The Baldwins review: New reality series follows Alec Baldwin’s family before his manslaughter trial

In The Baldwins, the actor and his wife contemplate the joys of raising seven kids while looking ahead to Alec’s then-upcoming manslaughter trial. Photo / Getty Images

THREE KEY FACTS

• Baldwin’s manslaughter trial followed the 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust.
• Hutchins’s death occurred when a prop gun Baldwin was using discharged on set.
• The case against Baldwin was dismissed last summer after a judge accused the state of New Mexico of withholding evidence.

The new reality series follows Alec Baldwin and his family in the run-up to his manslaughter trial. The Telegraph’s Ed Power gives his verdict.

Alec Baldwin was once a rival of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt for the title of Hollywood’s pre-eminent heartthrob.

But where those actors continue to enjoy A-list careers, the Hunt for Red October star is now reduced to starring in a humiliating Kardashians-style reality show.

In The Baldwins (Discovery+), the 66-year-old actor and his wife, Hilaria – 26 years his junior – contemplate the joys of raising seven kids while looking ahead to Baldwin’s then-upcoming manslaughter trial resulting from the 2021 fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie Rust.

If that sounds like a queasy mix on paper, on the screen, it’s much worse. The case against Baldwin was dismissed last summer after the judge accused the state of New Mexico of withholding evidence. But that is all in the future, as episode one of The Baldwins finds Alec, Hilaria, and their family (all under the age of 10) going for a family haircut in New York and then driving off to their vast holiday mansion in the Hamptons.

A cynical reading of The Baldwins is that it is an attempt at public rehabilitation by Baldwin, whose movie career has been in the doldrums since Rust and who, in the past, was famously protective of his privacy (to the point of tussling with photographers).

Whatever the motive, The Baldwins is a saccharine pity party, where Baldwin swings between mucking about with his kids and staring into space as he contemplates the manslaughter charges.

“This has been just surreal. I can’t believe we’re going through this,” he says.

“The past year was just terrible. There are times I’d lay in bed. I can’t get up. That’s not like me.”

The Baldwins at least has the decency to acknowledge Hutchins’s death, which occurred when a prop gun Baldwin was using – and which he was told was safe – discharged a live round on set.

“Halyna lost her life in the most unthinkable tragedy,” says Hilaria. “We are going to feel and carry that pain forever.”

But those expressions of grief, though clearly sincere, sit uneasily alongside the show’s wacky tone.

Baldwin is the clueless dad, Hilaria the glamorous mum, while the kids good-naturedly running riot. To the credit of the filmmakers (the Baldwins are executive producers), the show acknowledges the scepticism around their marriage and the yawning age gap.

Alec jokes that his future wife was “six years old” when The Hunt for Red October came out in the early 1990s; she says that if she had read about a 26-year-old yoga teacher marrying a 53-year-old Hollywood actor, she too would have been taken aback.

“I haven’t googled myself in a very long time,” she adds.

The picture painted is of a typical family living a life of relatable chaos. The kids share bedrooms; Alec’s struggles with OCD are exacerbated by the daily anarchy of children on the rampage.

But there’s obviously a lot of airbrushing. For instance, the family has a nanny – but she is never referenced by name and features on camera just once (as they are loading their two huge SUVs for a trip to the Hamptons).

Baldwin appears to have closely studied his reality TV predecessor, Ozzy Osbourne, who shed his bad-boy rocker image and reinvented himself as a confused dad with The Osbournes.

But Alec is more sad and defeated than another dozy dad in the tradition of doddery Ozzy. Whether or not he’ll be able to revive his career remains to be seen, but this series is a low point.

It is not confirmed if or when The Baldwins will air in New Zealand.