The Blotter Presents

The Blotter Presents
  • 4.2 (178)
  • True Crime

The true crime worth YOUR time, reviewed weekly. Sarah D. Bunting, desk sergeant.

  1. 08/19/2020

    155: Most Wanted and While The City Sleeps

    Nope, that's not a typo: Best Evidence publisher Eve Batey joins me to talk about a movie that's still in "theaters," Most Wanted. Featuring Josh Hartnett's foxy 'stache and a breakout ugly performance from Jim Gaffigan, Most Wanted interrogates the role of budgetary concerns in law-enforcement corruption and/or incompetence...and we interrogate the crusading-reporter subgenre and whether it's true to life. We do it twice, as a matter of fact, as our Cold Case topic is While The City Sleeps, a movie that references the William Heirens case but is actually about whether media's attempts to "make" a story is itself the story...or criminal. The 1956 thriller stars Vincent Price, Drew Barrymore's dad, and a realistically sodden Dana Stevens in a tale about a callow press scion using a string of murders to pit his top men (...uch) against each other for a plum job. We recommend it, and not just because it kiiiind of makes John Douglas look like an ass for claiming nobody knew how to profile properly before 1974, so hike your pants up to your pits and have a listen to The Blotter Presents, Episode 155. SHOW NOTES Where to watch Most Wanted The Most Wanted/Target Number One Wikipedia page Reply All's Compstat episode Stephen McHattie's Zodiac credit Kill The Messenger While The City Sleeps on Amazon My Ripped From The Headlines review Eater NY on Marchi's (and the Eater's Digest podcast) Wikipedia's William Heirens page

  2. 08/11/2020

    Wondery Presents Even The Rich: The House of Versace

    Wondery’s Even the Rich gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the stories of some of the greatest family dynasties in history. This season, three siblings — Gianni, Donatella, and Santo Versace — built one of the greatest fashion labels the world has ever seen. But when Gianni is murdered on the front steps of his Miami Beach mansion, the label loses its visionary. Can the House of Versace survive? On this four-episode series, we’ll dive into the origins of the Versace label and we’ll meet a few celebrities along the way, like Elton John, Princess Diana, and Madonna. Listen to the full episode: http://wondery.fm/ETR_BlotterPresents

  3. 08/05/2020

    153: Ann Rule's Sleeping With Danger and The Last Narc

    Two guests, no waiting this week, as ...These Are Their Stories co-host Kevin Flynn joins me to talk about Ann Rule's Sleeping With Danger, starring Elisabeth "Serena Southerlyn" Röhm and Leslie "ME Rodgers" Hendrix. It's a thumbs-sideways from both of us on the movie, which is not quite good, but not all that bad, and has some anachronism issues and PSA pacing that undercut surprisingly decent acting. Grab a Smoothie Of Doom to fortify yourself for... ...the second Most Wanted topic, Amazon's The Last Narc, a series Jessica Liese and I meant to talk about months ago, before Amazon yanked it unceremoniously. The case of what really happened to murdered DEA agent Kiki Camarena premiered last week, with nearly as little fanfare, and while we're still not clear on why it got disappeared, it's a compelling and confidently shot four-parter featuring clear explainers and flavorful anecdotes. But that doesn't mean we wouldn't have changed anything...or that we weren't happy to hear Robert Stack in a voice-over. Brace yourself for more government malfeasance: it's The Blotter Presents, Episode 153. SHOW NOTES Ann Rule's Sleeping With Danger The Mets' starting catcher in 1978 The These Are Their Stories podcast WATCH Crime Writers On… The Last Narc on Amazon Prime "Midnight In The Garden Of East Texas," by Skip Hollandsworth Hector Berrellez alleges the CIA got the series taken off Collider's interview with director Tiller Russell Jessica at Rob Has A Website  Check out Feals Best Evidence

  4. 07/22/2020

    151: The Business Of Drugs and Summer Of Sam

    Filmmaker and baseball-Twitter-improver Randy Wilkins joins me to talk about Netflix's The Business Of Drugs, a six-part series hosted by Amaryllis Fox that tries to take a value-neutral look at the economics of black-market substances. But is it TOO neutral? Does it try to do too much in each episode? Might it have been better off only following a single figure through each drug's "story"? And what do coverage of cocaine cartels and MLB have in common? Later, we dig into Spike Lee's Summer Of Sam: why it was rejected by critics, how Lee uses local detail to get at universal truths, and whether Lee would come back to the chaotic summer of 1977 and David Berkowitz in a documentary format. All the nefariously used stuffed animals and Reggie Jackson crackpot theories you could ask for: it's The Blotter Presents, Episode 151. SHOW NOTES The Business Of Drugs  Where to watch Summer Of Sam  Summer Of Sam reviews on Rotten Tomatoes  Randy Wilkins on Twitter  Randy's website, pamsson.com Extra insight from Randy and Spike Lee about Dear… "Spike Lee" from The Root  Views From 314 Ft.  BestEvidence.fyi SPONSORS Native  Green Chef

