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Watch: Eerie official trailer for Netflix's upcoming Bob Ross documentary

Bob Ross hosted The Joy of Painting on PBS from 1983 to 1994, and his uniquely quirky painting tutorials have lived on well into this century. Netflix's trailer for Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed appears to be as far from joy on the emotional spectrum as possible.

Eerie music soundtracks the 35-second clip, as a mysterious message flickers across a black-and-white photo of Ross smiling in front of a canvas with his paintbrush: "We want to show you the trailer for Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed, but we can't."

Then we hear an unidentified man's voice confessing, "I've been wanting to get this story out for all these years," before text again dances across the screen to direct us to "find out why" when the documentary hits Netflix on Aug. 25.

The official description on Netflix's website is slightly more specific: "Bob Ross brought joy to millions as the world's most famous art instructor. But a battle for his business empire cast a shadow over his happy trees."

People's Glenn Garner provided more context:

"The documentary will likely explore the fate of Bob Ross, Inc., which is now run by the daughter of Annette and Walt Kowalski, Ross' former business partners, according to The Daily Beast. Although Ross left the rights to his name and likeness to his son Steve and half-brother Jimmie Cox, the Kowalskis argued that everything Ross did in his career was work-for-hire, and he had no right to bequeath that. The Kowalskis eventually won the lawsuit."

Ross died July 4, 1995, at just 52 years old from cancer. He had "battled lymphoma for several years" before his passing.

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