Jessica Lange
Joan Crawford
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Episode Guide
- 1. Pilot Mar 5, 2017
- Joan Crawford and Bette Davis battle ageism, sexism and each other when they sign up to make a film.
- 2. The Other Woman Mar 12, 2017
- Bette and Joan form an alliance, but outside forces conspire against them.
- 3. Mommie Dearest Mar 19, 2017
- Bette's relationship with her daughter becomes strained when she bonds with a new cast member.
Mar 5, 2017 · Pilot: Directed by Ryan Murphy. With Jessica Lange, Susan Sarandon, Judy Davis, Jackie Hoffman. Cast aside by Hollywood, screen legends Joan Crawford and Bette Davis battle each other when they sign up for What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?
- (1.8K)
- Biography, Drama
- Ryan Murphy
- 2017-03-05
- Overview
- Plot
- Guest Cast
- Reception
- Multimedia
Pilot is the first episode of Bette and Joan, the first season of the drama anthology series Feud, and the first episode overall. Ryan Murphy, Jaffe Cohen, and Michael Zam served as writers, and Ryan Murphy served as director. It officially premiered on FX on March 5, 2017.
Cast aside by Hollywood, screen legends Joan Crawford and Bette Davis battle ageism, sexism, and each other when they sign up to make What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
The episode opens in 1978 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California, where Olivia de Havilland is being interviewed for a documentary about Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, and giving a narration on their infamous feud that lasted for nearly half a century. Olivia explains that Joan Crawford's real name was Lucille LeSueur, and although she was raised in utter squalor, she grew up to be one of the greatest stars of all time. She goes on to say that Bette Davis was the single greatest actress Hollywood has ever known, playing all of the best roles with a ballsy intensity that no one else had. She says that although Bette and Joan had only made one film together, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, their rivalry remained one of the most legendary of their generation. When asked by the interviewer why the two hated each other so much, Olivia clarifies that feuds are never about hate, but rather about pain.
In 1961, Joan Crawford attends the annual Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles, where Marilyn Monroe has just received an award for Best Actress. Joan seems disheartened by Monroe's win and goes out of her way to make rude comments about the actress to the rest of her table. As Monroe is giving her speech, Joan almost starts to tear up, upset by the realization that she is no longer Hollywood's "it-girl" and that her career is slowly starting to fade out. She ends up getting overly intoxicated that night and stumbles out in a drunken fit. Her date, Peter, kindly escorts her to her car and drives her home, but not before she is spotted by several members of the foreign press.
The following morning, gossip columnist Hedda Hopper pays a visit to Joan's house to get her latest headline story. Joan's housekeeper, Mamacita, answers the door and tells Hedda that Joan is occupied, but Hedda is not willing to take no for an answer and asserts herself in regardless. Mamacita goes to alert Joan, and Joan is forced to interrupt her beauty regimen to get ready for Hedda. She then comes downstairs to greet the columnist, clearly annoyed that Hedda has shown up to her home unannounced. Hedda explains that she needs a quote from Joan about Marilyn Monroe's Golden Globe win, and if she doesn't get one, she will simply publish the story of how Joan left the Globes in a drunken tirade, amongst other circling rumors that Joan is becoming broke and struggling to pay her bills. Unwilling to have those stories get out, Joan gives Hedda what she wants and admits that the vulgarity of Monroe's clothing and pictures is ruining the industry that she loves. She goes on to say that people don't want Monroe in films, but rather more wholesome stars with good morals, such as herself. Hedda then takes a dig at Joan, clarifying that morals aren't the only difference between her and Monroe. Contrastingly, Monroe actually gets roles.
Angered by Hedda's comment and eager to work in film again, Joan decides to visit Marty out of desperation for a new role. She slams her 1945 Best Actress Oscar on his desk and explains that she would like another one. She begs him to find her a great script, and he agrees to pile together everything he has and to send them to Joan to read until she finds a role she enjoys. However, all of the roles are for grandmother-type characters, which Joan finds unappealing and refuses to play. She is aching for a starring role, but Marty confesses that he sent her everything he has and that there's nothing more he can do, much to Joan's dismay.
Joan then sends Mamacita to the library to get some books, so she brings home an assortment of titles with ladies on the cover to help Joan gather some ideas for a role. As Joan reads over the books, she is unsatisfied with most, as they tend to stereotype women into either of three categories: ingenues, mothers, or gorgons. However, one title in particular catches Joan's eye - Henry Farrell's suspense novel What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, and she immediately sends the book over to film director Robert Aldrich.
