It sounds like The Stepford Wives, only it drew in single men and women who did not drink, smoke, do drugs, or have sex. At least, at first ...
Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult
The first episode of the three-part docuseries premieres June 1, 2026, at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, on HBO and on HBO Max. Subsequent episodes will premiere on June 8 and June 15. I've seen all three episodes.
Of all the weird and wild stories that emerged from New York City in the 1980, this one managed to escape my notice. (And I lived there while this was developing!)
Directed by Chris Smith (100 Foot Wave, Devo, The Yes Men) with his usual assured style and mastery, Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult begins in 1978 when 16-year-old John Hoyt met the charismatic Frederick von Mierers on Nantucket beach. The teenager was impressed by Frederick's poise and carriage, which left an impression that was deepened upon subsequent encounters.
Attending Princeton University, John played on the football team and fell in with his teammates and other like-minded fellows in enjoying the pleasures of life. After an injury cut short his football career, however, John began searching for a purpose in life, when he again crossed paths with Frederick, who suggested another path.
Soon, John moved to New York, became a model, changed his name to Hoyt Richards, and enjoyed immediate success, rising to the upper echelons of the modeling industry. All the while he was living in an apartment owned by Frederick, who was collecting together a small community of beautiful young people, who liked Frederick's philosophy on life, forming a commune in an apartment building.
Frederick's philosophy was a mix of astrology and New Age thinking. He espoused a healthy lifestyle with a strict diet, and no alcohol, no drugs, no smoking, and no sex, all of which flew in the face of popular culture in the 1980s. Yet he also encouraged his friends and (platonic) roommates to enjoy The Good Life: why not party 'till dawn?
Looking like a classic dandy from a past age, Frederick's early years are explored later in the three-episode docuseries. The first episode primarily tells Hoyt's story with Frederick and the other members in a group that came to be called Eternal Values.
Hoyt was happy to freely give Frederick most of his increased earnings as a model in order to benefit the group. For his part, Frederick was happy to encourage his group to buy valuable gemstones, to which he ascribed great spiritual meaning, even though he had the gemstones appraised at an inflated price.
Most of the first episode doesn't sound too bad; it's just beautiful people having a good time, what could be wrong with that? If a group of like-minded friends spend all their time together and support one another and listen to a charismatic leader who tells everyone that he's an alien and that romantic love is the worst thing ever visited upon mankind ... oh, OK.
From the series' title, it's assumed that it's all about a cult. But not all the former members who are interviewed necessarily agree that it was a cult. And even if it was, as an outsider's perspective and internal logic make clear, that doesn't mean it was easy for anyone to recognize it before they got sucked in.
Regrets and recriminations will come later in the series, though they're hinted at in the first episode. Thoughtful, empathetic, and insightful, Bring Me the Beauties: A Model Cult makes for absorbing viewing.