Crime After Crime: Future Season Wishlist

[Umbelina]

My show desires are a combination of what things I think would be interesting to see, but also what would be fun or educational to discuss. As such, I'd like to have varied -isms from season to season, if the series is going to be developed along social justice lines.

Cults: not so much. I wanted Patty Hearst because the controversy about her perceived vs real motivations was such a contentious issue that it could make for a good short series. There's time enough to really get into her story without being superficial. Then I thought about Elizabeth Smart because it was another captive's story that ended well, but that we still don't know a lot about. Plus, the religious tones to the case are interesting and that would be just as provocative as focusing on race. It'd lack diversity, though.

I really don't want Jonestown because I don't trust him to do the story well. I was a kid when the death images first came across the news and the utter clueless flippancy that Jonestown evokes now is genuinely irritating and depressing. For me, it goes past the relative simplicity of 'notable crime story' and closer to the pit-of-the-stomach horror / sickness I get about genocides and ethnic cleansing. I'm still an obsessive in reading about it, but it's had enough cheesy dramatizations already and I'd rather not see Murphy add another. Do you really want to see Travolta as Jim Jones? (Okay, yeah, some of you might.)

Maybe he should pick from something else Dominick Dunne has already written about. <grin>

Dunne wrote about a lot of them, many already mentioned here as possible choices.  http://www.vanityfair.com/style/2008/10/dominick-dunne-archive

 

The Elizabeth Smart trial transcripts are all on the web.  They are horrifying.  She was a little girl, raped several times a day, chained to a line that hung between trees, had to think of her rapist as the Prophet, could hear the searchers looking for her, starved, living in squalor, forced to wear a Burka type outfit, etc.  She detailed all of it during both the Grand Jury Trial, and the regular trial.  There was a very cleaned up "made for TV" version of it all (no rapes, etc.) but honestly, I don't know how they could really film it all anyway, since she was so very young. 

 

I do like the Patty Hearst thing, because I strongly feel she was wrongly convicted, but again, although it has class prejudice and the leader was African American, I don't think it really gets into the stuff this team wants to show. 

[Kromm]

I really like the suggestion of doing something based on Scientology I'm just not sure how one would go about focusing the story. 

**Cough** 

 

      =     

[helenamonster]

I'm a bit of a true crime junkie so there's a ton of things I'd love for this show to cover.

 

Jonestown: So, so heartbreakingly sad, but also has a lot of different facets to it and could make a season as equally engaging as this past one.

 

Columbine: In many ways I feel that Columbine is a great inverse to the Simpson trial. The way this miniseries was framed, the Simpson trial was about more than one thing. With Columbine, people tried to make it about more than one thing (video games! they were bullied! Trenchcoat Mafia!) when it unfortunately comes down to something very simple: two disturbed young men who decided to kill their classmates. Also I think there's a lot of things about Columbine that people might not know, like that the original plan (blowing up the cafeteria) could have resulted in the deaths/injuries of almost 500 people. And there are also some controversies, for lack of a better word, when talking about the legacy of the victims. Rachel Scott's father started a program called Rachel's Challenge, which was implemented at high schools across the country (including my own) to encourage people to be kinder to one another and look out for bullying, as Rachel had apparently done before her death. Now, this is not to diminish the tragedy of what happened to Rachel, but her dad came and spoke at my school and um...it was weird. All this stuff from Rachel's diaries about her predicting she'd die in a homicide at a young age, the last drawing in her diary was like of a rose with tears and there were 13 tears and 13 victims...idk it was very strange and my school ended up ditching Rachel's Challenge the next year when they found out it was something of a "come to Jesus" cash grab. There's also the whole "she said yes" thing with Cassie Bernall...idk the quest to turn these poor kids into Christian martyrs was bizarre but would add an interesting element to the story. Also it would be a good way to examine the phenomenon of people (mostly white teenage girls, let's be honest) who glorify these horrible mass murderers.

