I think the idea for this, as indicated above, was intriguing but it was the execution (and assumptions) that I found disappointing, then annoying and finally, rather ridiculous. In this world, gay actors did not need to remain in the closet, an African American actress could take on a serious dramatic role and not be confined to being a servant or a cook, a gay African-American writer could have his dream script accepted and a would-be star could be openly gay and living with his African-American boyfriend.
The starting point were the memoirs of Scotty Bowers whose gas station supplied young men and women to the stars of Hollywood in a discreet way that allowed the closted and the unfaithful to do what they wanted and needed to do. Here the character was only based on him (Ernie West) and the rest of the cast were either actual denizens (Rock Hudson, super-agent Henry Willson, Tallulah Bankhead, Noel Coward, Vivein Leigh, Hattie McDaniels, Anna May Wong) or fictional creations - the screen writer Archie Coleman, wannabe star Jack Castello, Raymond Ainsley, half-Filipino aspiring director, Camille Washington, young Afircan-American actress. The series postulated a Hollywood in the late 40’s where all these ‘outsider’ could be themselves and be very succesful.
It’s very much a self-loving, navel-gazing view of Hollywood, which asserts that films can change the world and attitudes - which I feel they cannot - they may occasionally push boundaries but very often the only follow on societal changes rather than instigate them.
Characters make long speeches at each other rather than having thoughtful dialogue and assertions take the place of thought. Most if not all liberal cliches are lovingly explored, often to the accompaniment of a thumpingly obvious contemporary muscal soundtrack. Bu the time of the final episode, the Oscars ceremony, the dramatic situations had become almost ludicrous.
In spite of its great self-indulgence and these strictures, I did much enjoy this. Production values were wonderful and it did convey, at least visually, the sense of those times. And, unsurprisingly, the gay sexual scenes were far more extended and explicit than the hetero ones. Who’da thought that in a Ryan Murphy production!