HBO's ‘Succession’ Provides Another Bad Night for PR

[Note: This article contains spoilers about ep 4, season 4 of "Succession."]

A repeated refrain of PR pros is ‘my family doesn’t understand what I do for a living.’ Surely a favorable picture of communicators on television or in films could help. Unfortunately, we’re still waiting for that.

Like several other professions, the processes of PR aren’t visually stimulating. They usually don’t make good entertainment, on a screen, at least.

For example, have you watched a PR pro compose a well-crafted email, toil over a press statement at a keyboard or shape a communication plan? Crickets.

And wouldn’t you know it, the latest PR nemesis, generative AI, promises bad news for communicators hoping for a good film or TV series about PR pros. Watch chatGPT 'write' a holding statement or 'prepare' a crisis plan. It’s thrilling. Trust me.

On top of that, films about inanimate objects have become a thing. ??

Entertainment Value of PR

Yet there’s hope for PR pros. Handled well, watching people write, raise awareness or repair reputations can have a bit of entertainment value.

For instance, there’s a terrific, if brief, cinematic take on a PR staple, efficient writing, in “A River Runs Through It.” Of course, since films about writing and writers aren’t box-office hits, it doesn’t hurt that this 1992 production includes Brad Pitt.

On the other hand, portrayals of professional communicators on TV and in film usually end up hurting PR’s image.

For instance, did Samantha Jones of “Sex and the City,” allegedly a publicist, do anything resembling a PR pro’s daily duties? Indeed, Kim Catrall’s glitzy character in the long-running franchise likely damaged PR’s reputation.

The British TV series “Flack” (2019-2020) provided more damage. It starred Anna Paquin as Robyn, an American PR pro in a ruthless London firm. Pure camp, its title prepared viewers for its portrayal of PR as a profession without a conscience. (It’s rumored that even Rep. George Santos was appalled at the lack of professional ethics Paquin’s character displays in Flack.)

'Succession' Becomes a PR Show

Yet last evening’s episode of the HBO hit series “Succession” (season 4, episode 4) arguably inflicted more damage to PR’s image than the 2 shows above. Indeed, additional whacks against PR’s integrity are likely in upcoming eps, as you’ll see below.

For non-viewers, Succession centers on the Roy family, whose patriarch, Logan (Brian Cox), founded and oversaw a media empire, until his sudden death in the show’s April 9 episode.

The most recent ep, debuted April 16, finds Logan’s adult children, his wife and senior company executives scrambling for position, ie, the succession, in the wake of his death. This occurs, not coincidentally, while they attend his wake. Logan passed the previous day. His corpse is barely cold.

The proceedings resemble a scene in Dickens's “A Christmas Carol” (1843), when the charwoman, the laundress and the undertaker’s man revel in dividing the deceased Scrooge’s possessions, stolen from his rooms as he lay dead.???

Cold Commerce

In an anteroom at Logan’s wake, in much nicer surroundings than the foul alleys of Dickensian London, the company’s CFO, vice chair and general counsel ruminate on succession plans. Separately, three of Logan’s children do the same.

(At this point, PR pros watching the show are groaning: ‘Even in a fictional television series communicators don’t get a seat at the table!’)??

Toward the last minutes of the episode, after it’s decided 2 of Logan's sons will be co-CEOs, communicators have a say. Finally.

Had they been at the table, communicators might have said not offering Logan's daughter Shiv a prominent place in the new leadership regime will be bad for diversity, gender equity and optics. We'll never know, of course.

In any case, enter PR chief Karolina Novotney (Dagmara Dominczyk) and Hugo Baker (Fisher Stevens), a communication SVP.

The communicators explain their roles to the new co-CEOs. We “did everything we could to burnish” your father’s reputation while he was alive, they say. “Now, we’ll…burnish your reputations.”

They offer two narratives that will “solidify your positions” as co-CEOs.

'Embalm Lenin'

With a lack of reverence, Baker dubs narrative 1 “Operation Embalm Lenin.” This content plan would feature photo packages of a happy Logan and his sons. The narrative would emphasize continuity; the sons seamlessly continuing their dad’s reign. ??

Mind you, that’s assuming such pictures exist. Logan was a tyrant as a father. Psychological abuse of his children was one of Logan’s preferred pastime.

Moreover, Logan was a crooked businessman, covering up mountains of illegal dealings and sexual harassment incidents in his businesses. Narrative 1 won't mention any of that, of course.

At least the second proposed narrative contains several truthful elements. Before they explain it, the PR pros insist their smarmy advice is purely "from a comms perspective."

Indeed, “Operation Sh#t on Dad,” as youngest son Roman calls it, would plant stories, using anonymous sources, about Logan’s adulterous affairs as well as tales of his child abuse, the PR pros explain. ?

In addition, the PR team could sweeten the brew with untruths. While noting “Logan Roy was a great man,” they'll let it be known (falsely) that lately he was losing his concentration. Essentially he'd become a figurehead. As such, “people around him were making the big [business] decisions. His kids were pulling the strings,” Baker says.

Again, that smooths the logic for putting his sons in charge officially, right?

Job Description?

Baker, the PR SVP, adds, “We can go as far as you like. I wouldn’t, but it’s our job (Really? Is this the PR pro's job?) to say we could" mention Logan physically and verbally abusing his first wife–he’s had 3–and “the Kerry situation.”

[Kerry is Logan’s 20-something assistant. Rumors of an extramarital relationship between Logan, nearly 80, and Kerry were rampant.]

The sons, Roman and Kendall, aren’t as flawed as Logan, but angels they’re not. Indeed, in a previous episode Shiv approves of a narrative where the three siblings "kill dad" in the press, blocking him from selling the company.

Despite all this, the PR ‘advice’ Karolina and Hugo offers sickens Roman and Kendall, or so they say.

“Considering our dad has just died, maybe we should not sh*t on dad,” Kendall says. Roman agrees. He ends the PR session in his usual snarky way, telling Karolina and Hugo: “Maybe don’t ever bring us this disgusting sh*t ever again. OK?”

It’s unlikely the barrage against PR will end there, however. In the episode’s final seconds Kendall orders Hugo to move ahead with the sh*t on dad narrative. “It’s what dad would have wanted.”

In upcoming episodes we'll likely see Hugo complying. He’s indebted to Kendall for quieting a shady incident Hugo is involved in.

Oh, great, another TV portrayal of an unethical PR pro.