Joe Berlinger · Lena Dunham · Tamron Hall
Plus a dash through real world headlines
the true crime that's worth your time
Netflix has renewed Joe Berlinger’s Crime Scene docuseries. The show’s first season, Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel, garnered lukewarm reviews (at best), but the gaping maw of desire for streaming content means that lukewarm is apparently warm enough!
Via press release, Netflix says that esteemed documentarian/cringey email scribe Berlinger is on board for three more seasons of the show, each of which tackles a true crime tale over a multi-episode arc. Next up is Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer, which will drop on December 29 and made me feel old when I thought “oh, cool, we can watch that on New year’s Eve.” Here’s what it’s about:
Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer will examine how the danger and depravity of New York’s Times Square in the late 1970s and early 1980s made it possible for one man to commit — and nearly get away with — unthinkable acts in a nearly-lawless area rife with drugs and sex work. These three episodes will delve into the social and systemic forces that allowed horrific crimes to go unnoticed for too long.
They don’t say as much, but I can only assume they mean Richard Cottingham, a serial rapist who killed and dismembered two women at a hotel at W. 42nd Street and Tenth Ave.? Most of his crimes (he was convicted of killing 11 people from the late 1960s-1980, but claims he killed as many as 100) were committed in areas far from Times Square, so its “danger and depravity” was likely unconnected to his pattern of rape, torture, and homicide across NY and New Jersey. So I’m looking forward to seeing how they wrest that narrative into submission!
No word yet on what will follow the Times Square season, but whatever they are “Joe and team are already at work on” them, Netflix claims. He also has that Madoff thing in the works and who even knows how many angry emails to write, so his plate runneth over, it seems. — EB
The Mob Queens podcast will be an HBO series. It’s been a couple years since the podcast about “New York drag club maven and bad-ass mob wife” Anna Genovese was part of the conversation — the show wrapped up in late 2019, and let’s just say we’ve had plenty to think about since then.
According to Variety, though, the show’s been on Lena Dunham’s mind. She will co-write, direct, and executive produce the limited series, which will star Ruth Wilson as Genovese. Other cast members have yet to be revealed, but Dunham’s co-writer has: it’s Dennis Lehane, the scribe behind lighthearted and uplifting books like Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone. A release date remains TBD. — EB
Tamron Hall will host a new series for Court TV. The journalist and TV host (Deadline: Crime and Guns on Campus: Tamron Hall Investigates, among many others) will chair true crime series Someone They Knew…With Tamron Hall, Deadline reports.
Based on a media statement from Hall, the show is focused on fatal cases of domestic violence. “When the idea of a series focused on crimes committed by intimate partners was presented to me, I felt a deep connection to these victims,” she said. “I have always been pulled into the ‘why’ – why crimes like this happen – and the heartbreaking impact they have on family and friends.”
Quotes like this are always bullshit, of course, but in this case there’s a grain of truth: Hall’s sister , as you likely know, was a domestic violence victim who was killed in 2004. Even now, no one has been prosecuted in the case.
According to Deadline, “The stories will be told from the point of view of those impacted by the case, including the lawyers, jurors, members of law enforcement, and the victim’s family and friends.”
So, pretty standard stuff, I think we can agree — but good for Hall, who seems like a fun and interesting person. The series, which premieres on Court TV on January 9, 2022, will air at 9 PM ET every Sunday. — EB
And now, a whirlwind headline roundup of some cases we’ve been following:
'It's time for me to come home': Rep. Jackie Speier says she won't run for re-election [SF Gate]
"Forty three years ago this week I was on a lying on an air strip in the jungles of Guyana with five bullet holes in my body," Speier sasid in her announcement, referring to her shooting as part of the Jonestown Massacre. "I vowed if I survived I would dedicate my life to public service. I lived and I served. It has been a remarkable journey that has surpassed my wildest dreams."Ghislaine Maxwell trial latest news: Jury selection to begin as Epstein faces case by proxy [AP]
”’I have not committed any crime,’ the jailed Maxwell blurted out at a recent pretrial conference. Jury selection begins today, buckle up.Investigators track down Cleveland bank teller who stuffed $215K into a paper bag and vanished 52 years ago [CNN]
US Marshals announced Friday that they’ve “identified the man considered one of the nation's most wanted fugitives.”John Artis, co-defendant of ‘Hurricane’ Carter, dies at 75 [AP]
Garland Whitt played Atris in the movie adaptation of the case, The Hurricane.Elizabeth Holmes trial: Prosecution seeks to block positive patient reviews Holmes says help her case [Bay Area News Group]
”Holmes lawyer Kevin Downey grilled [former Theranos investor Alan Eisenman] about his relationship with the prosecution, and displayed for the jury a 2018 email between Eisenman and a federal agent. ‘You know that I am a faithful part of your team, and will do all that I can to help your case,’ Eisenman wrote.”
Wednesday on Best Evidence: Prepare for a massive growl from Sarah, as she reviews a controversial property for our paid subscribers. It’ll be grrrrreat!
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