A thought-provoking article on ID

[MegtheEgg86]

http://www.xojane.com/it-happened-to..._campaign=IHTM

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Thanks for the link to the article, Meg.

It is pretty thought-provoking. I guess I can understand where she's coming from with the whole "murder porn" angle. Admittedly, I watch a LOT of shows on ID. I believe the show the author is discussing is "Deadly Affairs," hosted by Susan Lucci. I have not yet watched that show. I do not like the route that ID has been taking with some of its programming and really upping the "sex" factor in these crimes. For that reason, I quit watching "Scorned."

Part of me wonders, however, if this would have been her stance regardless of the "angle" the show had chosen to take. For example, would she be as upset if "Motives and Murders" chose to cover it? I've seen quite a few of those episodes, and they are told in a more "48 Hours" style. Actually, the murderer I know that I've discussed on these boards was featured on that show and I found the telling of the tale to be pretty close to what I remember from reading the papers and knowing the family. Would the author of the article still be upset if just the facts, rather than the salaciousness of the murder, been covered?

[PolyesterSuit]

Originally Posted by LooksLikeCRicci

Part of me wonders, however, if this would have been her stance regardless of the "angle" the show had chosen to take. For example, would she be as upset if "Motives and Murders" chose to cover it? I've seen quite a few of those episodes, and they are told in a more "48 Hours" style. Actually, the murderer I know that I've discussed on these boards was featured on that show and I found the telling of the tale to be pretty close to what I remember from reading the papers and knowing the family. Would the author of the article still be upset if just the facts, rather than the salaciousness of the murder, been covered?

My takeaway is that she objects to the way sensationalism has trumped journalism. A factual, responsible, non-exploitative account of her sister's murder - with more of a focus on the ADC's culpability and the issue of domestic violence, rather than a juicy love triangle - would likely have gotten the family's cooperation imo. She says they declined to participate when they saw the angle the producers were taking, not that they object to any coverage at all.

I don't watch a lot of these shows for this very reason. UM may have been cheesy at times (okay a lot of the time) but I can't recall it trying to be salacious and it had an actual purpose which was to try and get people to come forward with information on cases that needed help. The show this article references is little more than the tv equivalent of click bait.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Originally Posted by PolyesterSuit

My takeaway is that she objects to the way sensationalism has trumped journalism. A factual, responsible, non-exploitative account of her sister's murder - with more of a focus on the ADC's culpability and the issue of domestic violence, rather than a juicy love triangle - would likely have gotten the family's cooperation imo. She says they declined to participate when they saw the angle the producers were taking, not that they object to any coverage at all.

I don't watch a lot of these shows for this very reason. UM may have been cheesy at times (okay a lot of the time) but I can't recall it trying to be salacious and it had an actual purpose which was to try and get people to come forward with information on cases that needed help. The show this article references is little more than the tv equivalent of click bait.

I would agree with that. I watched Scorned: Love Kills for a few episodes mainly because I was interested in hearing about the various love triangles, but it got really tired really fast. It does seem like an emphasis is being put on the salaciousness of some of these crimes ("Tabloid with Jerry Springer" comes to immediate mind) and that's sad. I think that's part of the reason I LOVED Disappeared so much. I will never forgive ID for cancelling that one... I wish "Last Seen Alive" was being produced a bit more, since I would argue it's the closest thing ID has to Disappeared.

Aside: The "cheese" is also what made UM awesome at times.

[purpletentacle]

I've been SO disappointed with ID. True Crime with Aphrodite Jones may have been their best show. They profiled a reality show contestant who killed his wife. I was obsessed with this case for a while (even though there's nothing particularly dubious) and was able to find a torrent, since ID seemed to have no intention of airing it ever again.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Was that the Jasmine Flores murder?

I agree about True Crime with Aphrodite Jones. Great show. Not sure why they aren't airing new episodes.

[LilMissKryssy]

I only stated watching ID in 2010, when they first started airing Disappeared. I love Disappeared as it was a way to help families find their loved ones giving their stories a national audience and yes, the REAL stories were fascinating. It was also the closest thing to Unsolved Mysteries in years (aside from American Most Wanted)

I am appalled and disgusted at the way this network has been going in the last year or two. They repeat the same crime stories for different "shows" on their network. It is getting WAY to soap opera-y and sensationalized. Even their commercials seem to advertise their shows as sex driven. They also basically got rid of Disappeared. IMO, they are trying to appeal to bored middle aged house wives who aren't interested in REAL events and stories but rather a sensationalized tabloid like story line.

The name of the network is "Investigation Discovery" Yet most all of their shows now are terrible tabloid junk and have little to do with any real investigations or real life stories.

