'Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed' Trailer: The Untold Story Of The Bob Ross Legacy

Bob Ross may be gone, but he's not forgotten. The soft-spoken 'fro-sporting public access painter is beloved by many – millennials who claim they only watch old episodes of his shows for an ironic reason, people who grew up watching his shows and have always had a soft spot for them, those seeking the pleasures of ASMR, and so on. To the world at large, Bob Ross is a folksy figure who painted landscapes and spouted non-stop positivity.

But there's more to the Bob Ross story than meets the eye, and the new Netflix documentary Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed brings untold aspects of the Bob Ross legacy to light. Watch the trailer now.

I know lots of people discovered Bob Ross via YouTube clips after he died, but allow me to age myself by admitting I watched him when he was still alive and still on the air. When I was growing up, I would love to watch Ross work – and I would love to listen to his voice. This was the 1990s, and at the time, I had never heard of ASMR or what it meant – but I suppose that's what was going on; I was experiencing an autonomous sensory meridian response from Ross' very soft-spoken nature. And while his paintings weren't amazing, it was still impressive to watch him whip up a landscape in about 30 minutes.

In the decades since his death, Ross has become something of a cultural – and commercial – phenomenon. There are Bob Ross board games, Bob Ross merch, Bob Ross costumes, and so on. In short, Bob Ross has become an industry. And that is part of the subject of the new Netflix documentary Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed. If that title just made your stomach drop, don't worry – this is not a doc that suddenly reveals Bob Ross was a monster and it's time to cancel him. Instead, this delves into how Ross' empire was managed following his death. But the documentary also serves as a primer on who Ross was and what made him so special.

Directed by Joshua Rofé and produced by Melissa McCarthy, Ben Falcone, Divya D'Souza, Steven Berger, and Joshua Rofé, Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed premieres on Netflix August 25, 2021.

Here's the full synopsis for the documentary:

Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed brings us the shockingly untold story of the prolific landscape artist and host of The Joy of Painting. With a keen appreciation for nature, and a kind and gentle demeanor, Bob Ross encouraged everyone he met to embrace their creativity and believe in themselves, becoming a cultural phenomenon along the way. The man who famously said that there were no mistakes – just happy accidents – has brought sheer delight to the world for decades. Beyond the iconic hair, soothing voice and nostalgic paintings lies a mystery that many have yet to discover.