Author: Suzanne Hamlin

Show: Death by Fame

Fame leads to murder

Death by Fame
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About Death by Fame

Fame has its perks and its downsides, but no one expects murder to be part of celebrity. Death by Fame features stories of murders about famous, almost famous, and aspiring actors, musicians, models, fashion designers, reality TV stars, and filmmakers, either as victims or suspects.

Included in episodes are the stories of detectives who investigated the cases, family and friends of victims, and police interviews of suspects.

Some of the cases involve people as famous as Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay, and others only aspire to fame, but all had their lives and career paths changed by murder. The show might make any wannabe celebrity think twice.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 3 (2023-)

Where to stream: HBO Max, Hulu, Discovery+, Amazon Prime Video

More shows like Death by Fame: Hollywood & Crime, Murders of Hollywood, Hollywood Demons

See also this list of true crime shows

✓ Police interviews
✘ Trial clips
✘ Narration
✓ Re-creations
✘ Experts
✓ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts

Show: Murder by Medic

Murders by medical professionals

Murder by Medic
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About Murder by Medic

They’re supposed to save lives, but sometimes, they take lives. Murder by Medic details murders by healthcare professionals in the US, UK, Australia, and Germany, including doctors, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and paramedics, who killed patients, spouses, or others, many in healthcare or elder care settings.

Few episodes include victims’ loved ones and their stories. Instead, experts like criminologists, psychologists, retired detectives, and doctors such as Bryanna Fox, Joni Johnston, Donna Youngs, Sarah Jarvis, and Rod Demery are joined by investigators to describe the murders.

The show has a lot of overlap with Nurses Who Kill, but also includes high-profile cases like Jack Kevorkian, Christopher Duntsch, and Yolanda Saldivar.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 4 (2024-)

Where to stream: The Roku Channel, Tubi, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video

More shows like Murder by Medic: Nurses Who Kill, Deadly Dentists

See also this list of true crime shows

✓ Police interviews
✘ Trial clips
✘ Narration
✓ Re-creations
✓ Experts
✘ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts

Documentary: An Update on Our Family

The fall of the Stauffer family and its popular YouTube channel

The perfect family is not always what it seems, and An Update on Our Family documents the crumbling facade of one such family: the Stauffers. The Stauffers attempted to sell its perfection through a YouTube channel that presented their idyllic family life. The channel became increasingly popular with pregnancy announcements, and ultimately, the adoption of a boy from China with special needs.

But as with all perfect families, the facade fell apart, a deterioration that began when the adoption did not go the way the Stauffers intended and did not fit into the glossy presentation of their family.

This three-part HBO docuseries reveals the monetization behind these types of channels, what happens when fans become overly invested in a family, and particularly, what happened when the Stauffer family made a tough decision about their adopted child, and the backlash that occurred. It includes interviews with other family channel parents, journalists, adoption experts, and a YouTube expert, but not the Stauffers themselves.

Anyone who has watched a family channel, read a mommy blog, or is interested in the dark side of this type of content should check out An Update on Our Family.

Show: Impostors

Criminals who use fake personas to commit crime

Photo by Markus Winkler on Pexels.com

About Impostors

Impostors tells the stories of people pretending to be someone else, using fake names, professions, or disguises, in order to steal money from others. Even though these crimes are despicable and changed the lives of the victims, the show treats the cases with a lighter touch.

Some of the perpetrators appear in episodes, along with victims’ loved ones and investigators involved in the cases. The show is similar to American Greed in its focus on financial crimes, but has a semi-humorous tone, like Bizarre Murders.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 1 (2014)

Where to stream: Discovery+

More shows like Impostors: American Greed, The Big Swindle, The Con, Serial Swindlers

See also this list of true crime shows

✘ Police interviews
✘ Trial clips
✓ Narration
✓ Re-creations
✘ Experts
✓ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts

Documentary: Sweet Bobby

A story of catfishing, power, and manipulation

The Netflix documentary Sweet Bobby is a catfishing story like no other. It’s a tangled tale of power and manipulation perpetrated for no other reason than control. A chilling one, at that.

Kirat meets Bobby Jandu online through a family member, and they become friends, talking on Facebook for months and forging what seems like a close relationship. Kirat learns that Bobby is getting divorced, but he gets engaged to someone else, all while he and Kirat maintain their close online friendship. Tragedy hits Bobby when he is shot, has a stroke, and ends his relationship. As Kirat continues to support him, they find that they have feelings for each other and get engaged, but they have never meet in person—not even once—and every time they make plans to meet, something comes up. When Karit finally tries to find him, Bobby’s true identity is revealed.

Kirat was catfished by “Bobby” for almost nine years. She tells the story from her perspective, an often painful trip through manipulation and control, made even more painful when she discovers the real person behind Bobby’s fake persona. She shares many of the texts, photos, and videos they exchanged, and is joined by family members and friends, who provide their insights on the tragic situation.

Show: Nightmare Next Door

Murders in small towns

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About Nightmare Next Door

No one expects their neighbor to be the victim of a murder, especially residents of small towns, where everything seems idyllic and protected from big-city crime. But these homicides do happen, and Nightmare Next Door tells their stories.

The show focuses on murder cases in small towns, and a few smaller cities. These cases are mostly stranger murders and often occur in the person’s home.

Early episodes incorporate brief glimpses into detectives’ or prosecutors’ backgrounds or hobbies, which do not connect to any aspect of the case and so seem oddly included. Perhaps the show was trying to make law enforcement seem like everyday people, but this attempt falls flat.

In general, the show is pretty low-quality and not all that interesting. Skip it unless you’re looking for emphasis on murders in small towns, or a show with a lot of seasons. Try Murder Comes to Town or Heartland Homicide, instead.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 10 (2011-2021)

Where to stream: Tubi, The Roku Channel, Discovery+, HBO Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video

More shows like Nightmare Next Door: Murder Comes to Town, Murder in the Heartland, Heartland Homicide

See also this list of true crime shows

✘ Police interviews
✘ Trial clips
✓ Narration
✓ Re-creations
✘ Experts
✓ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts

Documentary: Can I Tell You a Secret?

Can I Tell You A Secret? details the story of the stalking and harassment of several women in the UK on social media, which escalated to text messages and phone calls, all perpetrated by one person. The stalker relentlessly terrorized these women by creating fake profiles, impersonating them, spreading rumors about them, and even contacting their friends and families and telling lies about them. These crimes weren’t fully investigated until one police officer took charge.

What were the reasons for this despicable behavior? Would the perpetrator be prosecuted for his crimes? The Netflix documentary features two episodes that tell the story through first-person accounts from the victims, the police officer who took on the case, and others. It shines a light on the dangers of social media and the evil ways people can use it.

Documentary: Death Row Confidential: Secrets of a Serial Killer

A death row inmate helps solve cold cases

In 2022, cold case detective and former FBI investigator Ken Mains received a letter from Bill Noguera, an inmate on death row at San Quentin prison. Noguera claimed to have information about a serial killer also housed there, Joseph Naso. Naso had been arrested in 2010 following a routine probation check, when police found photos and other evidence of several murders in his home. Among these was a list of ten unnamed women at specific locations.

Naso was tried and convicted for the murders of four women in 2013, and was sentenced to death. Others on the list remained unsolved. During his time on death row at San Quentin, he began to talk to Noguera about his crimes and confessed to over 20 murders.

Oxygen’s new multi-part series Death Row Confidential: Secrets of a Serial Killer follows Mains as he works with Noguera (who took copious notes about Naso’s confessions), along with detectives from the locations where Noguera claims Naso killed his victims, to solve these cold cases.

Death Row Confidential

Cameras follow Mains as he attempts to connect the names on the list to information in Noguera’s notes. The documentary also provides a perspective not often seen in true crime: that of an inmate helping to solve several murders. It includes Noguera’s calls from death row and interviews with victims’ family members, who share their difficult experiences not knowing what happened to their loved ones.

Why did Noguera want to help solve these cases? Did the confessions lead to any convictions? Watch Death Row Confidential to find out. The series premieres on Oxygen on September 13 at 9 pm and will be available for streaming on Peacock at a later date.

Show: Blood Relatives

Family members murder their relatives

Blood Relatives
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About Blood Relatives

There are many reasons family members clash: money, jealousy, anger, resentment. But these reasons don’t usually provoke murder. In Blood Relatives, they do. This show focuses on murder cases in which family members kill other their relatives, due to affairs, money, child custody issues, and other motives.

Each episode begins with the tranquil and loving life of the family, then describes key problems that arose within it, the murder, the motives of various family members, and how the killer was finally caught.

Narrated by actress Brenda Strong, the show also features lots of re-creations and descriptions of events by family members, neighbors, friends, and detectives. There is some overlap of cases with shows like Dateline, 48 Hours, and Snapped.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 6 (2012-2018)

Where to stream: Discovery+, Max, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video

More shows like Blood Relatives: Fatal Family Feuds, Bad Blood, Evil Kin

See also this list of true crime shows

✘ Police interviews
✘ Trial clips
✓ Narration
✓ Re-creations
✘ Experts
✓ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts

Show: Dateline: The Smoking Gun

Dateline episodes that feature a “smoking gun”

Dateline: The Smoking Gun
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About Dateline: The Smoking Gun

Dateline: The Smoking Gun takes old Dateline episodes and repackages them into a new show, hosted by Andrea Canning. This “new” series is based on the idea of a smoking gun, or one piece of evidence that leads detectives to the killer, such as an audio recording, video evidence, or a movie script.

If you like Dateline and haven’t seen all of the episodes, check it out. But you won’t get any new content in this series, disappointing for avid Dateline fans.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 1 (2024-)

Where to stream: Peacock

More shows like Dateline: The Smoking Gun: Dateline, Dateline: The Last Day

See also this list of true crime shows

✓ Police interviews
✓ Trial clips
✓ Narration
✘ Re-creations
✘ Experts
✓ Victims’ families and friends

Latest Posts