  5. 07/01/2020

    149: I'll Be Gone In The Dark and Murder Made Me Famous

    [content warning for sexual assault, neonaticide, truly egregious Foley design] When the subject is the Golden State Killer, the guest is Mike Dunn, who's back to talk about the first three episodes of HBO's I'll Be Gone In The Dark. Directed by Oscar-winner Liz Garbus and others, the six-part docuseries seems to struggle to integrate two narrative styles: a straight-ahead true-crime tale, and a "crimoir" about the wearing effects of researching monsters and the abysses they call home. Does Michelle McNamara's untimely death create a halo effect? Are some Capote comparisons more apt than others? And will we keep watching? In the Cold Case section, I went looking for a Garden State case to pair with the Golden State Most Wanted section...and what I found was so hilarribly bad, tacky, overacted, and downright bizarre that I fully expected Mike to end our friendship after watching it. Murder Made Me Famous S04.E06 covers the Melissa Drexler/"Prom Mom" case in pitilessly cringey detail, including a splash neither of us will ever forget, and when we go to hell for laughing at this trash-isode, it's this show we'll have to watch for all eternity. Collect all your most irrelevant details for the voice-over: it's The Blotter Presents, Episode 149. SHOW NOTES HBO's I'll Be Gone In The Dark page Mike's and my first convo about the case in Ep 048 My IBG piece for Primetimer Filmmakers' "responsibility" to McNamara/her materials Murder Made Me Famous S04.E06 Mike on Twitter The Best Evidence newsletter

  6. 06/10/2020

    146: Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story and Woman On Trial: The Lawrencia Bembenek Story

    The Dirty John franchise, clumsily named though it is, is back -- and Marcia Chatelain is back to talk about it. It doesn't feel "necessary," in These Times...and yet we're both planning to keep watching, thanks to Amanda Peet's fearless performance; the comparisons we can make with Mrs. America; and the fond memories it recalls of Meredith Baxter's definitive version.  Later, we're digging into a Lifetime movie about another '80s true-crime icon: Laurie "Bambi" Bembenek, whose quest to unmask corruption in Milwaukee law enforcement (yes, she was kind of trying to defund the police) got her embroiled with a bad husband and a worse frame job. We don't agree on Tatum O'Neal's performance; we do agree that this early-nineties movie was ahead of its time in its takes on stalking, feminist whistle-blowers, and the awesomeness of Victor Garber. That ominous piano can only mean one thing...The Blotter Presents, Episode 146. SHOW NOTES The Marshall Project The Equal Justice Initiative Dirty John on USA Woman On Trial on YouTube Marcia Chatelain on Twitter… ...and her book, Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America And please visit TBP's sponsors, Feals and StoryWorth, to get those deals! Want more? Here's the Best Evidence newsletter.

  7. 04/22/2020

    140: True History Of The Kelly Gang and Catch & Kill

    Australio-Irish icon Ned Kelly got the very first big-screen treatment in 1906, and now the director of Snowtown is back with yet another one. Does Justin Kurzel's time-shifted "punk" take on Peter Carey's novel hold Alex Segura's and my interest? Later, we'll talk about whether The Catch & Kill Podcast With Ronan Farrow needs to exist, what we'd rather have heard instead, and text niftinesses that don't translate. Grab a colander helmet; it's The Blotter Presents, Episode 140. SHOW NOTES True History Of The Kelly Gang  Keva York's review of True History for ABC  Ned Kelly (1970) and Ned Kelly (2003)  Catch & Kill podcast  My review of the book  AlexSegura.com The Black Ghost Season One Don't forget to check out Best Fiends!

  8. 02/05/2020

    130: Ted Bundy: Falling For A Killer and If You Tell

    Stephanie Early Green is back to discuss the usual complement of light, fizzy fare! ...Okay, no: our first Most Wanted conversation is about Amazon's new Ted Bundy docuseries, Falling For A Killer. Does it succeed in subtracting Ted Bundy from all the secondary stories of grief and horror he created? Should the filmmaker have spun off another series on women in '70s law enforcement? And what exactly happened between Bundy and Molly Kendall? We KNOW what happened between Shelly Knotek and her children (and luckless boarders) in Gregg Olsen's mercilessly detailed If You Tell -- but Olsen doesn't do as much with the hows and whys as we'd like. Olsen's book reads fast, but not so fast that we didn't wonder why certain figures in this tale of gaslighting and abuse weren't taken to firmer task. (And why his editor didn't cut that awful eagle simile.) It might seem like nothing good comes out of Washington State in The Blotter Presents, Episode 130. [Content warning: this episode's materials involve sexual trauma, child abuse, and...well, Ted Bundy. Please listen with care.] SHOW NOTES Ted Bundy: Falling For A Killer https://www.amazon.com/Ted-Bundy-Falling-Killer-Season/dp/B082FPGQD8 If You Tell https://www.amazon.com/If-You-Tell-Unbreakable-Sisterhood/dp/B07TNTB329 Stephanie Early Green's blog http://www.stephanieearlygreen.com Best Evidence: bestevidence.fyi And our sponsor, Lola! http://mylola.com

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4.2
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About

The true crime worth YOUR time, reviewed weekly. Sarah D. Bunting, desk sergeant.

Information

  • Creator
    The Blotter Presents
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2020
  • Episodes
    210
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    The Blotter Presents