About the remaining half of the trailer is the Netflix logo, unleashing further distressing questions: What, is that the whole movie? Are we gonna have to sit through 15 drawn-out episodes of Netflix-y hemming and hawing before they drop the truth bomb? Whether Bob Ross deserves defrocking (entirely possible) isn’t so much the question, but whether Netflix can produce a shred of evidence of Bob Ross’ (apparent) crimes.
Rude! If someone sends you a cryptic memo, followed by a date, such as…
CAN’T TALK
COME HERE
AUGUST 25TH
…any reasonable person would assume this is a ransom note or a hostage’s clue, which, in either case, would prompt us to call the FBI. Netflix knows that this is a successful mechanism to grab our attention.
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Or we can cut to the more likely plot: The Daily Beast details a lawsuit by Bob Ross’s son, Steve Ross, against Bob Ross, Inc., a venture that Bob Ross founded with business partners. It would (spoiler alert) claim rights to his paintings, name, and likeness from his family and use them for lucrative licensing deals, which would explain the whole trailer.