San Quentin · Krysten Ritter
Eve plays Marry Fuck Kill with Reelz
the true crime that's worth your time
I was driving home from Berkeley the other day, when my navigation app rerouted me away from a crash on the Bay Bridge. My only way to get back to SF was via a bridge I rarely use, one that deposits me at the Bay side of Marin County, right outside San Quentin’s doors.
I was struck, as I always am, that the infamous prison occupies some of the most gorgeous land in California. Located on a spit just beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, it’s got amazing views — albeit views that are obscured by barriers and bars.
Quentin is one of the few prisons that’s right there, in your face. Think about most big incarceration complexes, how you drive past and see those ominous “DO NOT pick up hitchhikers in the area UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES” signs and some bright lights in the distance, but little else. Not so for Quentin, which tourists can gaze upon as they slurp chowder from a bread bowl, and locals can see death row from a restaurant that serves tiny $22 salads. It’s a strange quirk of real estate in one of the priciest land areas in the world.
That’s why I was so psyched to see my local NPR station tackle the quirk in a piece headlined “How San Quentin Prison Got Its Primo Real Estate.” It’s a fascinating history of the joint, the land for which was purchased for around $10K back in 1852 with a plan to move inmates from a floating jail onto dry land.
For comparison, nearby Alcatraz didn’t open until 1934 and shut down in 1963, making it kind of a short-timer in the famous NorCal jail game. And Quentin could have closed down in the early 00s, if former state assembly member Joe Nation (what a name, right?) had his way. Snip:
"I just thought there were other opportunities for it," Nation said. "Part of it was the deep water ferry port that I thought would make a lot of sense."
A deep water ferry port would allow the Larkspur ferry to avoid the shallow no wake zones it currently travels through. And, Nation thought the county could connect it to the SMART train, maybe build some much needed housing.
"I thought if you made it a transit hub, if you made it so that people could actually live there, work there, or commute on the ferry to the East Bay or to San Francisco, that made a lot of sense," Nation said.
But no one else in the state legislature had much enthusiasm for his ideas and there was significant local push back. People living nearby didn't want the noise and congestion such a project would bring. Counterintuitively, the prison is a good neighbor. It's tucked away, with few comings and goings. Many Marin County residents don't think much about it.
That’s right, Marin county NIMBY’s are so NIMBY that they’d rather have a jail in their backyard than a transit hub. Ha!
The piece is a great read on carceral real estate, and if you don’t feel like using your eyes, there’s a nice audio version like at the top of the page. — EB
Love And Death’s cast just got a lot more interesting. This is the HBO take on the Candy Montgomery story, the one starring Elizabeth Olsen (not Elizabeth Moss, as in the Hulu version of the same true-crime tale). The show has generated a low hum of interest with news that it’s cast a lot of cult-fave actors like Jesse Plemons and Lily Rabe; Keir Gilchrist, Elizabeth Marvel and Tom Pelphrey joined the cast last month, as well.
It seemed like all the plum roles were taken, but Deadline reported yesterday that Krysten Ritter — of Veronica Mars and Jessica Jones fame — has signed on to play Sherry Cleckler.
Cleckler isn’t a household name, not even in true-crime circles, as you can see if you try to google her. But she’s an important figure in the case, readers of definitive pulp Montgomery take Evidence of Love will agree: Cleckler was Montgomery’s best friend, but also helped Candy and her husband, Pat, negotiate things when her affair with a neighbor was revealed. She played a pivotal part in the events that led to the crime at the heart of the case, so it’s likely we’ll get a lot of Ritter when the David E. Kelley-penned series drops (date: still TBD). — EB
Is there a worse network name than “Reelz”? If so, I can’t think of it, but somehow they persist, and next month they have a slate of salacious true crime stories that we’ll have to find a way to watch. (Do I even get Reelz? No clue.)
The news comes via a press release that is basically a Marry Fuck Kill in PR form. Here we go:
Marry
Leona Helmsley: Life, Death & Money
Tuesday, October 12 10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT
Real estate mogul/convicted felon Leona Helmsley, AKA “the queen of mean,” was an unrepentant shithead who did indeed say that “only the little people pay taxes” back in the 1980s. Ha ha, if she said that today she could have been president! (JK she was a lady, so unlikely.) When she died in 2007 she left $12 million to her dog, which was named Trouble, hence her “marry” slot. Here’s the logline:
Making her own controversial headlines during her life and definitely after she passed was billionaire real estate mogul and hotelier Leona Helmsley. In her will she disinherited family members while leaving $12 million to her dog “Trouble”. Despite being dubbed the Queen of Mean for her ruthless approach to building a massively successful real estate empire based in New York City Helmsley left the bulk of her $4.8 billion fortune to be divvied up to charities devoted solely to the care and welfare of canines. The trouble is she wasn’t specific enough in her will and it triggered several lawsuits from charities as well as disgruntled family members.
Even Reelz isn’t promising any new revelations or interviews, so this is probably a turn on while doing laundry one. What’s more marital than background noise?
Fuck
Mary Kay Letourneau: ‘Til Death
Tuesday, October 5 10 p.m. ET/ 7 p.m. PT
I just asked for a Ryan Murphy-style run at this case, so I feel like the monkey’s paw only partially unfurled with this one. Does a Reelz show have the chops to tackle this child exploitation/sexual assault case from the 1990s with 2020s eyes? I wouldn’t bet this month’s paid subscription revenue on it.
But still, I’m into it enough to see if they try. Here’s the press description:
In a story befitting of an entire TV series in itself [LIKE I JUST SAID - EB] elementary school teacher Mary Kay Letourneau rocketed to infamy in 1997 after it was revealed the married woman with four children had a sexual affair with student Vili Faulaau who was only 13 years old. On Tuesday, October 5 at 10pm ET/ 7pm PT Mary Kay Letourneau: ‘Til Death delves into the infamous relationship with PEOPLE magazine reporter Steve Helling who has covered the couple for 15 years and Letourneau’s best friend Ann Bremner who give viewers personal insight into the lives of the controversial couple during Letourneau’s last days on earth before dying of cancer in 2020.
The use of “sexual affair” does not fill me with hope that this show will get into grooming, etc., but Steve Helling sometimes provides a pleasant surprise. I am DTF MKL:TD.
Kill
“Every Friday in October Features Eight Back-to-Back Episodes of the Original ‘Cops’ Documentary Reality Series Showcasing the Real Stories of Law Enforcement in the Line of Duty Across America”
Did Reelz not listen to Running From Cops? Did they miss, like, 2020? The press release suggests they did:
Kicking off the October lineup on Friday, October 1 are eight back-to-back episodes of the original COPS making their REELZ premieres starting at 7pm ET/ 4pm PT. The original reality ride-along series follows police officers and sheriff deputies during patrols and various police activities by embedding camera crews with their units to give viewers an inside look at being in the line of duty.
The original reality ride-along series and pioneer of the unscripted television explosion takes viewers coast to coast and to the front lines with the men and women of American law enforcement where the action is visceral, unpredictable and as real as it gets.
As far as I am concerned, Cops needs to go the way of Confederate statues, Stephen Miller, and carob, so to present reruns of this deeply problematic show without interrogation — and, it appears, with praise and admiration — seems borderline One America News Network in nature. Reelz should feel bad for giving the folks who made this show money. Kill kill kill then burn the body and salt the ashes. — EB
Friday on Best Evidence: More on our changing attitudes toward DiD.
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