True Crime Programming

[Corky Kneivel]

I've always been fascinated in true crime stuff. Whether it be American Mafia or profiles of serial killers, I've always just been drawn to programming featuring actual historical crimes. I have DirectTV at my house and I don't know exactly which channels I watch, but here's how I "flip through" for true crime shows:

265 - A&E Channel. A&E is good for:
The First 48 - Absolutely stunning is what this show is. To think that this show is what all these other "True Crime" shows are except in real time, that just blows my mind. If anyone out there has never seen the movie "Network" made around 1976 or so, that movie presaged this kind of television programming 30 years ago. The Memphis team is my favorite.
American Justice - Bill "Rerun" Kurtis can shake his body and gyrate in places you don't even know exist. I swear he does the robot everytime he's on screen. Oh, the cases are always entertaining and thoroughly covered.
Notorious - Only occasionally on but a good in-depth hour of featuring some, well...notorious...criminal. I usually skip these though because there's only so much you can know about a murderer.
City Confidential (Paul Winfield eps only) - One of the best. Love the way they incorporate a city's history and personality into a famous, oftentimes shocking, crime that occured there.

Then I go from 266-282...These are your National Geographic, Science, Discovery, History Channels...I don't know what they are epsecifically, but I do knowif I'm at the Military Channel then I'm at the end of the channels I like. In those channels I'll find:
Infamous Murders - No beating around the bush with this show. In 30 minutes they profile 3 separate-yet-commonly-themed infamous murder/muderers. I suspect its a re-edited British program, but the American narrator has a great voice.
The New Detectives - Fantastic. Low budget recreations but the cases profiled, the narration, and the packaging of 3 separate-yet-commonly-themed cases per episode make this a must watch.
FBI Files - FantasticER. Everything that's true about The New Detectives is true about this, except the narrator is actually better. I also really like how the low budget recreations, really the lowest of the low, have actors who never go too far overboard with the acting. Its just enough to fill in the gaps in the narration.
48 Hours Investigates - Every case makes you think there's been a miscarriage of justice somewhere.
Most Evil - This show is ****ed the ****ed up...I can't even watch this show sometimes. That doctor ranks about a 6 at least.
Crime Stories - Canadian show profiling Canadian crimes. Cool because I'm not familiar with the majority of the cases but I've been repulsed by 3 out of the 4 I've seen. Canda has some grizzly killers.
Unsolved History - Sometimes they'll have a "true crime" style ep. but not really a true crime show. Besides, they do 4 much in covering each and every angle.

I then hit 246 - Court TV - Great for:
Forensic Files - Used to be "Medical Detectives" which is the long lost grandpappy of all those "CSI: Des Moines" shows. Another show with the great announcer voice. There's about a million of these.
The Investigators - Really good cases profiled.
Body of Evidence: Dayle Hinman's Gonna Hem Your Ass Up! - Good cases, but the style of the show sucks. Plus the way she reads her lines bugs me.
COPS! Greatest Hits - White Trash under pressure ©Patton Oswalt.
Lockdown! - That inside-the-prisons show. This is some of the most unintentionally hilarious programming ever: the things that are important in prison and how they deal with it.

[nohwheregirl]

Hilarious as always, Corky! Your characterizations are dead on (no pun intended). I'm glad I'm not the only one who was completely creeped out by the "Most Evil" professor guy. Do we really need a scale? I'm pretty sure that, past a certain threshold, you can just characterize somebody as a sick evil bastard and be done with it.

[Corky Kneivel]

...anyone else watch anyof these shows...and mayyyybe have opinions on them that they'd like to share? Juss checkin...

[crystaldawn]

Originally Posted by Corky Kneivel

I've always been fascinated in true crime stuff. Whether it be American Mafia or profiles of serial killers, I've always just been drawn to programming featuring actual historical crimes. I have DirectTV at my house and I don't know exactly which channels I watch, but here's how I "flip through" for true crime shows:

265 - A&E Channel. A&E is good for:
The First 48 - Absolutely stunning is what this show is. To think that this show is what all these other "True Crime" shows are except in real time, that just blows my mind. If anyone out there has never seen the movie "Network" made around 1976 or so, that movie presaged this kind of television programming 30 years ago. The Memphis team is my favorite.
American Justice - Bill "Rerun" Kurtis can shake his body and gyrate in places you don't even know exist. I swear he does the robot everytime he's on screen. Oh, the cases are always entertaining and thoroughly covered.
Notorious - Only occasionally on but a good in-depth hour of featuring some, well...notorious...criminal. I usually skip these though because there's only so much you can know about a murderer.
City Confidential (Paul Winfield eps only) - One of the best. Love the way they incorporate a city's history and personality into a famous, oftentimes shocking, crime that occured there.

