(Note: THR published this piece days before Meghan and Netflix delayed the release of With Love, Meghan.)
The Hollywood Reporter has had their knives out for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for a while. I still don’t know why they have such a hate-on for Harry & Meghan, but THR’s writers have been sniping about them for the past two years. The Sussexes were included in THR’s winners & losers list in 2023 (they were declared “losers” for having a successful show & podcast in 2022, bizarrely). Then came the really odd drama last September, when out of nowhere, THR claimed that Meghan was terrorizing her Archewell staffers and reducing grown men to tears. That piece prompted a rare reaction from Meghan and her people – Us Weekly got Archewell staffers on the record about what she’s really like as a boss (apparently, she’s lovely). Well, months later, THR still has an ax to grind. Their latest story: “Is Meghan Markle’s New Cooking Show Her Last Chance at Netflix?”
To paraphrase Winston Churchill, never in the history of streaming has so much been paid to so few for so little. But on Jan. 15, with the debut of the much anticipated With Love, Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will have perhaps one last chance to prove they’re really worth the $100 million Netflix ponied up in that 2020 five-year deal to produce and appear in shows and movies.
So far, the couple’s output has been less than majestic. Yes, their initial 2022 domestic life docuseries, Harry & Meghan, was a hit, even if critics roasted it back at home (“So sickening I almost brought up my breakfast,” The Guardian sneered). But everything the Duke and Duchess have churned out since — their social justice series, Live to Lead; Harry’s pet project on the wounded-warrior games, Heart of Invictus, and his other pet project, Polo, about the aristocracy’s pickleball — were royal flops. One of Meghan’s projects, the children’s series Pearl, was canceled before production began.
Still, sources inside the streamer insist there’s optimism over Meghan’s new show, a Sue Ann Nivens-like series in which the happy homemaker putters around the house doling out cooking and gardening tips. For Harry and Meghan, the stakes couldn’t be higher; their Netflix contract is almost up, and it’s hard to imagine a renewal if With Love, Meghan doesn’t deliver. At least one enthusiastic Netflix insider, though, continues to curtsy for the couple. “There will be future opportunities,” she insists. “This isn’t the end. This is just the beginning.” — Emily Smith
While I know this is not the worst part, I cannot let this lie stand: “never in the history of streaming has so much been paid to so few for so little.” False. Phoebe Waller Bridge’s Amazon deal is practically the stuff of urban legend in Hollywood – Amazon locked Waller Bridge into a three year deal for $60 million and she produced nothing, nada, zilch for them. Then Amazon renewed her deal!! So don’t come at me with “but what have the Sussexes dooooone??” Their 2022 docuseries was one of Netflix’s most-watched series of that year. Heart of Invictus and Polo were good docuseries and more people would have watched them if the Sussexes actually promoted their projects – that’s their mistake, more than anything else, their failure to promote. And if With Love, Meghan gets even solid numbers, I’m sure Netflix will be pleased. Obviously, it appears like Netflix is quite invested in Meghan and people have been really looking forward to this show.
Photos courtesy of Netflix.