 

Mason: I know it's been done to death, but I feel like a miniseries is the best way to examine the batshit craziness of this crime. They could start out with examining the hold Manson had over his followers, put the murders at the halfway point, and then finish with the investigation and trials. It is the quintessential American Crime Story, imo, and also has ties to Hollywood and moderate racial elements.

 

Other random ones that crossed my mine...serial killers are always a trip, so Bundy, Dahmer, the Zodiac Killer aka Ted Cruz (kidding)...this might be a weird one, but what about Watergate? It's a good political angle to go down, and not as overdone as the JFK assassination.

 

In a few years, given that they could handle the story with utmost sensitivity (and maybe depending on how it all shakes out), I wonder if the current Kesha/Dr. Luke situation would make for a great miniseries. By that point we might know more about what happened and I think it would be a great examination of how women are treated in the music industry, especially those who are up and coming. Also the way in which the case played out on social media, with people being either firmly in the camp that Kesha is a lying liar just trying to get out of her contract, or that every allegation and word she's said is 100% true. Also, no one died. Yet.

[starri]

Dave Cullen's phenomenal Columbine was optioned by, of all places, Lifetime a few years ago.  Some of the victims' families raised a stink about it, and I'm not sure it's going to be going forward ever.  I understand their position completely, but I also think there are some bigger issues that have gotten swept under the rug because some of the stories we heard around the time of the shooting were wrong but became the official narrative anyway.

 

But I totally understand where the families are coming from.  The same reason that I understood how Fred Goldman felt about S1, even if I didn't quite agree with him.

[Avaleigh]

What about Michael Jackson? That seems like something Ryan Murphy might go for and I think it could bring in ratings if done well. 

 

I'm a bit of a true crime junkie so there's a ton of things I'd love for this show to cover.

 

Jonestown: So, so heartbreakingly sad, but also has a lot of different facets to it and could make a season as equally engaging as this past one.

 

Columbine: In many ways I feel that Columbine is a great inverse to the Simpson trial. The way this miniseries was framed, the Simpson trial was about more than one thing. With Columbine, people tried to make it about more than one thing (video games! they were bullied! Trenchcoat Mafia!) when it unfortunately comes down to something very simple: two disturbed young men who decided to kill their classmates. Also I think there's a lot of things about Columbine that people might not know, like that the original plan (blowing up the cafeteria) could have resulted in the deaths/injuries of almost 500 people. And there are also some controversies, for lack of a better word, when talking about the legacy of the victims. Rachel Scott's father started a program called Rachel's Challenge, which was implemented at high schools across the country (including my own) to encourage people to be kinder to one another and look out for bullying, as Rachel had apparently done before her death. Now, this is not to diminish the tragedy of what happened to Rachel, but her dad came and spoke at my school and um...it was weird. All this stuff from Rachel's diaries about her predicting she'd die in a homicide at a young age, the last drawing in her diary was like of a rose with tears and there were 13 tears and 13 victims...idk it was very strange and my school ended up ditching Rachel's Challenge the next year when they found out it was something of a "come to Jesus" cash grab. There's also the whole "she said yes" thing with Cassie Bernall...idk the quest to turn these poor kids into Christian martyrs was bizarre but would add an interesting element to the story. Also it would be a good way to examine the phenomenon of people (mostly white teenage girls, let's be honest) who glorify these horrible mass murderers.

 

Mason: I know it's been done to death, but I feel like a miniseries is the best way to examine the batshit craziness of this crime. They could start out with examining the hold Manson had over his followers, put the murders at the halfway point, and then finish with the investigation and trials. It is the quintessential American Crime Story, imo, and also has ties to Hollywood and moderate racial elements.

 

Other random ones that crossed my mine...serial killers are always a trip, so Bundy, Dahmer, the Zodiac Killer aka Ted Cruz (kidding)...this might be a weird one, but what about Watergate? It's a good political angle to go down, and not as overdone as the JFK assassination.

