Book-to-big-screen adaptations have seen an increase in popularity over the past few years and are very hit-or-miss with fans. This March, Taylor Jenkins Reid’s New York Times bestselling book, Daisy Jones & The Six premiered as a limited series. The novel follows the 70s rock band, The Six, and their experiences in the music industry. The series premiered on March 3 on Amazon Prime Video.
As a big Taylor Jenkins Reid fan, I had high hopes for this limited series adaptation. Although there were some differences between the series and the book, I can confidently say I was far from disappointed with the results.
First and foremost, I need to mention the music that was created for the series. According to Yahoo!, all of the songs created for the series were written or co-written by some of the biggest names in the music industry. The album was produced and written by Blake Mills and artists such as Phoebe Bridgers, Marcus Mumford and Ali Tamposi also co-wrote songs. A total of 25 original songs were written for the show including 11 for the band’s famous album “Aurora.”
This album exceeded all of my expectations. While reading the book, Jenkins Reid included song titles and lyrics, but as a reader, it can be hard to imagine what a song sounds like based on words alone. The songs written for the show helped the band’s music become a reality for readers and the songs are just genuinely good.
The cast of a show is really what makes it or breaks it. The cast of Daisy Jones is an amazing embodiment of the characters. Riley Keough, Sam Claflin and Camila Morrone’s love triangle has both amazing chemistry and tension that can be cut with a knife. The cast portrayed their characters in a way that was so realistic one might believe that they were actually a band of 70s rock stars.
As much as I enjoyed the show, it wasn’t a perfect adaptation. For one, the producers of the series completely cut one of the characters, bassist Pete Loving, and changed the storyline of temporary band member, Chuck Williams.
Some of the differences are understandable though, such as the timeline. In the show, the interviews occur only 20 years after the band’s breakup, instead of about 40 years as it is in the book. This was necessary because they wanted to keep the same actors for the interviews, but their ages had to look believable. Even with special effects makeup, it would be very difficult to make them all look 40 years older.
There are many small differences in the show as well, but I think the producers just wanted to keep things more interesting for new viewers. For example, even though Daisy and Billy had both amazing chemistry and palpable tension, they never did anything about it in the book. However, in the show, Billy kisses Daisy in the parking lot of their recording studio. Even though this didn’t happen in the book, it did make for an interesting plot twist that kept viewers wondering what was going to happen next. Was Billy going to leave Camila for Daisy or not?
All in all, I was very impressed with how the show came out. Keough and Claflin were the perfect choices for Billy and Daisy and their strong singing voices made it even better. The music production for the show was of amazing quality and finally, songs were produced for a once imaginary album that is now a reality for fans. I liked the first season and would be curious to see what they would do for a second season that many fans seem to desire.