For most people, the word "Karen Carpenter" means "anorexic". It's like "Clinton" and "Lewinski", "Bin Laden" and "911", "collosal failure" and "NASA". What's fascinating about this show is before 1978, the word Karen Carpenter was never affiliated with anorexia. No-one knew what anorexia was or that Karen Carpenter was anything but a voice.
The first 40 minutes of the show rely on the Richard Carpenter of 1997 sitting by his piano and giving accounts of how the music was made. He talks in a kind of apathetic, removed, Ben Stein voice, maybe because he's told the story too many times or wants to forget it.
Famous modern musicians tend to speak in terms of "spirit of the music", "peace love and happiness", "life is beautiful". Richard seems to be from another world, talking about why he used a major 7th, how he used a quintuplet at the end of the first bridge, extemporaneously recalling passages at the keyboard while he talks.
His account is very matter of fact and down to earth about about the mechanics of the music. It wasn't knowing the right people or having the right mojo. It was chord progressions, key modulations, and major 7ths.
He definitely seems one with his instrument and it makes you wonder if he's going to get to "what happened with Karen" or if the show is just going to end with "Carpenter's greatest hits".
Sure enough, the clothing starts to hang, the bones start to show, and Richard brings up a lot of courage to talk about the anorexia and his response to it. In his account of her attempt to get treated, we find a surprising similarity to modern treatment. 25 years later, with all the technology and knowledge we have, it isn't much better than it was in 1982.