 

In a few years, given that they could handle the story with utmost sensitivity (and maybe depending on how it all shakes out), I wonder if the current Kesha/Dr. Luke situation would make for a great miniseries. By that point we might know more about what happened and I think it would be a great examination of how women are treated in the music industry, especially those who are up and coming. Also the way in which the case played out on social media, with people being either firmly in the camp that Kesha is a lying liar just trying to get out of her contract, or that every allegation and word she's said is 100% true. Also, no one died. Yet.

I definitely like your Watergate suggestion. That sounds pretty awesome. Lots to pull from there. 

 

With Columbine, I can't really see squeezing ten episodes out of it especially since those asshole perpetrators committed suicide and didn't have to go on trial. American Horror Story touched on a Columbine inspired story and I thought it worked well on the show but I can't see it filling ten hours. I agree though that there are a lot of things about it that spark interesting discussion I'm just not sure how they'd tell the story beyond the shooting and the reaction of the families and surviving students.

[Kromm]

What about Michael Jackson? That seems like something Ryan Murphy might go for and I think it could bring in ratings if done well. 

I think this is more likely than the cult, old murder and even the mass shooting cases--although not a perfect fit.

 

MJ's situation, although most of it happened in LA, is really not tied down geographically. I mean you had a grand jury I guess, and people gathering outside of his house, and Wonderland itself, and those all HAPPENED in LA, but... it wasn't ABOUT LA.  

 

Look at the trend here. Season 1. People vs. OJ. While it's a national story, at it's core it becomes about the LA police and the city vs. it's black citizens. Season 2. Hurricane Katrina. While we don't know exactly what will be done, I think there's little doubt that the core of the story is going to be more about the city rather than the national reaction.

 

Even dismissing the notion that these have to be social justice stories, I think the geographical thing--exploring a local culture totally consumed by the "Crime" in the title--seems to be another key element. As high profile as the MJ thing was, as much of a national frenzy as there was (and as wacky as things were outside of his house, or wherever he drove in LA), my feeling was always that if you drove a mile away from MJ's house... nobody cared.  Unlike the OJ case.

 

Of course Murphy is perfectly capable of changing his mind, his approach, so of course even if this is right it doesn't mean he'll stick to it.  And again, by Season 3 it may be more a matter of what people want, what they ask for, than his preferences. If this thread is any indication, as I said before, that means cults and/or vintage murder cases... assuming the wave of copycat true crime anthology shows coming (two announced already, but more sure to come) don't get all the "good ones" first.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Kromm

[Finnegan]

I think cases with dramatic trials would work best for the miniseries format. How about the Unabomber? Kaszinsky was a pretty colourful character, and the leadup to his arrest was pretty suspenseful and dramatic. There was a lot of criminal profiling and technical investigation on that case that would be an enjoyable change of pace from OJ, where the narrowing in on the prime suspect took all of half a day.

One that's less known but still an interesting story: Steven Jay Russell, a high level impostor and embezzler. I like the idea of doing a non-violent crime and one that's more money-oriented.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Finnegan

[scarynikki12]

Dropping by to throw Oklahoma City onto the wishlist.  Domestic terrorism, extremist anti-government views, and a rare Federal level execution (McVeigh was the first since 1963).  Done right it could be fascinating.

[Finnegan]

Dropping by to throw Oklahoma City onto the wishlist. Domestic terrorism, extremist anti-government views, and a rare Federal level execution (McVeigh was the first since 1963). Done right it could be fascinating.

I'd watch the hell out of that. Also: Waco.

[Kel Varnsen]

Yeah, FEMA will figure into it. And maybe the Dubya Bush White House,

And maybe Kanye!

[Avaleigh]

I think this is more likely than the cult, old murder and even the mass shooting cases--although not a perfect fit.

 

MJ's situation, although most of it happened in LA, is really not tied down geographically. I mean you had a grand jury I guess, and people gathering outside of his house, and Wonderland itself, and those all HAPPENED in LA, but... it wasn't ABOUT LA.  

