ou might think you know what to expect from a documentary series called , but you are almost certainly wrong. From and the crossword chronicle to and the live action role-playing doc , the Y2K era set the template for offbeat, warmhearted nonfiction films about nerdy subcultures. , HBO’s perceptive and surprisingly thrilling three-part portrait of the Texas Renaissance Festival as it approaches its 50th anniversary, is not that kind of story.
It’s , but with corsets and chainmail. The series, which aired its first episode on Sunday and will run the remaining two back-to-back on June 9, finds its eccentric in TRF founder George Coulam. Known to his army of employees as King George, this frustrated artist idealizes Renaissance society for the way it venerated creative genius.
(Not that TRF accurately depicts the era. A quintessential American ren fair, it exuberantly mashes up medieval Europe, Victorian England, the Scottish Highlands, the Wild West, and various other times and places, with anachronisms like steampunk welcome.) He also can’t stand feeling beholden to anyone, so he incorporated his own town, securing freedom from what he calls “the dictatorship of counties and states.
” For decades, George has been the sovereign of all he surveys. But now he’s looking to pass the crown; at 86, he plans to “do art and chase ladies” for the nine more years of life he’s manifesting for himself. His heir apparent is Jeff Baldwin, a 43-year TRF veteran who has worked.