, so that he depends on his staff of yes-sayers, if he wants to know how he is publicly perceived. R Kelly is not the only influential person who was able to violate his victims due to his status. R Kelly's malignant traits were fuelled by the masses of people who praised and admired him irrespectively of his behavior and who refused to hold him accountable. America is literally an idol worshipping society and R Kelly has functioned as one of these idols.… Expand

3 of 5 users found this helpful32

Seasons & Episodes

83

Series Overview
Season 3

tbd
- Season 3 Overview
  Air Date: January 3, 2019
Season 2

tbd
- Season 2 Overview
  Air Date: January 2, 2020
Season 1

83
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: January 3, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E4. The People vs. R. Kelly
  Air Date: January 4, 2019
- tbd
  S1:E2. Hiding in Plain Sight
  Air Date: January 3, 2019