Category: Shows

Show: Fatal Vows

Marriages turn into murder

Fatal Vows
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About Fatal Vows

Fatal Vows is another true crime show that focuses on marriages that devolve to the point of murder. Instead of starting with the discovery of a body, episodes take a storytelling route and follow each couple’s relationship from their first meeting, to their marriage, to the eventual murder, with plenty of re-creations to set the scene.

Psychotherapist Stacy Kaiser and forensic psychologist Brian Russell offer their expert opinions on the breakdown in the marriages and each killer’s psychology, and detectives and victims’ loved ones fill in the details. Many of the cases have been covered in other shows that focus on intimate partner homicide. The difference in this one is the expert opinions offered by Kaiser and Russell.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 7 (2012-2019)

Where to stream: The Roku Channel, HBO Max, Disney+, Discovery+, Hulu

More shows like Fatal Vows: Dateline, Fatal Attraction, Happily Never After, Killer Relationship, Meet, Marry, Murder, Scorned: Love Kills, Til Death Do Us Part, Vengeance: Killer Newlyweds

See also this list of true crime shows

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

Latest Posts

Show: Diabolical

Premeditated, calculated murders

Diabolical
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About Diabolical

Diabolical features murder cases that are exactly as the show’s title sounds. These are not crimes of passion, these are not cases of manslaughter. They are pre-mediated murders, murder-for-hire, murder for financial gain, murder conspiracies. Plotted and planned murders that go beyond the typical homicide and have unexpected twists and surprising turns.

Diabolical has all of the basic elements of a typical true crime show—police interviews, re-creations, and narration to fill in the gaps of the story—but it focuses on twisted crimes like baby kidnappings, forged life insurance documents, unexpected killers, manipulations, black widows and widowers, killer parents and killer children. Truly diabolical.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 3 (2018-2021)

Where to stream: Tubi, HBO Max, Discovery +, Hulu

More shows like Diabolical: A Plan to Kill

See also this list of true crime shows

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

Latest Posts

Show: Happily Never After

No happy endings for these couples

Happily Never After
Photo by Turgay Koca on Pexels.com

About Happily Never After

“Happily ever after” is the ending most couples dream of on the day of their engagement and wedding. But for the newlyweds and engaged couples featured in Happily Never After, the fairy tale ends in murder.

Each episode of the show outlines the background on the couple’s relationship and pre-marriage bliss and follows the murder investigation from start to finish. But the presentation is choppy: Instead of following events in chronological order, episodes jump back and forth between the investigation and the couple’s life before the murder.

The addition of commentary and analysis by psychologist Wendy Walsh—which is often old-fashioned and rarely offers any real insight—also makes the show a bit irritating. However, its saving grace is the excellent narration by Marlo Thomas, who tells the story with the delivery of a polished actress, elevating what might have been a true-crime dud.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 3 (2012-2015)

Where to stream: Tubi, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu

More shows like Happily Never After: Dateline, Fatal Attraction, Fatal Vows, Killer Relationship, Meet, Marry, Murder, Scorned: Love Kills, Til Death Do Us Part, Vengeance: Killer Newlyweds

See also this list of true crime shows

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

Latest Posts

Show: A Body in the Basement

Cases of bodies found in basements

A Body in the Basement
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About A Body in the Basement

Basements can be scary places. Dark. Silent. Creepy. Imagine finding a body in one. Imagine the horror that would accompany it. A Body in the Basement focuses on those types of murder cases.

In some episodes, bodies were found years after the killer moved to a different house, discovered during a renovation by new owners. In others, what looked like an accident in a basement turned out to be murder. There are basement dungeons, basement freezers, bodies hidden from the police by a perpetrator who still lives in the house and tried to hide the body from investigators, and more.

The show is similar to Buried in the Backyard, with some overlap of cases, so if you liked that series, give A Body in the Basement a look.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 2 (2023-)

Where to stream: HBO Max, Hulu, Discovery+

More shows like A Body in the Basement: Buried in the Backyard

See also this list of true crime shows

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

Latest Posts

Show: A Plan to Kill

Cases of premeditated murders

A Plan to Kill
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About A Plan to Kill

Diabolical. Calculating. Cold. These are the perpetrators in A Plan to Kill, which features cases of premeditated murders.

Each episode describes the investigation of the murder and the details of the perpetrator’s planning. In some, detectives find written notes made that plot out the homicides. Other murders were planned months or years in advance, illustrating just how calculating these murderers were.

Throw in some police interviews, stories by victims’ loved ones, and re-creations, and you’ve got yourself a typical true crime show, except this one focuses on the most devious of murderers. When people say “something more sinister,” they’re talking about this.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 2 (2024-)

Where to stream: Hulu

More shows like A Plan to Kill: Diabolical

See also this list of true crime shows

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

Latest Posts

Show: Forensic Factor

Cases solved using forensics

Forensic Factor
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About Forensic Factor

Forensics junkie? Fan of Forensic Files? You should check out Forensic Factor. It covers many of the same cases as Forensic Files, but has longer episodes (about 45 minutes). The show focuses on cases solved using a variety of forensic techniques, from DNA and fingerprints, to bite mark analysis and forensic botany, even ear print identification.

