White House Plumbers · L&O BDSM
Plus cross-examining TV and gallery grift
the true crime that's worth your time
Peacock’s Based On A True Story has a premiere date. Per a Peacock press release, the “dark comedic thriller…is about a realtor, a former tennis star and a plumber who seize a unique opportunity to capitalize on America's obsession with true crime,” and the streamer will drop all eight episodes on Thursday June 8.
Starring Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina, BOATS (…heh) comes from “the Creative Minds of Craig Rosenberg, Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan,” and that up-capping is a leetle much IMO — but Alex Buono, best known to me for directing basically all of Documentary Now!, is also at the helm for the premiere and finale of BOATS and is executive-producing, which means the show piques my interest more than it otherwise might.
More first-look photos at the Futon Critic link above; is this one on your-all’s radar? — SDB
The art world never runs out of scam stories, and Hyperallergic never stops covering them. Rhea Nayyar breaks down the tale of the East Village Art Collection vanishing after collecting fees for an exhibition that never happened (and neither did various ancillary deals, like contracted billboard advertising).
At first, it sounds like a straightforward pay-to-play grift by EVAC:
The artists were contacted via social media with an invitation to apply for a spot in an “immersive experience” at the East Village Art Collection (EVAC). Though the exact number of participants remains unclear, around 25 artists were selected to display their work at an onsite exhibition on April 14 at the gallery’s First Avenue space, and an additional cohort opted to participate in a rotating billboard display of their work in Times Square. But as the East Village blog EV Grieve reported, neither of the two elements came to fruition. Head Curator Steven Hirsch and other affiliates of EVAC have yet to provide details regarding the unforeseen cancellation, leaving the artists, some of whom traveled from out of state and even internationally, allegedly out thousands of dollars and convinced that the whole thing was “a scam.”
But the piece goes on to note that EVAC’s business model prior to April was “a vanity gallery that charges each artist $500 to exhibit their work. The events are also ticketed with general admission and VIP tiers, and all artwork sale proceeds are said to be directed to the artists.” The vanity set-up is a little grimy — as most teenage poets learn when the International Library of Poetry reaches out to them — but not illegal, or even unethical.
But there’s “just part of the nonstop arts hustle,” and then there’s…getting hustled; why try to level up to a bait-and-switch now? And then there’s the fact that, if Hirsch was trying to big-store-con the artists, he did a shit job of it, because you have to fold the store and get out of town. EVAC did part of that — Hyperallergic cites EV Grieve again in noting that “EVAC’s gallery location at 215 First Avenue is now up for lease as of May 1” — but then Hirsch also claims the event went south because of a “medical emergency.” And yeah, some of the scammy behavior does read like an amateurish response to an unforeseen exigency, but once the artists start doorstepping you and demanding answers (and…finding you at home, not for nothing), why not just…explain the situation and return the funds? And why/how did the space go back on the market that quickly, unless EVAC had been in arrears for months already and the event con was a last-ditch effort to raise back rent…or the con activated an illegal-activity eviction clause in the lease?
This isn’t the last time the “a lot of venality is actually just stupidity” principle is going to appear in today’s edition, so I’ll leave it there, but read the piece and tell me if you think this is an overmatched entrepreneur handling a setback poorly, or a grift that wasn’t thought through. — SDB
In other “ripped from the headlines” news, I’ve updated the Law & Order Case Codex with some longreads on the Andrew Crispo case, which along with Robert Mapplethorpe’s life and work is the ostensible inspiration for S01.E10, “Prisoner of Love.” I have zero contemporaneous memory of the Crispo “scandal,” although I will note again — and not for the last time, I’m sure — that, just as the sobriquet “disgraced financier” does not begin with Jeffrey Epstein, it is not appropriate to describe a series of events during which “some young boys found a charred and mutilated corpse in a smokehouse” as a scandal. Yes, people were scandalized by some of the ancillary proclivities of figures in the case, but it is in fact a murder case. I’m as gossipy as literally anyone, but words have meanings.
Anyway! An episode like this (Frances Conroy is the gallerista defendant, if you too struggled to place it) is where this codex has a chance to shine, I think: a once-ubiquitous story, now fallen well below the horizon, that may have generated worthwhile coverage or analysis that also has disappeared from view over time. Here, it’s Grace Glueck’s 1992 NYT review of David France’s crassly titled Bag of Toys: Sex, Scandal, and the Death Mask Murder. In the course of reviewing the book, Glueck provides a well-paced and compelling overview of Crispo’s rise and fall that probably makes her piece the go-to for matters Crispo — but also irises out to indict certain aspects of the genre:
However horrible murder may be for its victims and their loved ones, it does create employment -- at least the more sensational murders do -- for writers of what Truman Capote called the "nonfiction novel." We've already had Robert Katz's trashily titled "Naked by the Window," a 1990 account of the Andre case, and now there is "Bag of Toys," David France's exploration -- or should we say exploitation? -- of the Crispo affair. (The title refers to Mr. Crispo's name for the collection of sexual devices that he kept at the ready.) Although "Bag of Toys" is plenty titillating, let the reader beware. It may be a page-turner, but it's a stomach-turner, too. Mr. France doesn't stint on gruesome detail.
