The Beach Boys Story
VH1 (Sun., Aug. 23, 9 p.m. ET)
If their music is all that matters to you, then this hefty, two-hour documentary on the Beach Boys should more than satisfy. Extensive clips of the Wilson brothers (Brian, Carl and Dennis) and bandmates Mike Love and Al Jardine in performance (doing everything from such sunny '60s hits as "Surfin' U.S.A." and "California Girls" to 1970's reflective "Cool, Cool Water") are interspersed with the guys' candid reminiscences of being mobbed on tour by screaming fans, competing with the Beatles and coping with the reclusive Brian (as the others waited at his home recording studio, built in 1967, he would hole up in his bedroom). Unfortunately, Brian's darker travails—including his 1964 breakdown and subsequent bouts with drugs and alcohol—are only sketchily dealt with, and the troubled lives and tragic deaths of sibs Dennis and Carl seem to rate barely a liner note.
Bottom Line: Plenty of good vibrations, but a shallow bio
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