I prefer to watch (aside from UM obviously), Disappeared, Missing: the First 48, The First 48, Vanished with Beth Holloway ect. (all on different networks). The rest of the garbage on ID is for people whos interest is only in tabloid like stories. The Aphrodite Jones show wasn't bad but I'm not exactly a fan of hers, shes too dramatic for my style but yes it was better than the crap their air now

[Spark Of Spirit]

On the show, crime "experts" in suits sit in front of authority-lending bookshelf props, describing events no one witnessed, offering commentary on the internal dialogue of dead people they never met. The story is slickly packaged and the reveal saved for the final minutes, though the police reports and news accounts have long been public record.

At the time, the medical examiner told me not to attempt to visually identify my sister's body because it would be too gruesome and disturbing to me, and to this day, I have never viewed pictures from the crime scene of her murder. But the Discovery Channel has, and they have now aired these blurred images for all the world's entertainment.

This is why I don't like ID's new crop of shows. It's all about sensationalism and not about actual crime solving.

They canceled Disappeared, yet they keep bringing back crap like this show which offers nothing to anybody. I don't know what exactly happened to this network, but it has gone deeply off the rails and needs to find its way back.

[TheCars1986]

I've never watched the show referenced in the article, because it seems too soap opera like and very cheesy, but I do know that a lot of their current shows aren't what I would consider "murder porn". "Murder Book" is a good one as is "Homicide Hunter". They're still making some good true crime shows, I just tend to ignore the stupid ones.

[DALLASTEXAN!!]

Excellent post as always Meg! You know i don't watch ID never really have. I did see a few episodes of disappeared and a few others before most of them seemed fake. Every now and then I watch the beaurocratic crime shows on the original
Discovery channel because they seem more realistic.

This does make me wonder though how the families feel about UM now and also these forums if they bother them at times. I know sometimes people can be inconsiderate of the devastation that they felt. I think at heart most of us wish that we can help them solve their mystery and just want to stay tied to a show that was a part of our lives. I do see that many family members and friends have come on here and voiced their appreciation for people continuing to care and help.

[DALLASTEXAN!!]

I can't speak for celebrities but they do have to be careful of the programs or companies that they endorse. It seems so easy now for a celebrity to get a paycheck to take on a spokesman role and you wonder if they really do their homework or if they care?

I know bob stack loved UM because he wanted to help real people and did have a side of him that wanted to be a detective. I know it was a dark show but I really felt UM helped a lot of people at a time in history when network tv was our primary medium to the masses.

[LilMissKryssy]

Most of the time the families were directly involved with Unsolved Mysteries. They wanted to solve/find their loved one or their case ect. Many times, even 20 years from the original segment aired, family members have posted on these forums with updates, sharing ideas, or correcting misinformation, or just are happy that people still care about their loved one or their case. The way UM was formatted was that usually the police department or family contacted UM. For example I know that Wendy Camps sister was very active on these forums and through her facebook.

I don't think there's any comparing UM/Disappeared/AMW to those tabloid sensationalized shows. The main purpose of those shows was to get those stories told to a national audience and get them solved. Yes, they had great ratings but they served a purpose and 99% of the time the family/friends/LE were fully involved. These new shows on ID serve no purpose other than to entertain with sensationalized versions of real events

[Orange_Sody_84]

I agree many of the shows use younger attractive actors and focus on sex. Heck there is even a TV show hosted by Jerry Springer called "Tabloid"!! I can understand people being put off by the way their loved ones are portrayed on the shows.

It's a bit jarring when watching "Scorned" to find out the real person is actually in their 50's and up yet is portrayed by a 20 year old Model. But what keeps me watching "Scorned" is the ending montage showing what happened to the people and their real pics. Gets me every time.

The channel has it's fair share of shows that don't "sex it up". "Deadly women" I think is a decent show. (if violent) The TV show "A Crime to Remember" is pretty great. Many of the cases I wouldn't have heard about if not for the channel.

[James T]

Originally Posted by DALLASTEXAN!!

I can't speak for celebrities but they do have to be careful of the programs or companies that they endorse. It seems so easy now for a celebrity to get a paycheck to take on a spokesman role and you wonder if they really do their homework or if they care?

Celebrities nowadays care about publicity & their bank balance only. They will promote any nonsense as long as the money is good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwylBRucU7w

[DALLASTEXAN!!]

[QUOTE=James T]Celebrities nowadays care about publicity & their bank balance only. They will promote any nonsense as long as the money is good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwylBRucU7w[/QUOTE



Sounds about right.