Bryan Fuller · Moldy Jam · Ashton Kutcher
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Want to feel old? Unsolved Mysteries turned 35 dang years old yesterday. Its production company is acknowledging the landmark with a 97-minute feature doc called Unsolved Mysteries: Behind the Legacy that dropped first at, of all places, Alamo Drafthouse theaters.
I am very curious about who is so into UM that they managed to get dressed and leave the house, find parking, and drop cash on tickets for what kind of feels like a deluxe DVD extra, especially since such a notable selling point of Unsolved Mysteries is its cosy-at-home-on-the couch brand of content. But I’m not going to talk you out of heading out into the world, so if your local cinema has it and you’re in the mood for Alamo’s stunning parmy popcorn, blessed you be.
For folks like me who find themselves with a subscription to streaming service Pluto (I think I got it when Drag Race moved to MTV?), the doc is now available for home viewing; it’ll hit other streaming services on Oct. 19. The folks at Decider term the doc “a beautifully penned love letter to fans of the original series,” which is enough to make me tune in…especially because I’m mid-rewatch of American Horror Story’s most underrated season, Roanoke, which owes a massive debt to the real person/re-enactor format Unsolved Mysteries arguably established. I guess I’m saying that it’s gonna be a very meta couple days for me, how about you? — EB
We forgot some ingredients. If you listened to yesterday’s episode of The Docket in which Dr. Marcia Chatelain joins us to talk about the intersection of food and crime, you’ll hear us say “and we’ll link to that in the show notes” a couple times. But, shoot, then we didn’t! Here are the links we meant to include:
And mentioned in the comments (but we didn’t get to it on the podcast) The Sqirl Jam Controversy, Explained
Did we mention any other cases we need to link to? If so, let us know.
You still have a few hours to determine October’s bonus review. As you can see above, Thora Birch-starring Winter of Frozen Dreams has a commanding lead, but it would only take a small percentage of Best Evidence readers at the polls to possibly unseat it in favor of early Tom Hardy relic Bronson, just saying. As my high school government teacher often said, “if you don’t vote, you can’t be disappointed with the results.”1
Hearsay
AMC, Bryan Fuller & Shudder Hit With Sexual Harassment Suit By ‘Queer For Fear’ Producer; Plaintiff “Will Be Sued For Defamation,” Defense Lawyer Declares [Deadline]
That’s some beefy hed! Here’s the full suit filed by producer and director Sam Wineman yesterday in L.A. court; he worked with Fuller—the guy behind shows like Hannibal, Dead Like Me, and Pushing Daisies — on a four-part AMC docuseries Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror.
“Defendant Bryan Fuller cultivated and maintained a hostile work environment as a result of harassment, discrimination, sexual harassment, sexual assault and retaliation from the years 2020 to 2022,” the suit reads, and I’m going to hold off detailing much more after that, because it’s too early in the morning where I am to recap the extremely explicit and gross claims. AMC and Shudder (the streaming service on which QfF ran) are also named, as Weinman claims he was fired after reporting the alleged abuse.
AMC has yet to comment on the suit, but Fuller’s lawyer Bryan Freedman said “Make no mistake, Sam Wineman will be sued for defamation based on what are 100 percent probably false statements … Sam Wineman just made the biggest mistake of his life and once the evidence comes out, he will forever be known as a pathological liar. Rest assured; a malicious prosecution lawsuit aimed directly at him is coming soon.” That is some response! — EB
Who Exactly Is Ashton Kutcher’s Anti-Sex-Trafficking Tech Company Helping? [The Cut]
Ahhh this is great. When Ashton Kutcher resigned from the board of anti-sex-trafficking company Thorn following dismay at his seeming support of convicted rapist Danny Masterson, I — perhaps like many folks — assumed this was an essentially do-nothing non-profit of the sort that so many celebs seem to figurehead. The truth is far worse! It is actually a creepy facial recognition tech company used by cops to crawl escort ads, ostensibly to identify trafficked victims, but “consenting adults often get swept up in its surveillance.”
“Though officers are only supposed to use Spotlight for child-abuse cases, they can easily surveil sex workers and set up stings to arrest them,” and the end result is that sex work becomes “more dangerous under the pretense of protecting trafficking victims.” Even anti-trafficking orgs like Freedom Network USA oppose the use of Thorn, with its executive director telling The Cut that he’s tried to get Thorn workers to understand the risks the tech presents, but they “didn’t really seem interested in looking too deeply into any negative impact.” — EB
Maryland Supreme Court weighs victims’ rights in case of Adnan Syed from ‘Serial’ podcast [Associated Press]
The Maryland Supreme Court weighed a number of issues from the case made famous by Serial, including “whether Syed’s 2000 murder conviction should still be reinstated after a recent appellate court decision ruled in favor of the family” and “the extent to which Maryland crime victims have a right to participate in hearings on whether to vacate a conviction.”
As you likely recall, the hearing was a result of issues raised by Hae Min Lee’s brother Young, who has maintained that the Baltimore court that ultimately vacated Syed’s conviction didn’t provide the Lee family with enough advance notice to allow them to attend the hearing. “This case is not about Mr. Syed’s underlying innocence or guilt. That dispute is simply not in the room today,” a Lee family attorney said, but if the seven-judge panel decides in favor of the Lee family, he could return to prison. A decision is expected “in the coming weeks or months.”— EB
Monday on Best Evidence: Last Stop Larrimah!
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And since it was abundantly clear that his leanings and mine were diametrically opposed, that got me hella fired up! This motherfucker was also the golf coach and would walk around the class waving a club menacingly as he lectured, among other moments of “how did he get away with that”-ery. But he sure did instill in me the need to make my voice heard, so I guess it all worked out.