Daisy Jones & the Six Star Rating

Evelina Erickson, Editor-In-Chief|March 24, 2023

The limited series on Amazon Prime Video has fans enthralled with the the 70s aesthetic.

A book that swept in popularity and now a tv show, Daisy Jones & the Six impresses fans with the fictional story of a 70s band, inspired by the real band Fleetwood Mac and one of their lead singers, Stevie Nicks.

Taylor Jenkins Reid gained followers when she released The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo in 2017, which boomed among avid readers so when she published Daisy Jones & the Six in 2019, the book was easily admired.

The book dives into the details and drama of a 70s band on the road for tour dealing with romance, drugs, and all their relationships throughout that time in a string of interviews from the band members talking about their past in the band. Its fast-paced writing-style and emotional appeal invested readers all around the world with sales reaching over a million copies sold.

Even before the book’s release, Reese Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine and Amazon Prime Video partnered to come out with the TVshow adaptation of Daisy Jones & the Six. Four years later, the show premiered earlier this month on March 3, 2023, which is a quick turnaround for a whole series to be written, developed, and produced from a book. To many fan’s dismay the show was only intended as a limited series. It continued to have installments every Friday with the final installment on March 24 to have a total of 10 episodes (about 45 minutes each). Well-known individuals are casted in the show such as Riley Keough (Daisy Jones), Sam Calflin (Billy Dunne), and Suki Waterhouse (Karen).

Like every tv show that is released, there were positive reviews and negative ones, especially considering it was adapted from the beloved book Taylor Jenkins Reid wrote.

“Daisy Jones & the Six was an incredible book. I feel that the show did it justice. Although the actors were not 100% accurate, I think they did the best that they could,” said San Marcos junior Sofia Prober. Many fans of the book were unhappy with how certain characters were portrayed in the tv show.

A couple of the most notable character differences include Simone Jackson’s character and Camila’s character. In the book, Simone is Daisy’s best friend who is the “queen of disco” at the time and keeps Daisy accountable, but in the tv show she is a little timid and plays more underground clubs. Camila is a bigger character in the tv show than she was in the book. This was probably done because she is a strong female lead, like Daisy Jones, and Witherspoon’s production company targets books (like Where the Crawdad’s Sing) with influential, head-strong, female protagonists. That being said, people have been found to dislike Daisy’s enigmatic and possibly selfish personality along with Billy’s, the male lead character’s personality.

This poll has ended.

Which one did you like more?

Sorry, there was an error loading this poll.

In addition to those complaints, people are upset with how certain situations were altered for the TVshow like how Camila and Billy met and (spoiler warning) how Karen and Graham got together, among other changes most likely done to add more depth to the story and characters. It is also discussed how the book had a certain life to it which did not transfer to the TV show.

“[The TV show] wasn’t as interpretive as the book was because in the book you have to decide who you trust, while in the show you are just seeing the truth,” said San Marcos English 110 teacher, Mr. Koroshec, who was in a band himself called “The Autumns.”

In other words, because the structure of the book was interview-style, the reader had to choose which side of the story they believed and the character they believed it from to determine the ‘real’ way events happened. While in the TV show, the viewer is shown what really happened, not offering as much interpretation or connections between the viewer and the characters.

Besides these aspects that made fans disgruntled, the whole show was wonderfully produced with high quality sets, costumes, and acting. It was also very true to the seventies which brought some memories to viewers who grew up in that era of pop, rock, and disco.

“The way they depicted their studio sessions all seemed really authentic and the buses and the time period. It was really interesting to see that through the lens of film,” said Mr. Koroshec.

So, if you are looking for a fun, fantastic, engrossing TV show to watch, check out the series Daisy Jones & the Six on Prime Video with an album of songs on various listening platforms! But also – read the fabulous book by Taylor Jenkins Read!