Category: Shows

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

Show: Impostors

Criminals who use fake personas to commit crime

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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

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

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

Show: Kiss of Death

Relationships end in murder

Kiss of Death
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About Kiss of Death

Kiss of Death is one of many true crime shows about intimate partner homicide, but this series focuses on first-person accounts about murders that occurred when relationships went off the rails and ended in murder.

Victims’ loved ones, and sometimes victims who survived violent attacks, tell the stories of these relationships, the murders, and the investigations that followed. By focusing on first-person accounts, the show is more distinct in the true crime genre, and the lack of narration centers the stories on the victims’ experiences. However, at only one season, there are better shows about the same topic.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 1 (2017-2018)

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

More shows like Kiss of Death: Fatal Affairs, Fatal Attraction, Killer Relationship, Dateline, Meet, Marry, Murder, Deadly Affairs, Fatal Vows

See also this list of true crime shows

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

Latest Posts

Show: Fear Thy Neighbor

Feuds between neighbors turn violent

Photo by Paul Groom Photography Bristol on Pexels.com

About Fear Thy Neighbor

Murder, arson, assault. These are all crimes that have been perpetrated by one neighbor against another in the episodes of Fear Thy Neighbor. It’s a show that asks, How do good neighbors become bad ones? How do neighborly relations dissolve into hatred, and then crime?

Fear Thy Neighbor focuses on feuds that occurred between neighbors over seemingly unimportant issues, how their neighborly relations devolved, and the senseless violence that resulted. Investigations aren’t the focus of episodes; instead, they highlight the feuds and the mystery of which neighbor will resort to violence.

Fear Thy Neighbor has heavy emphasis on dramatizations, so episodes include a lot of arguing and yelling to portray the disputes. Some episodes feature interviews with one or both neighbors, who often stick to their biased sides of the story, making it unclear what really happened.

The show will make you think twice about bringing up a problem with a neighbor. Or even talking to them in the first place.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 11 (2014-)

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

More shows like Fear Thy Neighbor: Residential Rage, Vengeance: Killer Neighbors

See also this list of true crime shows

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

Latest Posts

Show: Sins of the South

Homicide cases with a bit of Southern flair

Sins of the South
Photo by Jeswin Thomas on Pexels.com

About Sins of the South

From executive producer Dick Wolf comes the Southern-tinged true crime show Sins of the South. The show features a narrator with a Southern accent, adds a few Southern phrases, and tells stories of homicide cases that took place across the American South.

Much like Southern Fried Homicide, Sins of the South features all varieties of cases, from spouse murders to serial killers, but many of them are covered in other shows.

Episodes bring on detectives, victims’ friends and family, and others to tell the stories, and they include police interviews and re-creations. If you liked Southern Fried Homicide, and enjoy a little Southern flair with true crime stories, check out Sins of the South.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 1 (2024-)

Where to stream: Peacock, Hulu

More shows like Sins of the South: Southern Fried Homicide, Homicide City: Charlotte, Homicide Squad: Atlanta, Murder Nation: Blood on the Bayou, The Real Murders of Atlanta, Serial Killer Capital: Baton Rouge, Southern Gothic

See also this list of true crime shows

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

Latest Posts

Show: Your Worst Nightmare

A thriller-esque true crime show

Your Worst Nightmare
Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.com

About Your Worst Nightmare

What’s your worst fear? Maybe it’s getting buried alive, or stalked, or kidnapped. You might discover it in an episode of Your Worst Nightmare, a thriller-esque true crime show that features nightmarish situations like being terrorized in one’s own home, tortured, or murdered by a jealous and abusive ex. In one case, the victim is shot and run over by a car and lives to tell the tale.

This show has heavy emphasis on scary dramatizations, which are sometimes graphic and include plenty of screams and jump scares, making Your Worst Nightmare more like a thriller than a docuseries. You won’t be able to fall asleep to this one. It does include some descriptions from detectives, reporters, and victims’ friends and families, and sometimes survivors, but dramatizations are front and center.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 6 (2014-2020)

Where to stream: Discovery+, Tubi

More shows like Your Worst Nightmare: Betrayed, True Nightmares, True Nightmares: Tales of Terror

See also this list of true crime shows

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

Latest Posts