History tells us that when actors try and impersonate iconic pop stars for the purpose of television-based entertainment, the results are almost always cringe-worthy to the point of unwatchable. The more distinctive the real-life star, the worse it is when someone makes a TV movie of their life.
So, prepare to experience slack-jawed wonderment at the first trailer for Lifetime's upcoming MJ biopic, Michael Jackson: Searching For Neverland, because this thing might actually be kinda-sorta okay! (Bonus points to Lifetime for casting Tyreese from The Walking Dead in it. We've missed you, Chad Coleman...)
Let's quietly get our hopes up and avoid thinking about the inevitable disaster that will occur every time MJ impersonator, Navi, has to do a dance routine:
In defense of this general sense of optimism, it should be noted that the whole super-offensive Joseph Fiennes disaster last year has left us with particularly low expectations for anything King of Pop-based. Maybe Searching For Neverland looks cool just because Lifetime's previous music biopics have set such a low bar. The following didn't exactly set movie critics alight with praise: