Why ‘Dateline’ Remains the True Crime King
The New Yorker, May 24, 2021: Why ‘Dateline’ Remains the True Crime King
“‘Dateline’ is all about story; it often comes right out and says so, then reminds you again. In his previous ‘Dateline’ podcast series ‘Mommy Doomsday,’ which concluded in March, Morrison says, ‘This story is about a woman—about people around her dropping like flies. It’s about a fringe religious group. It’s about the end of the world. . . . and zombies. It’s about lazy beaches in Kauai, the desert of Arizona, a frostbitten pet cemetery.’ On TV, and in podcasts, ‘Dateline’ values narrative convention almost to the extent of a genre novel, and ‘Killer Role,’ about an actress who plays a killer in a low-budget film and is then revealed to be a killer herself, could be said to be the ur-‘Dateline’ product: a murder story about a murder story within a murder story. It’s a bit like ‘Hamlet’ that way.”
Additional reading:
Vulture, February 9, 2021: Dateline’s Keith Morrison Is Getting Used to Podcast Stardom
Deadline, February 4, 2021: Renée Zellweger To Star In NBC True-Crime Limited Series ‘The Thing About Pam’ From Blumhouse
The Guardian, April 12, 2021: The killer question: are true-crime podcasts exploitative?