 

Look at the trend here. Season 1. People vs. OJ. While it's a national story, at it's core it becomes about the LA police and the city vs. it's black citizens.  Season 2. Hurricane Katrina. While we don't know exactly what will be done, I think there's little doubt that the core of the story is going to be more about the city rather than the national reaction.

 

Even dismissing the notion that these have to be social justice stories, I think the geographical thing--exploring a local culture totally consumed by the "Crime" in the title--seems to be another key element. As high profile as the MJ thing was, as much of a  national frenzy as there was (and as wacky as things were outside of his house, or wherever he drove in LA), my feeling was always that if you drove a mile away from MJ's house... nobody cared.  Unlike the OJ case.

 

Of course Murphy is perfectly capable of changing his mind, his approach, so of course even if this is right it doesn't mean he'll stick to it.

The celebrity factor and people's response to it would be interesting. Michael Jackson is definitely somebody who crossed racial lines for sure and I actually hugely disagree that this wasn't something that a lot of people were interested in besides Americans. I'm thinking of the baby dangling incident in Germany, the insane attention that he'd get anytime he was in the UK, Japan, etc. 

 

I was around eleven when the scandal in 1993 broke and I remember it being a big deal that was hugely talked about. I think that it if they were to tackle this that they should focus on 2003 but I think it would be great if they could do flashbacks to 1993 and a few other years where questionable things were happening. They could even bring back Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran. 

 

Not only is there the trial, the Martin Bashir interview, the two families from the two separate cases, various MJ's family, other fun roles for actors like Mark Geragos, etc. 

 

As far as social issues, I think child predators and abuse and the fight to get someone who appears to have been able to get away with being a repeat offender could make for compelling television. 

[Kromm]

The celebrity factor and people's response to it would be interesting. Michael Jackson is definitely somebody who crossed racial lines for sure and I actually hugely disagree that this wasn't something that a lot of people were interested in besides Americans. I'm thinking of the baby dangling incident in Germany, the insane attention that he'd get anytime he was in the UK, Japan, etc. 

I wasn't saying anything about non-Americans.

 

My primary point was that the seeming "formula" Murphy is using isn't about national interest at all (although that might follow). It's about documenting something that consumes a single city. OJ/LA and Katrina/New Orleans both did that. Almost everything in those places became about those events during the events being chronicled, ergo the stories become the story of a whole city rather than of an event. 

 

If he follows the same pattern in Season 3, then it would be another event that led to a city-wide frenzy, a domination not just in news but in the focus of the people in the city, for the course of the event. The whole nation following along might happen to, but it wouldn't be in that same on-the-ground way.  If they hadn't done OJ for LA, they could have just as easily done Rodney King and everything that followed, but I figure OJ was done because it was less explored, had more focus, and could be tied back to King pretty easily. And a few incidents that similarly focused New York on a single case or incident have been named in this thread too. If the story hadn't been done in a million other places already, 9/11 would be such a story too--hitting more on how it affected New Yorkers on the ground, what it was like living through it rather than the national and international attention, I mean.  The Baltimore situation a few years ago is probably too fresh in people's minds, but it's another case I can think of where an entire city revolved around one thing for a period of time. Stuff like that.

[elzin]

If we wanted to go back to the mid 90s (and someone Dunne wrote about) there's Andrew Cunanan.

[ByTor]

I never heard of "Fatal Vision" and I did a quick Wiki search. Now here are prosecutors taking one for the team!

