NEW YORK (AP) – It’s the next step in the biggest celebrity story of the year.
It’s the long-awaited debut of Caitlyn Jenner’s docuseries charting her new life as a transgender woman.
Fittingly, “I Am Cait” (premiering Sunday at 8 p.m. EDT on E!) opens with the former Bruce Jenner, her ample tresses in huge rollers, at home getting hair-and-makeup treatment as she beholds a giant blowup of her bombshell Vanity Fair cover that followed her April interview with Diane Sawyer.
Yes, Jenner’s transition from Bruce to Caitlyn has been a highly orchestrated spectacle, with “I Am Cait” the latest phase of the campaign. And, typical of celeb-reality shows, there isn’t a scene in this first of eight episodes that doesn’t seem stage-managed to push the starry uber-narrative along.
Even so, there is something more substantial going on here. A gratifying measure of authenticity manages to bypass the celebrity trappings.