Stu's Show Review - BattleRoyalWithCheese

"It’s clear that nobody should get in between him and the love of his life"

Stu’s Show: Review

Stuart Shostak is probably the biggest Lucille Ball fan you’re ever likely to meet – besides his wife that is. As a young man he was obsessed with the golden age of American television and would spend hours going through clips that he would painstakingly put together, in order to create a documentary about his favourite era.

Then one day whilst working on Life with Lucy, Stu plucked up the courage to give Lucille Ball his work and show her what he had done, and from that moment on Lucille Ball changed his life forever. Now working to keep her work and others alive including people such as Dick van Dyke, Ed Asner and Betty White, Stu decided to start his own internet television show. A show where he interviewed all the brightest and the best of television.

Stu’s Show is a documentary all about the life and career of Stu Shostak which picks up right where he met Lucille Ball and goes even further than he’d ever imagine. Starting out as a friend of Ball’s, Stu would make her life’s work his own and carry on her legacy long after her death which he still does today. However, for those who may be unfamiliar with Shostak and his work, they may start to wonder if he’s just a loving fan or an obsessive opportunist.

After all, once Lucille Ball died then Stu’s life and career with her could have been over if he hadn’t started conventions in her name and married the biggest fan on the circuit. However, there is another side to Stu’s story and it’s one that’s very personal. Because of course this is Stu’s Show and this is his life. So, the documentary then turns to the relationship he has with his then girlfriend and the issues she had whilst recovering from a coma.

What started out as a light hearted brush with fame becomes a damning indictment of the American medical system. With stories about inadequate care and the rising costs of insurance which meant that his love’s life hung in the balance, it’s enough to make anybody’s blood boil.

That’s also where it shows Stu Shostak at his most passionate. Because as the documentary shows Stu retelling those stories, it’s clear that nobody should get in between him and the love of his life.

You could either see Stu Shostak as a man obsessed with celebrity so much that he wanted to be one, or you could see a man whose life led him to new and wonderful places. However, nobody can deny that it’s Stu’s Show and he told it in his own way.