"MerPeople" dives headfirst into the community of mer-fans.

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Unscripted shows like Netflix's "Tiger King" expose viewers to small groups of people with unusual interests and then poke fun at them.

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"MerPeople," a four-part docuseries ostensibly designed to draft off a Disney feature,

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fits that niche but isn't strange enough to work.

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Instead, filmmaker Cynthia Wade has crafted a too-earnest, all-over-the-place look at the odd individuals who have chosen playing mermaids

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as a vocation or avocation, focusing more on logistics than the "why."

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Morgana Alba, the leader of a group of professional mermaids,

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says they're "rebels and renegades and runaways," which doesn't exactly help.

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The Netflix production follows older mermaids who performed at Weeki Wachee Springs, a historic show in Florida,

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