Then I go from 266-282...These are your National Geographic, Science, Discovery, History Channels...I don't know what they are epsecifically, but I do knowif I'm at the Military Channel then I'm at the end of the channels I like. In those channels I'll find:
Infamous Murders - No beating around the bush with this show. In 30 minutes they profile 3 separate-yet-commonly-themed infamous murder/muderers. I suspect its a re-edited British program, but the American narrator has a great voice.
The New Detectives - Fantastic. Low budget recreations but the cases profiled, the narration, and the packaging of 3 separate-yet-commonly-themed cases per episode make this a must watch.
FBI Files - FantasticER. Everything that's true about The New Detectives is true about this, except the narrator is actually better. I also really like how the low budget recreations, really the lowest of the low, have actors who never go too far overboard with the acting. Its just enough to fill in the gaps in the narration.
48 Hours Investigates - Every case makes you think there's been a miscarriage of justice somewhere.
Most Evil - This show is ****ed the ****ed up...I can't even watch this show sometimes. That doctor ranks about a 6 at least.
Crime Stories - Canadian show profiling Canadian crimes. Cool because I'm not familiar with the majority of the cases but I've been repulsed by 3 out of the 4 I've seen. Canda has some grizzly killers.
Unsolved History - Sometimes they'll have a "true crime" style ep. but not really a true crime show. Besides, they do 4 much in covering each and every angle.

I then hit 246 - Court TV - Great for:
Forensic Files - Used to be "Medical Detectives" which is the long lost grandpappy of all those "CSI: Des Moines" shows. Another show with the great announcer voice. There's about a million of these.
The Investigators - Really good cases profiled.
Body of Evidence: Dayle Hinman's Gonna Hem Your Ass Up! - Good cases, but the style of the show sucks. Plus the way she reads her lines bugs me.
COPS! Greatest Hits - White Trash under pressure ©Patton Oswalt.
Lockdown! - That inside-the-prisons show. This is some of the most unintentionally hilarious programming ever: the things that are important in prison and how they deal with it.

Yes we always appreciate Corky's entertaining posts...

Hmm well my faves of the ones you mentioned would be first off Forensic Files. That show is so cool! I watched a new one a few weeks ago that took place in Australia and this poor old man was murdered in a robbery in his home. They were able to tell by his pacemaker memory the exact time of the attack as well the exact time his heart stopped beating... That show never ceases to fascinate me!

I really like 48 Hours Mystery, a handful of FBI Files (still waiting to catch the one about Doe Roberts kidnapping), New Detectives, Infamous Murders, American Justice and I'd watch City Confidential even if the topic didn't interest me just to hear Winfield's voice.

Don't forget a few other goodies Justice Files and Snapped.

[Corky Kneivel]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

Yes we always appreciate Corky's entertaining posts...

Aww shucks. You wouldn't know it by the amount of replies I get. But I guess this is a pretty random post, and it doesn't even mention UM. By the way, for clarity, and my sanity, in this post I'm using abbreviations for the shows.

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

Hmm well my faves of the ones you mentioned would be first off Forensic Files. That show is so cool! I watched a new one a few weeks ago that took place in Australia and this poor old man was murdered in a robbery in his home. They were able to tell by his pacemaker memory the exact time of the attack as well the exact time his heart stopped beating... That show never ceases to fascinate me!

Wow. Just wow. See thats the amazing little stuff that makes these shows so wholly watchable.

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

...I'd watch City Confidential even if the topic didn't interest me just to hear Winfield's voice.

Yes!! That is what I'm talking about!! He has this nasal whine, this clipped stringy voice that's just on the verge of being unpleasing...but he sells the lines, baby. He sells those lines! He knows exactly when to be coy and aloof, cracking obvious jokes and bad puns; but in an instant he can "turn it on" and adjust his tone precisely the right way to get gravelly and serious, driving home the cold brutality of some shocking crime.

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

I really like...a handful of FBI Files...New Detectives, Infamous Murders...

Yes those shows are great. I'm almost positive IM is a British program, chopped up and re-edited with a new narrator. The narrators for the three shows listed above are my faves, exactly in order as they are listed 1-2-3. The guy who does FFis the same as the one who does FBIF right?

Speaking of FBIF has really become perhaps my favorite show lately. The cases are just so compelling and I absolutely love, not in any ironic or insincere way, absolutely love how much they make of the low budget production. That show and ND have the "sound stage" game on lock.


Like for instance ND featured this one case, I'm sure someone reading this will be familiar with...