The first season concentrates on techniques like forensic profiling, weapons analysis, and analysis of audio and video footage, rather than cases. From there, seasons focus on one or more cases per episode. There’s also an update to the show with Forensic Factor: A New Era (rebooted in 2023), which incorporates digital forensics in solving many of the cases and adds police interviews to episodes.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 7 (2003-2011)

Where to stream: Tubi, Hulu, The Roku Channel, Peacock

More shows like Forensic Factor: Forensic Files, Exhibit A: Secrets of Forensic Science, Forensic Files II, The New Detectives

See also this list of true crime shows

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

Latest Posts

Show: Dateline: Unforgettable

Dateline correspondents share their most memorable moments

Dateline: Unforgettable
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About Dateline: Unforgettable

Dateline: Unforgettable brings Dateline NBC correspondents to the forefront, giving them the chance to offer their impressions of homicide and attempted homicide cases they deem particularly memorable.

Episodes feature shocking and notable cases already covered on Dateline, and mostly focus on those segments. But in between telling the story of the case, correspondents Dennis Murphy, Josh Mankiewicz, Andrea Canning, Keith Morrison, and Blayne Alexander comment on standout interviews and surprising moments, and give their take on the cases and what they remember about them. They also add a few details or clips not included in the original episodes.

If you’ve ever wondered what the correspondents are thinking in a regular Dateline episode, this show offers an inside look into their minds and views.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 8 (2021-)

Where to stream: Peacock

More shows like Dateline: Unforgettable: Dateline NBC, Dateline: The Smoking Gun, Dateline: The Last Day, Dateline: Secrets Uncovered, 20/20, 48 Hours

See also this list of true crime shows

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

Latest Posts

Show: Accused: Did I Do It?

Defendants tell their side of the story

Accused: Did I Do It?
Photo by Sora Shimazaki on Pexels.com

About Accused: Did I Do It?

Tired of the plethora of shows that prioritize law enforcement’s side of a homicide case? Interested in hearing what the defendant has to say? Then Accused: Did I Do It? is for you.

A spin-off of Accused: Guilty or Innocent?, this show shares a similar perspective: it walks viewers through cases from the defendant’s point of view.

Accused: Did I Do It? excludes interviews with detectives, prosecutors, or victims. Instead, it features first-person accounts with the defendant telling their story to the camera, as well as reactions by their family members or friends. It’s as one-sided as shows focused on the prosecution, still lacking a balanced approach that would tell the story from both perspectives. But it does give defendants a voice.

It incorporates trial clips and defendant testimony for some, but not all, episodes. Some episodes also have surveillance video of the crimes.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 1 (2025-)

Where to stream: Hulu, Disney+

More shows like Accused: Did I Do It?: Accused: Guilty or Innocent?, Did He Do It?

See this list of true crime shows

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

Latest Posts

Show: Web of Make Believe

Hidden identities, online crimes

Web of Make Believe
Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

About Web of Make Believe

Web of Make Believe: Death, Lies & the Internet takes viewers into the darker side of the internet by showcasing murders and other crimes related to online behavior. In these cases, people hide their identities in various ways, such as in social media, chat rooms, or as hackers, and become involved in white supremacy groups, online harassment and sexual exploitation, fraud, swatting, and the fostering of conspiracy theories.

In most of the episodes, those involved provide interviews (including suspects), and the series is an interesting look inside the ways the internet aids in crime and misinformation. Although it has only six episodes, the cases are intriguing enough to watch, especially for those interested in internet, its perils, and online crimes.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 1 (2022)

Where to stream: Netflix

More shows like Web of Make Believe: Witness to Murder: Digital Evidence, Web of Death, Caught in the Net

See also this list of true crime shows

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

Latest Posts

Show: Buried in the Backyard

Gruesome backyard discoveries linked to murder cases

Body in the Backyard
Photo by Alfo Medeiros on Pexels.com

About Buried in the Backyard

No one expects to find a body in their backyard, but when killers need to conceal a murder, they often hide the body close to home. Sometimes it works for decades, sometimes the bodies are found quickly. Buried in the Backyard features these types of murder cases.

The series focuses on backyards, where a body was found when a new owner moves in and remodels, or when the police get suspicious about a suspect the victim knew, or where the body was found on accident. Other episodes describe burials in fields, deserts, crawlspaces, wells, the woods, under snow, and other locations.

In many cases, investigators must first determine the identity of the victim or the cause of death, while in others, the person had missing for years or decades before the body was finally found.

The Show Elements

Seasons: 6 (2018-2024)

Where to stream: Peacock

More shows like Buried in the Backyard: A Body in the Basement

See this list of true crime shows

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

Latest Posts