The prosecution called FBI lab technician and analyst Paul Stombaugh who testified that MacDonald’s blue, button-down pajama top had 48 small, smooth and cylindrical ice pick holes through it. In order for this to have happened, the pajama top would have to remain stationary, an unlikely occurrence if MacDonald had wrapped it around his hands to defend himself from the blows from an attacker wielding an ice pick. Also, by folding the pajama top one particular way, Stombaugh demonstrated how all 48 tears could have been made by 21 thrusts of the ice pick, the same number of times that Colette MacDonald had been stabbed with the ice pick and in an identical pattern, implying that she had been repeatedly stabbed through the pajama top while it was lying on her.[19] Prosecutors Murtagh and Blackburn staged an impromptu re-enactment of the alleged attack on MacDonald. Murtagh wrapped a pajama top around his hands and tried to fend off a series of blows that Blackburn was inflicting on him with a similar ice pick. The prosecution made two points with the demonstration. First, the ice pick holes in the pajama top were jagged and torn, not smoothly cylindrical like the holes in MacDonald’s pajama jacket. Also, Murtagh received a small wound on his left hand. When MacDonald had been examined at Womack Hospital, he had no defensive wounds on his arms or hands consistent with a struggle. The implication was obvious and highly damaging to the defense.

[Kel Varnsen]

They could do a reverse OJ and do the whole Jack Johnson scandal/trial (superstar African-American athlete who was charged in a racially motivated case).

Or if they did want to do the city thing there is the 1920 Wall Street bombing, there is still damage on the side of the JP Morgan building from the blast.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Kel Varnsen

[Kromm]

The Boston Bombings might finally be far enough away for the show to try it, perhaps. It hits the core points I've theorized Murphy wants: taking over everything in a whole local culture/city, a racial angle (earlier I'd been thinking in terms of social justice, but you could also just focus on the race angle specifically with these), a branch into a national debate, while still being most tightly focused locally.  The biggest problem might be the timeline: it's so tight. Not sure how you'd get a whole season out of it. 

 

Plus, Mark Wahlburg is already working on a theatrical movie of this (called "Patriots Day"). Seems to me another part of the reason OJ was picked was that no recent project had existed for it, with Katrina, it was also because the story is so big even if other people did a movie or show, you likely wouldn't bump into whatever someone else did.

[psychoticstate]

I never heard of "Fatal Vision" and I did a quick Wiki search. Now here are prosecutors taking one for the team!

 

 

ByTor, Joe McGinniss wrote an excellent book on the case (titled "Fatal Vision").  There is also an excellent website with a lot of information, court documents and photos (http://www.thejeffreymacdonaldcase.com/index.html)  

 

I had thought at one point that he might possibly be innocent but reading his Article 32 hearing transcript in its entirety changed my mind completely, as well as viewing photos of the crime scene and his family.  His family was horribly overkilled.  Who is going to stab a 2 year old more than 30 times and yet leave an adult male - - a Green Beret - - with a small bump on his forehead and a clean cut to his  chest?  He tried to show similarity to the Manson murders but the Manson killers left no one they attacked alive, not even close.  There are many things to point to MacDonald's guilt but one of the biggest IMO is the massive discrepancy between the injuries sustained by his family and those he sustained.  

[starri]

There was an excellent episode of 48 Hours maybe ten years ago that went over the McDonald case.  They actually laid out a full-size blue-print of the house on a soundstage so that the audience could see where all the blood evidence was.

[Finnegan]

How about Sacco and Vanzetti?

[psychoticstate]

There was an excellent episode of 48 Hours maybe ten years ago that went over the McDonald case.  They actually laid out a full-size blue-print of the house on a soundstage so that the audience could see where all the blood evidence was.

 

And where blood evidence wasn't (but should have been.)

 

The episode may be on YouTube.  It's worth a watch. 

[Shannon L.]

I've been through this thread and most of the crimes I thought of are already mentioned. Personally, I'm really interested in the older ones like Watergate, Al Capone, Manson, even as far back as the Lindbergh baby.  I thought of another one, though.  What about the Japanese internment camps?  I don't even recall a major motion picture that has tackled that (but, I could just not be remembering one) and, if Katrina is being written now, it's obvious that anything that involved the government is fair game.