**cue the harpy flashback music**

...of a Cincinnati hotel employee who murdered a guest. I believe the man's name was Melvin Jenkins or something approximate. Well, Melvin was the handy man for this hotel and he would break into rooms while guests were away and steal their stuff. He broke into a room believing the occupants were out and was surprised by this old woman coming out of the shower. He brutally and savagely beat her to death, the case becoming known for the curious evidence that he commited the murder. He had a horrid infection of his hand from cutting his hand on her teeth and she had bruises and markings on her from his hotel-issued walkie-talkie. Okay so that's the over view of the specific case. What was so great about it getting the ND treatment was the "hotel room" was so obviously a 3-walled sound stage with shadows being cast from light stands and boom mikes. The "hotel room" then became the "hand doctor's office" by changing the swing of the door, hanging a rug on the wall over what was the bathroom door (when it was the hotel room stage), and putting up two certificate-looking thingies and an eye chart. An eye chart for a hand doctor! Also, the fern in the corner of the "hotel room" was now in the other corner in the "hand doctor's office". It gets better...Melvin was a light tan-skinned black man easily in his 50s, skinny, balding, and had a passing resemblance to Indiannapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy. The actor playing Melvin?? He was a DARK skinned young man in his mid-to-late 20s, built like a linebacker with a full head of hair worn like a flat top. He looked nothing like the actual guy.

And yet...even with all of these little peculiarities...they pull it off!! I am so honestly admiring of the way they do the voice overs: having the actors act out the scenes, the drowning out any chance of hearing them with wall-to-wall narration and creepy music. You never get distracted by bad acting and its just bam! bam! bam! with information.

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

Don't forget a few other goodies Justice Files and Snapped.

I don't know those.

[crystaldawn]

I'm not sure if they're still making "Justice Files" but they showed it years back on the Discovery Channel and I see it occasionally on Discovery Times Channel. Here's a picture of the host, Jay Schadler, in case it helps refresh your memory:

http://www.abcnewsstore.com/store/cu..._050315_vt.jpg

Snapped is on the women's network Oxygen so of course it profiles women who have "snapped". They run about 30 episodes of it in a week, reruns many, many times so you can watch every single one without even trying. Some interesting cases that were popular. Here's a webpage that mentions some of the cases profiled:

http://www.oxygen.com/snapped/bios.aspx?index=2

[nohwheregirl]

Oooh...I love Justice Files. I think they stopped producing those a long time ago, but you can still catch a random JF late at night on...the Discovery Channel? TLC? Can't remember.

Anyway, there was a really scary Justice Files about a child who was kidnapped while camping, and the supposed kidnapper tortured his parents for years by writing letters, making phone calls, etc, claiming that the child (I think it was a boy) was alive. I believe that they found the person doing this, but they committed suicide before he could be brought to trial. The child was never found.

Can you think of any more JF episodes, CD?

[ididn'tdoit]

I also enjoy Body of Evidence, Forensic Files and FBI Files...

Hmmm, would In Search Of count? Leonard Nimoy is waaaay cool!

[FanfromES]

A&E has a show named "Cold Case Files" that is good too.

[crystaldawn]

Originally Posted by ididn'tdoit

Hmmm, would In Search Of count? Leonard Nimoy is waaaay cool!

I totally agree... Love your new avatar btw ididn'tdoit.

[crystaldawn]

Originally Posted by nohwheregirl

Oooh...I love Justice Files. I think they stopped producing those a long time ago, but you can still catch a random JF late at night on...the Discovery Channel? TLC? Can't remember.

Anyway, there was a really scary Justice Files about a child who was kidnapped while camping, and the supposed kidnapper tortured his parents for years by writing letters, making phone calls, etc, claiming that the child (I think it was a boy) was alive. I believe that they found the person doing this, but they committed suicide before he could be brought to trial. The child was never found.

Can you think of any more JF episodes, CD?

Hmm nowhere girl thats a tough one. I seem to remember one that profiled a case of a woman who kills another woman to steal her fetus. Hey speaking of Justice Files there are going to be quite a few airing on Discovery Times late Monday evening (8/27) and the wee hours of Tuesday morning for anyone who's interested.

Oh yea and lets not forget Jay Schadler and that cool feathered hair of his....

[crystaldawn]

Originally Posted by Old School TV

I have seen complete season boxed sets floating around and have thought about getting it along with other shows. But the stuff is unofficial releases and some of those sites have many complaints. I guess order at your own risk.

Well I got a bunch of ISO's in a trade recently and lucked out because they're great quality. Even got the ISO movies that Rod Serling narrated so its been nice watching them again.

[ididn'tdoit]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

I totally agree... Love your new avatar btw ididn'tdoit.

Thanks , I thought Dexter and Vivian Stefanek looked nice in that photo