Before we go any further, let me present the show’s tagline, which states that Hulu’s Love in Fairhope is “a collision of reality and fantasy featuring real people and inspired by their own stories.” The exact nature of the “collision” is vague, and “inspired by” real stories always makes me think that the initial premise has been distorted wildly by the production team behind the finished product.
Things continue to morph as the show’s narrator, Heather Graham, explains:
“If Hollywood’s taught us one thing, it’s that finding love in the big city can be, you know, such a mess.”
It implies that Hollywood has taught us lessons before, and we bought that, so you might as well buy into this. Perhaps that sounds cynical, but since we are trying to ascertain what is real and what is fake in this show, we have to see the layers that have been created for it in the first place.
The synopsis from Hulu includes the following quote: “In Love in Fairhope, real people star in a story inspired by their own where fantasy and reality collide.” This implies that the people and stories are real, but the producers have decided to present them in a way that makes for good television.
Behind the scenes, the show comes from Hello Sunshine, and if that sounds familiar, it’s because Reese Witherspoon sold the company to Blackstone Group Inc. in 2021 for $900 million.
In a statement after the sale was announced, Reese would say:
“I started this company to change the way all women are seen in media. Over the past few years, we have watched our mission thrive through books, TV, film, and social platforms. Today, we’re taking a huge step forward by partnering with Blackstone, which will enable us to tell even more entertaining, impactful, and illuminating stories about women’s lives globally.”
In that respect, Love in Fairhope seems to tick the boxes, even though most of the cast are in swimsuits or with their shirts off for most of the run time. However, as far as the reality of the show goes, it is hard to believe that what we are seeing is not at least partly scripted.
There is also a huge amount of the production that leans very heavily into adding some “Hollywood magic” to the proceedings. I suppose the best way to get a grip on this is to see it as a similar production to The Hills and run with it from there.
Love in Fairhope Explained
The show follows the lives and loves of five women from Fairhope in Alabama.
Mya Jo (20), Olivia (31), Abby (32), Lashoundra (41) and Claiborne (73) are the main players
The groups are all different from each other, so the stories don’t feel similar, and we get to follow the narratives of each one of them as they mingle in the patchwork quilted town of Fairhope, USA, where you will definitely want to move to after watching this show.
It does seem as if the show was initially conceived to be unscripted.
Creator Lauren Weber, also behind The Hills, would say in an interview with USA Today:
“I’m hoping to redefine drama in unscripted (TV) because I think for so long we’ve seen drama in one way. People don’t have to be throwing drinks in each other’s faces. Everything doesn’t have to be at a 10 to be dramatic. In love, there are just so many ranges of emotions.”
However, some moments could only happen if scripted, set up, and prepared, and they are mostly very obvious, which makes me think that a lot more of the series was scripted than we are led to believe.
Hulu states in its synopsis that Love in Fairhope is a “uniquely unscripted fantasy” that sees “real people star in a story inspired by their own where fantasy and reality collide.”
High-concept premise or company word jumble to cover all bases, you decide.
Read More:
