User Reviews

Interesting story that could be told in 3 episodes, or 90 min to 2hrs. They are milking it.

I thoroughly enjoyed McMillions. Unlike some other reviewers, I didn't find it overly long, and liked learning about the participants' backgrounds-it helps explain why they may have been motivated to get in on this thing. I especially liked the single mom with the little boy. When she described having to remortgage her house to get $50K for the dude to get his cut-*before* she even got a penny of her 'winnings'-WOW. I actually felt afraid for her. There was definitely a sinister, scary undertone here. Everyone interviewed was articulate and interesting, some more likable than others. Again, unlike some other reviews, I looked forward to the scenes with Doug Mathews-he's funny and charming and obviously clever and good at his job. All in all, it was entertaining, alternating between comical and creepy. A solid 8

Interesting story but it could've been told in half the time. I think I'll just wait for the last episode.

I was stunned to see a new DVR recording every week. Six hour long episodes. Six! Don't expect a big pay off. The final/6th episode turns willing scam participants into sad victims. The only real victims were Simon Marketing employees and factory workers who produced the game tickets.

Mob ties, a snitching Mama, a custody battle, taking out 2nd mortgages, 7 ex-wives, car accident/maybe murder plot...why not just focus on the scam and investigation?

The colorful characters will make you laugh at times, but it still didn't need to be a six-hour loooooooong docu-series.

Watch Ep 1 (was very good) and skip to Ep 6 (to see how the scam unfolded) and keep it moving.

Just watched the first of six episodes and found the style and characters very interesting. Several laughs. I do not remember the actual incident(s) but the story is so far very well told using people from both the FBI and McDonald's who were involved in the investigation as well as explaining why some people were omitted ("No." lol). The visuals, the pacing, the narrative were all very good and am looking forward to the future episodes of this documentary.

"McMillions" (2020 release; 6 episodes of about 1 hr. each) is a documentary mini-series about the infamous McDonald's Monopoly game, which was rigged for over a decade (1989-2001). As Episode 1 opens, we are given a 30,000 ft. big picture summary of what happened, and we then turn to "Jacksonville, Florida 2001" where we get to know several FBI agents. One of them gets a tip about the Monopoly winners of the last decade somehow being connected to each other. The FBI starts looking into it, and lo and behold, the FBI findings confirm the connections. But how exactly did they pull this fraud off? Who is "Uncle Jerry"? And was someone within McDonald's in on it? At this point we are 15 min. into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: this mini-series is from co-writers/co-directors James Lee Hernandez and Brian Lazarte, making their directing debut. Here they look back at how McDonald's very popular Monopoly game somehow managed to get rigged, and for a period lasting more than a decade no less. In and of itself an interesting topic (and new for me--not sure why I hadn't heard of this incident before). Based on having seen just the first episode, however, I have to wonder why the series makers decided to string this out over 6 hrs. because frankly Episode 1 could've covered what it covered in far less an hour. In other words: it feels like it is running a bit thin. One funny bit is when the FBI team needs to come up with a name for this operation and they think of many alternatives (including "Operation The Unhappy Meal"), but in the end they decode on "Operation Final Answer" (to coincide with the then-popular "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" TV show).

I am not suggesting that this isn't a good documentary mini-series, and I plan on watching the 5 remaining episodes (new episodes air Monday evenings on HBO). But I also feel that in order to make this into a great, must-see documentary, this probably could've been condensed into an essential 2 hours, rather than a thin-running 6 hours. This is a subjective view, I realize that. Hence I'd encourage you to check it out, and draw your own conclusion.

*UPDATE 2/11/20* I saw the second episode, centering on the seemingly super security measures that were in place to keep McDonald's Monopoly game intact (even though of course it was breached for over a decade), and the episode confirms everything I saw in the 1st episode: pleasant viewing, but tighter editing would've been appropriate. I nevertheless will be watching the remaining 4 episodes to see how it all turns out.

It's not a standard documentary where you have a narrator explaining in a dry manner how the McDonald's scam occurred.

Instead it's quite entertaining interviewing FBI agents, victims, and villains. I love how they showed actual video footage from the investigation; it really engages me and I was on my seat watching how this whole investigation unfolds.

Couldn't they have referred to one Jerry as "Jacobson" and the other as "Colombo?" So frickin confusing!!!

Doug Mathews is the FBI equivalent of Barnie Fife. In the first episode you'll learn he was ambitious, slightly hyperactive, bored, and not trusted with much. One day he happens to notice a post it note on his bosses computer and asks if he can look into it.

What follows is a honest documentary about how the FBI fumbled into this huge conspiracy. You see agents relating how they didn't think things would work, practically rolling their eyes while talking about Mathews.

It shows how these guys are just normal humans, with tedious jobs and not some sort of super sleuth agency people imagine they are. It's more like the Mayberry police than the Silence of The Lambs FBI Agent Clair Starling.

