# 7 Up (Up Series documentary)

Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/7-up/

5 people recommended 7 Up (Up Series documentary) in Hacker News comments and none criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 1 of 12 months, in 1 thread. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule.

5 of the 5 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “We've followed their lives for six decades; now the stars of 7 Up are bowing out”.

**Verdict:** People recommend it as an ambitious, empathy-building look at real people across decades, with later episodes that acknowledge the limits of the project. No recurring criticism appeared.

Summary written by Claude from 5 comments.

## Why people recommend it

- Real people, empathy across time (2 comments in the sample): "It’s something only empathy can make sense of and it challenges the viewer to empathize across time and culture." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49682592)) "Genuinely interesting content about real people in the real world." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49671776))
- Ambitious, phenomenal, astonishing television (2 comments in the sample): "later episodes get even more interesting by acknowledging the limitations. A phenomenal series." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49674493)) "one of the most astonishing and ambitious pieces of television ever made" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49671920))

## Other documentary series people recommend

- [Connections by James Burke](https://hackerapproved.com/p/connections/): 25 recommend, 8 mixed, 1 criticize
- [The Century of Self by Adam Curtis](https://hackerapproved.com/p/century-of-self/): 10 recommend, 0 mixed, 1 criticize
- [The Secret Life of Machines](https://hackerapproved.com/p/secret-life-of-machines/): 8 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize
- [All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace by Adam Curtis](https://hackerapproved.com/p/all-watched-over/): 7 recommend, 2 mixed, 1 criticize

## The badge

A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged.

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "7 Up (Up Series documentary)", https://hackerapproved.com/p/7-up/ (5 recommend, 0 mixed, 0 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026).

Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.