[Kromm]

I've been through this thread and most of the crimes I thought of are already mentioned. Personally, I'm really interested in the older ones like Watergate, Al Capone, Manson, even as far back as the Lindbergh baby.  I thought of another one, though.  What about the Japanese internment camps?  I don't even recall a major motion picture that has tackled that (but, I could just not be remembering one) and, if Katrina is being written now, it's obvious that anything that involved the government is fair game.

Well it's a race/social justice topic-which frankly doesn't seem to be a popular type of suggestion here but IS I think more in line with Murphy's precedents.

 

The problem may be that it's pretty self-enclosed as a story.  Katrina is unfocused, but there are distinctly different, even if related, threads you can follow. With the Internment camps I think most of the stories would be too similar. And whatever wider societal effects it had didn't manifest until years later, when people actually started talking about it. There was no press, no societal fury--it was all done quietly.  It has the makings of a good 2 hour movie, but I think a ten hour TV series would be a harder task with it.

Edited April 12, 2016 by Kromm

[CeeBeeGee]

ByTor, Joe McGinniss wrote an excellent book on the case (titled "Fatal Vision").  There is also an excellent website with a lot of information, court documents and photos (http://www.thejeffreymacdonaldcase.com/index.html)  

 

I had thought at one point that he might possibly be innocent but reading his Article 32 hearing transcript in its entirety changed my mind completely, as well as viewing photos of the crime scene and his family.  His family was horribly overkilled.  Who is going to stab a 2 year old more than 30 times and yet leave an adult male - - a Green Beret - - with a small bump on his forehead and a clean cut to his  chest?  He tried to show similarity to the Manson murders but the Manson killers left no one they attacked alive, not even close.  There are many things to point to MacDonald's guilt but one of the biggest IMO is the massive discrepancy between the injuries sustained by his family and those he sustained.  

 

Yeah, when I was a teenager, having read McGuinness's fascinating, stuffed-with-information but also biased account (I think he wrote the book after he decided MacDonald was guilty), I was undecided as well, and even wrote MacDonald. (And got a response--yes, buried somewhere in my teenage memorabilia is an actual letter from Jeffrey MacDonald.) But as I got older and really started thinking about it, common sense kicked in. Why on earth would a gang of drugged up hippies overkill two small children (Kristen was just a baby) and a pregnant woman, and barely scratch the guy who's there, who's fighting back, who's the closest, easiest target? His story was just not believable, especially when you start to add the outside stuff--his infidelities, his use of amphetamines, his weird affect after the killings (like the infamous appearance on I think it was The Tonight Show where he was making jokes) and I think he too had a record of domestic violence. Common sense.

[Shannon L.]

 

With the Internment camps I think most of the stories would be too similar. And whatever wider societal effects it had didn't manifest until years later, when people actually started talking about it. There was no press, no societal fury--it was all done quietly.  It has the makings of a good 2 hour movie, but I think a ten hour TV series would be a harder task with it.

That's true.  I just wondered if there was enough going on behind the scenes, in the Whitehouse and other places, that most of us aren't aware of, that it could make a decent series. 

 

In regards to Katrina:  I listen to a news radio host who was in the press pool for years and followed President Bush from his time as governor straight through his presidency.  This woman pulls no punches--she equally praises and criticizes both republicans and democrats alike (I honestly couldn't tell you if she's a republican, democrat, independent....whatever.  There are times when I think I've got her nailed down as one, then she criticizes something that makes me think I was wrong).  On the anniversary of Katrina, she was saying that W's people were doing what they could to keep the worst of the news away from him (I forget why) and when he finally did the fly over, he was shocked and sickened by what he was seeing.  It really upset him.  Then, she said that when Kanye came out and said what he did, "it gutted him" because he really did care.  Take that how you will.....he's not my favorite president and I think what happened there was criminal, but I, personally, tend to believe her because of the type of commentary I hear from her on a regular basis.  Makes me wonder if he'll be portrayed like that and if anyone would even believe it. 

