I'm not a huge fan of reality TV, so I'm not the best person to review At Home with the Furys. On the other hand, I love boxing, and I've admired Tyson Fury since he defeated longtime heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in...gosh, was it really 2015? How time flies.
Spoilers follow...if you know Tyson Fury, you should know that this Netflix sort-of documentary was made at perhaps the dullest point in his career. Watching his dramatic comeback in 2018, when he overcame depression and substance abuse to reach the top of the boxing world a second time - now, that would make an interesting subject for a documentary. A series on his legendary trilogy of fights with Deontay Wilder would have been great, too.
Instead, we get a post-Wilder TV show, which begins with Tyson Fury in semi-retirement. So, we get the dubious privilege of watching Fury sit around his surprisingly tacky mansion and complain about being bored. He makes big speeches about wanting to spend more time with his wife and six (!) children, but you know that deep down he yearns for a return to boxing glory.
As a result, the first few episodes of "At Home..." are somewhat insufferable. The depressed and inactive Fury treats his wife and children poorly, and comes across as unsympathetic. The show gets more interesting around its midpoint, when he starts thinking about boxing again and becomes far more energized.
Some of the side characters are pretty interesting. Fury's father John provides gravitas and folk wisdom, though no mention is made of his infamous eye-gouging brawl from 2010. Tyson Fury's wife Paris comes across pretty well. She's pragmatic and essentially plays the role of Adrian in a Rocky movie, by repeatedly telling her husband he shouldn't box any more. Some viewers find Paris very sympathetic, but I'm on the fence about that; she is curiously unmoved when Tyson's cousin is killed in a bar brawl, and her insistence on taking her young kids to see their father's boxing match with Derek Chisora seems odd.
In short, nobody here is particularly relatable - except perhaps brother Tommy Fury and his partner Molly-Mae, who aren't as wealthy or out-of-touch as the show's stars. But they're really not in it enough to make a big impression.
So why watch this show? Well, you might like it if you're interested in Fury as a personality, or in his frank discussions of his mental health struggles (particularly with bipolar disorder). Or you can view it as a slice of (somewhat inessential) boxing history. Or maybe you can simply bask in the lifestyles of the rich and famous (but if you ask me, the Furys spend way too much time at boringly pristine resorts and beaches).
For me, this show was a mediocre but nice distraction. Overall, it's about as exciting as watching Fury-Chisora III - which as boxing fans will attest, was not really that exciting.
Spoilers follow...if you know Tyson Fury, you should know that this Netflix sort-of documentary was made at perhaps the dullest point in his career. Watching his dramatic comeback in 2018, when he overcame depression and substance abuse to reach the top of the boxing world a second time - now, that would make an interesting subject for a documentary. A series on his legendary trilogy of fights with Deontay Wilder would have been great, too.
Instead, we get a post-Wilder TV show, which begins with Tyson Fury in semi-retirement. So, we get the dubious privilege of watching Fury sit around his surprisingly tacky mansion and complain about being bored. He makes big speeches about wanting to spend more time with his wife and six (!) children, but you know that deep down he yearns for a return to boxing glory.
As a result, the first few episodes of "At Home..." are somewhat insufferable. The depressed and inactive Fury treats his wife and children poorly, and comes across as unsympathetic. The show gets more interesting around its midpoint, when he starts thinking about boxing again and becomes far more energized.
Some of the side characters are pretty interesting. Fury's father John provides gravitas and folk wisdom, though no mention is made of his infamous eye-gouging brawl from 2010. Tyson Fury's wife Paris comes across pretty well. She's pragmatic and essentially plays the role of Adrian in a Rocky movie, by repeatedly telling her husband he shouldn't box any more. Some viewers find Paris very sympathetic, but I'm on the fence about that; she is curiously unmoved when Tyson's cousin is killed in a bar brawl, and her insistence on taking her young kids to see their father's boxing match with Derek Chisora seems odd.
In short, nobody here is particularly relatable - except perhaps brother Tommy Fury and his partner Molly-Mae, who aren't as wealthy or out-of-touch as the show's stars. But they're really not in it enough to make a big impression.
So why watch this show? Well, you might like it if you're interested in Fury as a personality, or in his frank discussions of his mental health struggles (particularly with bipolar disorder). Or you can view it as a slice of (somewhat inessential) boxing history. Or maybe you can simply bask in the lifestyles of the rich and famous (but if you ask me, the Furys spend way too much time at boringly pristine resorts and beaches).
For me, this show was a mediocre but nice distraction. Overall, it's about as exciting as watching Fury-Chisora III - which as boxing fans will attest, was not really that exciting.