Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Down In The Valley’ On Starz, A Docuseries Where ‘P-Valley’ Star Nicco Annan Explores The Real-Life “Dirty Delta”

In the docuseries Down In The Valley, Nicco Annan, who played strip club owner Uncle Clifford in the series P-Valley, visits different cities in the Deep South to talk to people who are embracing the “Dirty Delta” ethos of the series he used to be on, whether it’s strippers in Memphis, a sex shop owner on Baton Rouge, or a rapper in Dallas.

DOWN IN THE VALLEY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Scenes of Memphis, Tennessee.

The Gist: In the first episode, Annan visits the Diamonds of Memphis Gentleman’s Club, which is having a third grand opening, after COVID, then a burst pipe closed the club twice. He sits in on auditions for new dancers, and talks to a couple of hopefuls and veterans about their lives.

One of the dancers he talks to has the stage name Georgia Peach, who considers herself the OG of the dancers there, and the other dancers know not to “step on my money,” as she calls it. In other words, she’s given the respect to not be usurped by younger dancers. She talks about surviving a shooting where she was hit six times, making her all the more cautious when she dances somewhere.

Cherry is one hopefuls, a mom of three who sees dancing as not only an artistic and sexual expression, but a way to provide for her children, whose father died in a car accident at 24. He also talks to a group of dancers about the misconceptions people have about them.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Down In The Valley feels like the old HBO series Real Sex crossed with a travelogue series like Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. It’s not a coincidence that Down In The Valley was produced by Zero Point Zero, the same company that produced both of Bourdain’s best-known shows.

Our Take: What stands out about Down In The Valley isn’t just Annan’s joyful narration and curious on-camera persona; he he often quotes his Uncle Clifford character when talking to people, which we find charming as heck. The show also stands out because it really concentrates on telling the stories of only a couple of the people that he encounters in a city.

While he does talk about the difficulties that the people profiled have been through, Annan and the producers are more interested in the positives of their lives and professions. Whether it’s joy, or power, or sexual and artistic freedom, Annan is there to celebrate and support all of it. But at the same time, we get to see the person behind the image.

Everyone has a story, one full of ups and downs, hopes and dreams, ambitions and desires. Annan’s charm helps bring that out of the people he hangs out with, and he quickly gets people to open up. So, even though Down In The Valley is full of quick cuts and a lot of stylized elements, there is certainly a warmth there that has as much to do with Annan as what the producers are fostering.

Sex and Skin: Since he’s in the “Dirty Delta,” it’s all about sex, though the producers still subtly hide naughty bits.

Parting Shot: The women Annan profile dance on a poll set up in a park. He describes them by saying each of them are “diamonds in their own right, catching the light in the most unique and precious way. If only we can do the same.”

Sleeper Star: We liked watching how the judges during the tryouts judged how each woman was during her dance vs. how they worked the pole. We would love to know what the judging criteria was.

Most Pilot-y Line: Nothing we could find.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Down In The Valley finds joy and power among the people who do sex work or sex-adjacent work in the Deep South, and Nicco Annan brings the energy to match that objective.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.