Hulu’s limited series “Pam & Tommy” is a classic L.A. love story: two beautiful, oversexed hotties with half a brain between them fall in lust, make a sex tape, suffer a burglary and inadvertently breathe new life into both the porn industry and their flagging careers.
Every subsequent tale of a star born from the tabloid whirlwind around a sex tape (see also: Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton) traces its roots back to the story of former Playmate and “Baywatch” star Pamela Anderson (Lily James) and Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee (Sebastian Stan), turned here into a stupidly entertaining trip down memory lane. In this eight-part series directed by Craig Gillespie (“I, Tonya”), the 1990s’ queen and king of excess scramble to cope with the pressure and keep up with changing times as their intimate home video becomes the World Wide Web’s first viral celebrity sex romp.
The story starts in 1995, when construction worker Rand Gauthier (Seth Rogen, who developed the series with regular collaborator Evan Goldberg) is stiffed by Lee over work done at the couple’s Malibu mansion. Seeking payback, Gauthier breaks into the garage and steals a safe. Its contents make history when Gauthier figures out an ingenious new way to sell the recording without getting a release from Lee and Anderson: He sets up a shop online, selling the video for $59.99.
