Murder House Flip · Leavenworth · Joe Kenda
Plus: Meryl Streep!
the true crime that's worth your time
Are true crime and home renovation truly two great tastes that taste great together? That’s what shortform video platform Quibi appears to hope, as it has reached a deal with CSI and Bones scribe Josh Berman for a reality series called Murder House Flip.
Deadline reports that the series will be “an unconventional home-renovation show” in which the owners of homes in which notorious crimes occurred will “turn to the colorful cast of forensic specialists, spiritual healers and high-end renovation experts to uncover the true crimes, shocking secrets and scandalous history of their homes.” Those pros will then “remove the stains of the past and take these homes from morbid to marvelous.”
It kind of sounds like bunk to me -- after all, if you live anywhere old enough, something horrible is bound to have happened there. And we’re all OK, right? But maybe it will be good for a laugh or two. Quibi, the platform, has yet to launch -- it’s a new venture from a couple heavy Silicon Valley hitters, and is expected to make its debut on April 6 of 2020. It appears the plan is to have Murder House Flip up and running at launch, so mark your calendar now. -- EB
The trailer for Steven Soderbergh’s Starz documentary has dropped. As previously discussed, the five-hour series is focused on 34-year-old 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, who was convicted of murder for ordering his soldiers to fire on three unarmed Afghan men who approached their patrol unit. He’s now serving a 19-year sentence in -- as you might have guesses -- The United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth.
Though the slayings occurred in 2012, the case -- which Lorance has continued to fight -- returned to the public eye in 2015, when The New York Times presented it as a “Cause Célèbre, Scorned by Troops.” Lawyer Don Brown (who assisted with Lorance’s appeal) also published a book on the subject this year, entitled Travesty of Justice: The Shocking Prosecution of Lt. Clint Lorance, so you probably have a pretty solid idea of where he stands on the matter.
Leavenworth will premiere at the Tribeca TV Festival on September 15, and will air its first episode on Starz on October 20 at 9:30 PM ET. -- EB
Court TV just launched a podcast. It’s hosted by network anchors Vinnie Politan (who is allowed to be fully dressed and stand like a normal person) and Seema Iyer (who is apparently…not), and will run on a weekly basis starting today. According to a press release sent by the network, the show will “take listeners behind-the-scenes of Court TV's popular coverage of the day's top trials” and will “discuss, analyze and debate the true-crime cases happening in courtrooms around the country” with guests including “the country's top attorneys, investigators and experts.”
Its first episode, which was released today, covers the verdict against Michael Drejka, who was convicted of manslaughter when he admittedly killed Markeis McGlockton during an argument over a parking space. I haven’t listened yet (I was thinking I would when I went for my run today, so if I don’t say anything else about it that’s because I’m a lazy slug), but you can check it out here. -- EB
As Homicide Hunter kicks off its final season, Lt. Joe Kenda is making the promotional rounds. The former Colorado Springs cop has helmed his ID show since 2011, but its current season, which began Wednesday, is its last. Kenda tells Reality Blurred that the network is developing another show for him, “though it’s so early in development that he knows nothing about its focus or content.” (You guys, what if it’s a food show? Come on, like you wouldn’t tune in for Cooking With Kenda.)
According to Kenda, the reason his current show is ending is that he’s out of stories suitable for TV, and “what I have remaining are either too simple or simply too disgusting—involving children and babies, and I won’t do those and neither will ID.” He still had enough to make for 20 episodes in his final season, however, so you’ll still have plenty of his recollections to enjoy over the next few months. -- EB
Speaking of Steven Soderbergh -- a phrase I’m glad I just have to type, instead of saying it aloud -- Leavenworth isn’t his only true crime venture to drop a trailer this week. There’s also The Laundromat, which Variety characterizes as a “dark comedy” adaptation of Secrecy World: Inside the Panama Papers Investigation of Illicit Money Networks and the Global Elite.
The film will reportedly follow the journalists who broke the Panama Papers story, a cache of over 11 million leaked documents that revealed an international network of massive corporations that set up offshore tax shelters to avoid billions in taxes, a sentence that fills me with an overwhelming sense of despair. But Soderbergh tells Variety that he thinks the journalists-uncover-a-scandal story had been covered well already in films, so he wanted to entertain the audience with a worldwide amorality.” And a cast that includes Gary Oldman, Antonio Banderas, and Meryl Streep.
Today might not be the day I’m up for a “worldwide amorality” chuckle, but perhaps my mood will have improved by the time the film is released? It premieres at the Venice Film Festival this week, with a theatrical run (and subsequent Netflix launch) soon to follow. -- EB
Friday on Best Evidence: I’m reviewing a strange documentary about a con that maybe wasn’t a con? I’m still not sure, maybe you folks can help me figure it out.
What is this thing? This should help.
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