Netflix's new documentary on Bob Ross, Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed begins as an homage to the soft-voiced, afro-haired art legend who inspired a nation to embrace a few "happy accidents" along their art journey. But as the title suggests, happy accidents are only a small part of the story that Netflix aims to tell. Ross may be the face at the front of Bob Ross Inc., but the truth of the matter is that we likely would not know Bob Ross if it weren't for the married duo of Annette and Walt Kowalski. Is that a good thing? That's a bit speculative because, by the time the Netflix doc about Ross is over, knowing exactly where the Kowalski family fits in the narrative of Ross's life is complicated.

The documentary, produced in part by Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone, introduces the Kowalskis as a couple who effectively discovered Bob Ross and plucked him out of relative obscurity. What resulted was one of the most recognizable figures in the modern, mainstream instructional art world (which is more dramatic than you'd initially think... keep reading). In the early '80s, the Kowalskis suffered the impossible loss of their child, and Annette fell into a deep depression. Unable to get out of bed or off the couch, she turned to watching art instructor, Bill Alexander. Her husband saw Bill's influence on her as an opportunity to help her out of her depression. Upon calling Alexander's studio, they were directed to an instructor who worked under Alexander—Bob Ross.

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The couple drove to Florida to attend one of his workshops, and Annette immediately found Ross to be magnetic. As she says in the documentary, the couple suggested that Ross come visit them outside of D.C., where they live, to see if they could turn Ross's expertise and personal approach into something more. "Let’s put it in a bottle and sell it," she says on camera, with a sly grin. The couple, along with Bob and his wife, continued to work with to expand the reach of Aleander's protege, as well as bolster the larger business that Alexander started, but the Kowalskis noticed that in many way, Ross was the more accessible version of Alexander, with a softer tone and an approachable personality. The team quietly broke out on their own, and what followed was the Bob Ross empire, which included the popular PBS series The Joy of Painting, and eventually, a whole line of art products put out in partnership with Weber Art.

That business move also included burning Alexander, who eventually alleged that Bob Ross Inc. took his paints, technique, and overarching idea, tweaked it a bit, and then launched it as their own company. Those shrewd business tactics weren't an isolated incident for the Kowalskis. A similar allegation would come up again for the couple—another couple stepped forward, alleging the Kowalskis had hawked their ideas as their own. Gary and Kathwren Jenkins, who also worked with Weber and promoted a specific type of painting technique for floral artistry, alleged that the Kowalskis stole their approach, slightly altering wording and techniques from Kathwren's own book on floral painting. The couple also alleged that the Kowalskis played an instrumental role in ending a years-long partnership they had with Weber.

As Ross and the Kowalskis relationship grew, some of the dynamics of the two couples running the business became suspect. The documentary alleges that Ross and Annette had an affair—a charge that the Kowalski family dismisses as false. But the real issue between the Kowalskis and Ross started after Ross's wife died of cancer in the early '90s. Following her death, her quarter-portion of the company was divided equally between the three surviving partners, making Ross a minority vote in a company that profited off his name. The struggle reportedly continued into the '90s, as Ross became sick himself with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. In the documentary, Ross's son remembers his father desperately making efforts to keep his name and likeness from being turned over to the Kowalski family.

The documentary suggests that this battle largely took place as Ross was on his death bed, but The Daily Beast reported that this became an issue from the time of his diagnosis. No matter, Bob Ross Inc.—majority-controlled by the Kowalskis—needed Ross's permission to continue operating in the manner that it did at his time of death. The push and pull is not remembered the same on the Kowalski's side. Current president of Bob Ross Inc, Joan Kowalski (daughter of Annette and Walt) suggests that there was no tension at all... at least not that she remembers, per The Daily Beast.

Upon Ross's death, his will had no mention of Annette Kowalski, despite the fact that at one point she was appointed to guide his estate through probate. Now that duty fell to Ross's third wife, who he married only a few months before his passing. His name and likeness was left to his son and his half-brother. But in the wake of his death, the Kowalskis sought aggressive legal action to protect Bob Ross Inc., as well as collecting all of Bob's material possessions that they deemed fell under the umbrella of their business. That involved all his paintings, the tools he used to work, and just about anything that could be used to make art. Those paintings are now owned by the Kowalskis, and Annette, as well as Bob Ross Inc., suggest that the only way to authenticate a true Bob Ross original is through thorough examination by Annette, who has not been public about how she exactly makes that designation.

As reported, again, from The Daily Beast, a large part of the battle post-Ross's death was the legal intimidation used by the Kowalskis against Ross's estate. Paintings and other personal effects were deemed work related, but the Kowalskis sought out reimbursements for charges Ross had made on his business cards—oftentimes used to cover expenses when Annette or Walt were also present. The couple made targets of past networks, television series, and ultimately, Ross's own family. The documentary alleges that the Kowalskis pushed Ross's half-brother Jimmie into a settlement that turned over Ross's likeness to them, destroying potential evidence at the time that could have contradicted the claims they'd made against Ross.

In the coming years, with full control of his likeness, the Kowalskis have continued to benefit off the legacy and likeness of Bob Ross. In 2012, the couple turned over the company to their daughter, Joan, who has since turned Ross's likeness into a brand all its own. Under her control, the company faced another lawsuit in the 2010s from Ross's son, Steve, who was unaware that he held 49 percent share of his father's likeness and intellectual property after Ross died. However, a judge eventually ruled that because of time passed, oral agreements, and Jimmie's sign off, he did not have rights to it and it remained with Bob Ross Inc.

For all the people who loved Ross's paintings, a whole new generation has come to love him for his general aesthetic. The Kowalskis remain in control of Bob Ross Inc. as well as the right to license out his name and likeness, but the Ross family has no stake in the company that bears its name.

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