Predictably, many people vociferously defended the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's complete lack of promotion for Polo, the Netflix docuseries they executive produced. "Executive producers don't promote their projects!" A lie - producers do promotion constantly, especially when the producers are more well-known. "The British media promotes the Sussexes' projects for them!" Yeah, why would Harry and Meghan speak positively about their own work when the British media has full rein to vomit scorn on every little thing they do or say? "The media would just analyze every little thing they said!" And? Don't you want Harry and Meghan to use their voices? Wasn't that the whole point of all of this?

Anyway, I started watching Polo last night - I've only seen the first episode - and I actually enjoy it. I enjoy most sports documentaries, and the way they're setting up the cast of real-life polo characters is smart. Right now, Adolfo Cambiaso is being spoken about like the boogeyman, the Kendrick Lamar of polo. Every polo player in the series seems in awe of him and his accomplishments. I enjoy the Dutta fam, even if Tim Sr. is giving me PTSD from my own hyper-critical Indian father. I find Louis Devaleix to be incredibly charismatic on-screen, even though he's clearly kind of terrible in real life. He's like a bull in a china shop - cursing up a storm, pure muscle, and fully obsessed with polo. Obviously, the British "critics" raced to binge-watch the series and they've delighted in ripping it to shreds:

Professional reviewers have raced to give Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's new show about the horseback sport of polo a kicking on the day of its release. British newspapers are first out of the blocks, publishing unflattering reviews of Polo, which was executive produced by Harry and Meghan, within hours of it dropping on Netflix Tuesday.

The Telegraph gave the "tedious inside-look" at the game two stars and its reviewer concluded: "There's lots of blood, sweat, and tears in the series -- but not enough of the Sussexes to make this anything other than a dull indulgence about a rich person's pursuit. This horsey hiccup is another bad neigh day for the Sussexes and their media ambitions."

The U.K. Guardian contrasts the game of polo, which it describes as "the stupidest, most obnoxious sport known to humanity" with the Sussex's lofty mission statement on signing their reputed $100 million deal with Netflix when the couple airily declared, they wanted to create "content that informs but also gives hope" utilizing "powerful storytelling" through a "truthful and relatable lens."

Its verdict on the series? "Polo looks destined to fall through the submenus into obscurity at the speed of light. And rightly so. It's clattering and niche, and feels like a spoof documentary designed to play on screens in the background of episodes of Succession."

[From The Daily Beast]

I honestly thought it would be more about ultra-wealthy people indulging in their misguided polo dreams, but it's not that at all. Some of the people on the show are wealthy, but they're putting all of their money into their polo obsession, which cannot be smart long-term. As I watched the first episode, I kept thinking about sponsorships and how very few of these polo players can really hope for lucrative sponsors to come and pick up the slack - polo simply isn't a big enough sport for most players to receive that kind of personal sponsorship. Which means, the majority of polo players have to eat the costs of their polo obsession or hope to be good enough to make a team with a wealthy patron. Just the upkeep on the horses alone is mind-numbing. Anyway, yeah, of course the British media raced to criticize the show. Another reason why Harry and Meghan should have done some promotion in the American media.