We later see Aldrich on the set of his upcoming film, Sodom and Gomorrah, where he appears frustrated with his clumsy cast and crew members after shooting a particularly unsuccessful scene. His son, Bill, then informs Robert that he is needed in his office. There, his assistant, Pauline Jameson, notifies him that he has a call from Eva Braun, a woman with whom Robert is clearly having an affair. After speaking with her on the phone, he explains to Pauline that Eva is interested in signing on to Sodom and Gomorrah, but he turns her down because he knows the film is a bust. He asks Pauline if they have any good scripts, and Pauline pulls out the Baby Jane book, explaining that this would be a great film opportunity. She states that it would be an easier production with one set and a small cast, enabling Robert to produce it himself. Robert seems intrigued with the idea, until Pauline shows him the carton of Pepsi Cola that came with the offer, making it clear that the sender of the package was someone he had conflicts with in the past: Joan Crawford.
Special Guest Stars•Catherine Zeta-Jones as Olivia de Havilland
•Kathy Bates as Joan Blondell
Guest Stars•Kiernan Shipka as B. D. Hyman
•Mark Valley as Gary Merrill
•Reed Diamond as Peter
•Ken Lerner as Marty
The episode drew in 2.26 million live-plus-same-day viewers, which made it the most watched program on FX that week by a wide margin. While below the opening of Ryan’s pop culture phenom American Crime Story (5.1 million), it was in line with the premiere of the Emmy-winning FX limited series Fargo (2.66 million) and also edged the debuts of recent FX entries Taboo (1.8 million) and Legion (1.6 million). As for live-plus-three-day ratings, "Pilot" delivered 5.17 million viewers in total, including two encore telecasts factored in, making it the highest new series premiere on FX since 2016’s The People V. O.J. Simpson.
Pilot received widespread positive reviews among critics, with the episode having an average rating of 9/10 on IMDb, based on the votes of 304 users. Jean Bentley of IGN praised the performances of Lange and Sarandon, stating, "Both Lange and Sarandon play their larger-than-life characters with both sympathy and the cold, calculating nature necessary to survive as a woman in a difficult industry." She went on to say that "The set design and costume design are both incredible, and truly flesh out the campy, candy-coated world. Feud is exciting and fun to watch, and the entire cast is clearly having a blast." Gwen Ihnat of AV Club added that "This first episode of Feud is in itself a high bar of what TV is capable of: setting up its own, very specific, very stylized environment, even as it exposes new layers to characters we thought we know well."
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Conceived as an anthology series, Feud ' s first season, Bette and Joan, chronicles (over eight episodes) the well-documented rivalry between Hollywood actresses Joan Crawford and Bette Davis during and after the production of their psychological horror thriller film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
- Marilyn Monroe gets her Golden Globe. Joan, in our first glimpse of her, glowers from the sidelines as Marilyn accepts her Golden Globe for Some Like It Hot in 1960.
- Hedda Hopper cutting right through Joan's BS. "I must have eaten something that disagreed with me." "Crow?" All hail Judy Davis as Hedda Hopper, the queen of shade who is saddled with all kinds of shamelessly expositional dialogue here, and makes all of it seem zingy and effortless.
- Joan recruits Bette from Broadway. Everything about this nuanced face-off is just a joy to watch, from Bette passive-aggressively calling Joan by her birth-name "Lucille" to Joan passive-aggressively sympathizing with Bette over the poor reviews she's been getting for The Night of the Iguana on Broadway.
- Jack Warner's meltdown. Stanley Tucci is clearly having a lot of fun playing the Warner Bros. president as a more or less detestable slimeball. He's still bitter at Bette for getting out of her Warner contract in 1936 and basically blames her for the downfall of the studio system, which is a touch dramatic.
FX. By Sheila O’Malley. March 5, 2017. Season 1, Episode 1: ‘Pilot’. They were two of the most recognizable women on the planet. In the late ’30s and ’40s, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis were...
co-stars Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, two of the most prolific actresses in the history of Hollywood, had a famous feud while shooting the 1962 film. This docudrama from Emmy-winning producer...
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1x1 - Pilot. March 5, 2017. Cast aside by Hollywood, screen legends Joan Crawford and Bette Davis battle ageism, sexism and each other when they sign up to make "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"
