TCA: Investigation Discovery Orders "Vanity Fair Confidential" Based on Conde Nast Magazine Crime Stories
by THE DEADLINE TEAM
July 9, 2014


Investigation Discovery announced this morning that it will bring Vanity Fair magazine’s crime stories to TV in a new series called "Vanity Fair Confidential".

ID will partner with Conde Naste Entertainment and True Entertainment to bring some of the magazine’s more compelling stories to viewers in the series, which is set to debut this winter.

Each one-hour episode will feature a piece from the magazine and magazine writers will give their insights into each story, interlaced with first-person accounts from those involved in the cases, including law enforcement, family members and friends of the victims.








PRISONER OF DENVER
by Mark Seal

Twenty-one-year-old Lisl Auman is a self-proclaimed hippie with a knack for mixing with the wrong people at the wrong place and time. In the summer of 1997, Auman is charged with the felony murder of Denver police officer Bruce VanderJagt, despite being locked in the back of a police patroller when the deadly shots were fired.

Pleading her innocence, Auman writes to author Hunter S. Thompson and several politicians in a last-ditch effort to make an appeal yet fails to receive any responses or aid. Auman is devastated and hopeless until one day when Hunter S. Thompson responds.

Using his vast influence to organize the Free Lisl campaign, Thompson starts working with Vanity Fair contributing editor Mark Seal to uncover what really happened that fatal day.

Was Auman as innocent as Thompson believes? How could someone be convicted of murder if they never touched the weapon? And who is really responsible for the death of Officer VanderJagt?





DON’T ASK, DON’T KILL
by Buzz Bissinger

At 2 a.m. on July 5, 1999, Private First Class Barry Winchell is murdered. His parents are told he’s been kicked in the head by a steel-toed boot, while his girlfriend, Calpernia Addams, hears on the news that he was in a brutal fight.

Addams, a pre-operative transsexual, fears she was to blame for Winchell’s killing. Only two men know what really happened in the beer-soaked barracks that deadly night. One of them is released from prison; the other is ready to tell the awful truth about the jealousy, homophobia, and manipulation that led to the death of the well-liked PFC.





THE LADY VANISHES
by Mimi Swartz

Madalyn Murray O’Hair is deemed one of the most hated women in all of America for being responsible for banning school prayer. When O’Hair, her son, Jon, and her granddaughter, Robin, suddenly vanish, some people believe they’ve been killed by religious fanatics. Others are convinced she’s embezzled money from American Atheists, the organization she founded, and has started a new life abroad.

Her eldest son, William J. Murray, and family friend, Phil Donahue, are concerned and start the manhunt to find the Murray O’Hairs, which Vanity Fair writer Mimi Swartz quickly joins.

Did the Murray O’Hairs flee to Europe with embezzled money? Were religious extremists responsible for their disappearance? The truth of the family’s whereabouts is something that no one could have predicted.

http://www.deadline.com/2014/07/tca-investigation-discovery-orders-vanity-fair-confidential-based-on-conde-nast-magazine-crime-stories/

sounds interesting. Barry Winchell has been profiled on American Justice, and Madalyn Murray O'Hair has been on at least 4 true crime shows, but that one never gets old.

Sounds interesting! Some of the newer shows ID has added recently are pretty bad though, IMO. :shocked

We finally have a launch date for this series. Monday, January 19 at 9 p.m. The show promises to reinvent the mystery genre. Sounds like it will be a goodie.

Sounds interesting! Some of the newer shows ID has added recently are pretty bad though, IMO. :shocked

+1. I'm struggling to understand why they cancelled Disappeared. It was a very well done show, but I guess not as "sexy" as Scorned: Love Kills.

Jilted Spouses, An Intriguing Aspect of "Vanity Fair Confidential" – TCA
by Anthony D'Alessandro
January 8, 2014


“I’ve been chasing the concept of this show ever since I was at CourtTV when Dominick Dunne was there,” exclaimed Discovery Channels group president Henry Schleiff at the TCA panel for Investigation Discovery’s upcoming series "Vanity Fair Confidential".

The show premieres on January 19 and dives into the treasure trove files of the magazine’s investigative stories.



Some of the more popular magazine stores to be featured are:

“The Counterfeit Rockefeller,” the story of French high class crook Christophe Rocancourt who stole money from millions after convincing them that he was part of the legendary family.

“The Runaway Doctor,” the story about the fairy tale husband Dr. Mark Weinberger who mysteriously left his wife.

“The Fugitive Heir,” about real estate scion Robert Durst’s entanglement during the 1980s in two murders and a missing person’s case.