Glueck hits all the “high”lights of Crispo’s bio, including cameos from Liberace and Roy Cohn, in a way that obviates the need to read France’s book…but “unfortunately” sent me down a rabbithole about Glueck, a formidable art-critic bad-ass who died last year at age 96, so if you’re wondering why the LOICC gets updated so slowly, that’s…the nature of it, I suppose! — SDB
Maybe the nature of it is also to examine/generate discussion about the Law & Order-verse’s influence on IRL thinking about its fictionalized cases — although I don’t feel comfortable positioning it that grandly, but the show did come up during Trump attorney Joe Tacopina’s cross-examination of E. Jean Carroll earlier this week. Eve mentioned WaPo’s play-by-play of Carroll’s lawsuit last week; New York’s Court Appearances newsletter, linked above, is where I read up on Tacopina’s questioning.
The cross of Carroll, although scabrous and possibly triggering (so as always, read with care for yourselves), provided inadvertent insight into how much influence TV can wield — in the presumed reach of the L&O franchise; in the points the Special Victims Unit branch of the show is determined to hammer, no matter how clumsily, for as long as it takes about how trauma is stored in the memory and the connected myth of the perfect victim; and of course in the way TV stardom can act as sword and as shield for someone like Donald Trump.
Tacopina also asked questions about Carroll’s television and social media habits. He asked about The Apprentice, a long-running show where contestants vied for an opportunity to work for Trump. Did Carroll admit that she enjoyed the show? “I had never seen such a witty competition on television,” Carroll said. “It was something that was worth watching.”
He then asked about the show’s conclusion — where Trump would tell hapless contestants “You’re fired!” before booting them. “I didn’t watch that,” Carroll said, “but I watched the competition.” Tacopina pressed on “You made a Facebook post, you were a ‘massive’ — all caps Apprentice fan.”
“Two friends were on The Apprentice,” Carroll said, “and I wanted to boost The Apprentice. This was a very good television show.”
(“Narrator: ‘Was it though?’”)
Victoria Bekiempis does top work in Tuesday’s edition bringing forward these issues without too much asterisking; the newsletter generally is worth a follow, as we’ve mentioned before. — SDB
Still a couple of days to vote in the May bonus-review poll! As of this writing, it’s a street fight at the top
so your vote could make the difference! (Don’t forget: you don’t have to pick just one! Vote for all the ones that look interesting — or less crappish, or whatever your rationale might be.)
And remember, that review is just for paid subscribers, so if you haven’t joined us behind the paywall, now’s the time! — SDB
The crime
Watergate again, some more.
The story
White House Plumbers, HBO’s much-anticipated five-part roman a bungle, debuted Monday, and it’s sitting at 70/50 on Rotten Tomatoes as I type this, but it’s not for me. Extra Hot Great club members can hear the panel discuss it in tomorrow’s EEHG episode, and part of that conversation is about who WHP is for, because the “me” it doesn’t quite work for is the “Watergate-case super-user” part.
This is me and my esteemed colleague Mike Dunn responding to another EC Alan Sepinwall’s review for Rolling Stone; Mike and I have both spent the better part of the Trump era using Watergate content — Nixon psych bios, repeated All The President’s Men viewings, etc. — to self-soothe politically, so in theory we’re the ideal demo for WHP, but in practice, it’s too slow, too broad, too in love with its own thespionics in a few cases (it’s not that Harrelson’s portrayal of E. Howard Hunt is bad, but Harrelson’s evident self-regard re: his off-label line-delivery choices is distracting). That’s not an “I know the case too well to enjoy this take” problem. That’s a “prestige project smelling its own farts” problem.
And the tone is…off, particularly when the script obliges Justin Theroux and Judy Greer to play G. Gordon Liddy’s Hitler hard-on as high-larious quirk. It isn’t — it’s gross, and the almost-perfect-circle Venn of venal and stupid in politics isn’t inherently funny. That’s probably the central problem: that the Veep creative team is trying to satirize historical events that don’t require it. There’s not nothing here, but I’d rather have watched a much narrower slice, or one from the edge of the story — 33 1/3 Short Films About The First Three Burglary Attempts, say, or Hunted, about Hunt’s family life. As it is, White House Plumbers is functionally Deep Throat’s line from ATPM, “The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand”…stretched over five hours.
“But I want to look at Justin Theroux for a while!” I understand, believe me — although I have to tell you that that instinct works against his casting in WHP. He’s just too good-looking. Roles do exist where you could forget that about Theroux periodically; Liddy is not one of them. Save yourself some time and check out Esquire’s interview with Theroux and Harrelson instead.
The article is uncritical to the point of fannish, and tries heroically but (to me) unsuccessfully to sell these two as a wacky, witty good time; skip it and marinate in the visuals. — SDB
Coming up on Best Evidence: Mindhunter’s best character, and your weekend best bets.
What is this thing? This should help. Follow Best Evidence @bestevidencefyi on Instagram, email us at editorial at bestevidence dot fyi, or call or text us any time at 919-75-CRIME.