Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes

[DanaK]

Quote

HBO's CATCH AND KILL: THE PODCAST TAPES, a six-part, half-hour documentary series directed by Emmy(R) winners Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (HBO's "Carrie Fisher: Wishful Drinking") and produced by World of Wonder, brings to life Ronan Farrow's intimate, revealing interviews with whistleblowers, journalists, private investigators and other sources, conducted for the Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist's podcast and bestselling book "Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and A Conspiracy to Protect Predators." The documentary series debuts with two back-to-back episodes MONDAY, JULY 12, (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT), with new episodes airing back-to-back subsequent Mondays at the same time. The series will debut on HBO and be available to stream on HBO Max.

 

[DanaK]

Mon, July 12

Episode 1: The Wire

Episode 2: The Reporters

This is certainly a bit of a weird format, since it’s audio and some video of the podcast (which I haven’t listened to), which itself is based on Ronan’s Catch and Kill book (which I haven’t read yet). It’s a fascinating subject. I liked the second episode more than the first since it talked to the various reporters who tried for years to nail down the story about Weinstein

I’m not clear whether the whole series is about exposing Weinstein

Edited July 13, 2021 by DanaK

[Swartz]

I watched the 1st episode.   It was ok but  a lot of it really wasn't anything I hadn't seen or heard about before.

[DanaK]

Monday, July 19

Episode 3: The Assistants

Episode 4: The Producer

[DanaK]

Pretty good episodes this week. I think hearing from the actual people involved in their own words is pretty eye opening and painful and brings the whole subject into sharper focus than if you just read the reporting and the quotes

[Maysie]

I read the book and hate to say that I loved/liked it because it was so disturbing, but it’s well researched and written (damn Ronan is talented). I can’t bring myself to watch NBC news anymore, understanding how complicit they were with Matt Lauer and helping with the Weinstein coverup.

I’m going to watch the series because it’s done in manageable segments and while I don’t think it’s groundbreaking or anything, I think it’s doing a decent job of relaying what he discussed in the book. I am getting the feeling that this is focusing on Weinstein, which I kind of understand-the man was a dirtbag for decades and it seems like everyone basically knew it but let it go because it worked for most everyone else. 
 

Im okay with the Weinstein focus but after reading the book I was kind of shocked by the Matt Lauer stuff-I’m still wondering how he’s walking around a free man.

[DanaK]

4 hours ago, Maysie said:

I read the book and hate to say that I loved/liked it because it was so disturbing, but it’s well researched and written (damn Ronan is talented). I can’t bring myself to watch NBC news anymore, understanding how complicit they were with Matt Lauer and helping with the Weinstein coverup.

I’m going to watch the series because it’s done in manageable segments and while I don’t think it’s groundbreaking or anything, I think it’s doing a decent job of relaying what he discussed in the book. I am getting the feeling that this is focusing on Weinstein, which I kind of understand-the man was a dirtbag for decades and it seems like everyone basically knew it but let it go because it worked for most everyone else. 
 

Im okay with the Weinstein focus but after reading the book I was kind of shocked by the Matt Lauer stuff-I’m still wondering how he’s walking around a free man.

Regarding Lauer, I was actually shocked by the coda or some blurb from the 4th episode that there were accusations that NBC News was trying to squash the Weinstein investigation in order to hide what Lauer was doing. I think that’s the first time I’ve heard that. At least Andy Lack is no longer head of NBC News. Every NBC News executive who claimed Farrow didn’t have enough of the story to publish should have been out on their ear and I don’t know who has been besides Lack. That was just a terrible sense of collective judgement

[DanaK]

July 26

Episode 5: The Editors

Episode 6: The Spy

[DanaK]

I thought the final two episodes were pretty interesting. Those poor fact checkers dealt with a lot

I found this series interesting enough to want to read the book at some point; I already had it on my Kindle list to buy eventually