Distinguishing itself from the slew of other investigative doc series out there is the fact that "Vanity Fair Confidential" will not have any reenactments. Rather, each episode rests on putting the Vanity Fair reporters of theses exposes before the camera as well as witnesses and specialists related to the articles.

Said Vanity Fair deputy editor Dana Brown at the TCA panel, “Some of these stories are a few years old, so the fun part is seeing what has happened since they originated.”





One critic at TCA asked whether the Vanity Fair series butted heads with HBO when it came to the subject of Durst. (HBO is producing the Andrew Jarecki doc The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst)

However, Brown mentioned that Vanity Fair didn’t encounter any overlap in sources with HBO. The difference though was that Durst made himself exclusively to the Jarecki doc. “HBO paid Durst a lot of money to be a part of that project,” said "Vanity Fair Confidential" executive producer Steven Weinstock.









The panel Thursday morning trotted out some of the actual players in these investigative stories, such as Gry Park, the ex-wife of Rocancourt, who recounted her suspicions about her husband and all the cash that was lying around their domicile.

“I left a voicemail message to an FBI friend to see if they ever heard about him, and within 20 minutes I was surrounded by the international police and the FBI. Apparently they did know who he was,” said Park on how she called the authorities on her estranged husband.



Blurted one critic to Park during the session, “But most wives like to see a lot of cash lying around.”

To which Park responded, “Well, Christophe said he was the son of a diplomat; that his father was sending him cash to store it in a safety deposit box. He opened up to me, he was very vulnerable and while I hate to put him in a good light; he was very good to me and a human being.

But there was too much cash. When there’s too much cash, you get nervous. Honestly, when I left that message for the authorities, I didn’t think anything could happen. But I didn’t want to bring our children into anything hard or difficult.”





Weinstock, who is producing "Vanity Fair Confidential", through his True Entertainment label, explained his team’s sifting process for choosing Vanity Fair pieces.

“We cross-referenced those stories that had already been given a TV treatment, then slowly whittled down choosing the most compelling stories we could actually do. In some instances, people are no longer alive. In others, some people didn’t want to be part of the story.”

http://deadline.com/2015/01/vanity-fair-confidential-investigation-discovery-robert-durst-1201344536/

Robert Durst will be one of their first episodes. It sounds like this time, it will focus more on his suspected involvement in the murder of his elderly neighbor in Texas, than it is his suspicion of his involvement in his wife Kathy's presumed murder in New York, or other crimes for that matter. Should be interesting.

There's an upcoming episode on the Florida School for Boys, the infamous and now-closed institution where multiple beatings, rapes, tortures and other horrible crimes occurred.

Anyone catch the Lou Perlman episode? Found it fascinating...

"Vanity Fair Confidential" Renewed for Season 2 by Investigation Discovery
by Nellie Andreeva
March 30, 2015


Ten episodes into "Vanity Fair Confidential’s" 12-episode first season, the documentary series has been picked up for a second season by Investigation Discovery.

Created by True Entertainment, in partnership with Condé Nast Entertainment and ID, "Vanity Fair Confidential" chronicles Vanity Fair writers and editors’ efforts to uncover high-profile crimes and dramas and uses archival images and research from the magazine’s vault of source material.

The penultimate episode from Season 1 airs tonight. Season 2 will premiere in 2016.

http://deadline.com/2015/03/vanity-fair-confidential-renewed-season-2-investigation-discovery-1201400954/

Sweet! I'm loving this show.

The Phil Spector case was featured last night. I obviously knew quite a bit about the case prior to viewing, but man... Phil was one messed up cat.

Gotta wonder if they will cover the Etan Patz case, since I know the magazine has covered that case. And it's been all over the news lately. I e-mailed ID network to ask if they would show the 20/20 episode, but didn't get so much as a response. It would probably get huge ratings, seems like a no-brainer to me.

Gotta wonder if they will cover the Etan Patz case, since I know the magazine has covered that case. And it's been all over the news lately.


Who?

:D :D :D :D

Season 2 starts Monday, January 4th.

Just a reminder the new season starts Monday.

Also, here is a listing for upcoming new episodes, with episode titles and case descriptions.

https://corporate.discovery.com/discovery-newsroom/investigation-discoverys-new-season-of-vanity-fair-confidential-digs-deep-into-the-magazines-most-thrilling-true-crime-stories/

I love this show, can't wait for the new season. I am especially impressed with Bryan Burrough and Buzz Bissinger. I'll admit the stories they mentioned in the body of that article sounded a little disappointing, but now that I'm to the list of shows I'm really looking forward to it, even the Cosby episode.