We enjoyed watching the 1st episode very much. We like how they have all the original FBI, McDonald's, Attorney General, etc providing their stories. The FBI undercover agent is a hoot, although quite full of himself. Six episodes...may be a little drawn out. We'll wait and see.

Ignore the reviews that say it's too boring or stretched out. I wish everybody could appreciate the immense human touch to the story that might have made it "too long".

Absolutely loved the deep dive into all the characters' backgrounds, a rare case of it being implemented nicely and being a great contribution to the story. Some major drama involved too that made me love it. Amazing unique people were involved and it's exciting to get to know them, every single personality, starting from FBI agents and family members and up to the lawyers who had a small part in the story and an even smaller part of screen time. PS Doug Matthews my fav documentary personality from now on.

Very, very nicely put together. Even the intro was fascinating. An enjoyable watch 100%

It's a great story. Characters are (somewhat) interesting. The pacing is horrible, though. This is a 2 hour documentary max. I'm 3 episodes in, not sure I can make it to #4.

Interesting enough story, but when I saw it was one hour I expected that to be it. And it really could be told in two hours. Just in the first episode there's a lot of unnecessary filler. So apparently there's going to be four hours more filler. I pretty much immediately guessed the parties who would be responsible, it didn't take an FBI special agent for that! Lastly, like many others, I'm finding the one "rookie" FBI agent to be extremely annoying. He reminds me of Mike "The Situation" from Jersey Shore. Sorry for that reference, and I'm embarrassed to admit it, but this guy is The Situation if he'd gotten into law enforcement instead of getting into prison!

Yes, it could have been done in an hour,,, But don't you love the interviews, the suspense, the old videos?? I do. I'm loving the explanations and details because honestly I was too young to even pay attention at that moment about all the buzz. An increible story, for sure!

I was like who is this arrogant fool within the first 5 minutes, but as the episodes went on you started to appreciate his humour, confidence and that he actually added value to a somewhat drawn out yet interesting documentary. Love him or hate him, he was the catalyst alongside Devereaux.

McMillion$ is filled with characters with a capital C, the kind who can recall specific decisions and moments with brutally funny frankness.

I've watched a lot of documentaries, this is one of the best. Makes you feel going back in time. The old footage used brings it all together.

If you're a fan of documentaries about crime cases this one is certainly worth watching. The whole McDonalds Monopoly scam made world news so you might have heard of it if you passed a certain age. What I liked about this six episode long documentary was the lightness it has been told. A slow paced story told, with some humour, by almost everybody involved. That is the criminals, the agents of the FBI, the prosecutor, and even unaware innocent victims. Maybe a bit too slow for some, as this story could easily be told in a movie, but I liked it that they were so accurate about almost everything. Special agent Doug Mathews is definitely not the kind of person you would expect when you think about the FBI. You don't want him on your case, that's for sure. The documentary is well edited, good interviews, and a craving to watch more as every episode ends with a cliffhanger. Surpised by the outcome though, and I mean the sentences, which I found very low, certainly for American standards, as this scam duped millions of people that ate one hamburger too much in the hope of winning the jackpot that could change their lives. Not me though, as I never ate at McDonalds, not in the past, not now and not in the future.

Usually i dont make reviews on tv-series, but this one really ate the cooky, if not to say the whole cakebox with scrapmetal and printing ink , in other words the whole shallabang.

the mcdonald monopoly story to me was something i didnt know about, much thanks to norwegian lottery rules and therefore a consept like this didnt and wouldnt occur here in norway, and im glad otherwise i wouldve had a wider belly than a than the spruce goose, cause i'm into the mcdonalds food, so im still knocking my head on wood, asking how could this happen?

having seen 3 episodes of this epic scam of the century, distributed by hbo, i still cant phatom why giant coorporation still do these games.

its a pitch perfect made production, with a incriminating float that feeds your addictiveness to unveil unbelievable crimes. i will hit the hbo button till this serie is at the very end and fullfill this review.

its amazing thinks the grumpy old man, a recommend.

If you are watching a documentary about a scam, you want to know how it works. So it can be a bit frustrating when you realize three hours in that you still don't know.

For me, the show was best when talking about the FBI investigation. The show grinds to a halt around episode 3, where the show decides to give more background information for the people involved in the scam. While this makes sense in small doses, the show could've done with some editing. I understand wanting to keep people watching, but you need to keep people interested, too.

Starts out great, but then deteriorates into a freak show. Should have stuck to the story instead of endless up close and personal interviews with the perpetrators. None of them was interesting. Like most things on tv, should have been cut down by a third to a half.

Have watched first 2 eps. We had never heard anything about the game being fixed. Crazy!!

The writers of this documentary are good and make the story entertaining, and not boring.