 

It sounds like a lot of people aren't interested in Katrina.  I'm going to watch it.  Yes, it will be tough because I remember it like it was yesterday, but OJ's case was hard for me to relive, too, but it was good enough that I'll try this one when it comes out. 

[psychoticstate]

Yeah, when I was a teenager, having read McGuinness's fascinating, stuffed-with-information but also biased account (I think he wrote the book after he decided MacDonald was guilty), I was undecided as well, and even wrote MacDonald. (And got a response--yes, buried somewhere in my teenage memorabilia is an actual letter from Jeffrey MacDonald.) But as I got older and really started thinking about it, common sense kicked in. Why on earth would a gang of drugged up hippies overkill two small children (Kristen was just a baby) and a pregnant woman, and barely scratch the guy who's there, who's fighting back, who's the closest, easiest target? His story was just not believable, especially when you start to add the outside stuff--his infidelities, his use of amphetamines, his weird affect after the killings (like the infamous appearance on I think it was The Tonight Show where he was making jokes) and I think he too had a record of domestic violence. Common sense.

 

McGinniss actually went into the case uninformed and believing he was going to write a book about the great injustice of an innocent man being accused of butchering his family.  He was given unlimited access to the defense.  It was only after he had attended the trial in its entirety, seen and heard the evidence and seen MacDonald on the stand that he formed his opinion of guilt.  MacDonald was infuriated that McGinniss wrote a book naming him as the killer but McGinniss had told him and the defense up front that possibility was there.  Everyone agreed to move forward with the project.  

 

If McGinniss was in it for the money, it would have made a much better story post-conviction to write a book about how he was innocent.

 

The interview you're referring to Cee, is from Dick Cavett.  It should be somewhere online or YouTube.  It's well worth the watch.  It aired in December 1970; the MacDonald family was killed in February 1970.  MacDonald's affect was painfully wrong.  As you noted, he was cutting jokes and appeared to have more anger toward the Army than the people he alleges killed his family.  The murders of his wife and children were almost afterthoughts to him. 

[Crs97]

 

That's true.  I just wondered if there was enough going on behind the scenes, in the Whitehouse and other places, that most of us aren't aware of, that it could make a decent series.

 

Interesting piece of trivia IMO that wouldn't make people rush to their DVR's but I am fascinated by this kind of stuff:

 

The Supreme Court case that upheld the internment camps almost wasn't unanimous.  One judge was planning a dissent, but the rest thought it had to unanimous for the good of the country's morale.  They had heard another case addressing an issue the judge in question felt very strongly about and then basically extorted him into dropping the dissent for their votes on his issue.  

 

I really wish he had written that dissent.

[Umbelina]

The one thing I hoped for the Katrina story is that they would NOT just focus on New Orleans.  Alas, they probably will, but other areas were devastated as well, and ignored.  For TV though, there is no way they will not focus on the stadium and the flooded city.  Once again, I fear that other areas will be an afterthought.

[Crs97]

Our church spent at least four summers sending workers to a small city in Mississippi simply because it was devastated by Katrina, yet forgotten.

[BW Manilowe]

Maybe they could do something on the Flint Water Crisis when it's not so current or fresh.

[Rosiejuliemom]

I'm a bit of a true crime junkie so there's a ton of things I'd love for this show to cover.

 

Jonestown: So, so heartbreakingly sad, but also has a lot of different facets to it and could make a season as equally engaging as this past one.

 

Columbine: In many ways I feel that Columbine is a great inverse to the Simpson trial. The way this miniseries was framed, the Simpson trial was about more than one thing. With Columbine, people tried to make it about more than one thing (video games! they were bullied! Trenchcoat Mafia!) when it unfortunately comes down to something very simple: two disturbed young men who decided to kill their classmates. Also I think there's a lot of things about Columbine that people might not know, like that the original plan (blowing up the cafeteria) could have resulted in the deaths/injuries of almost 500 people. And there are also some controversies, for lack of a better word, when talking about the legacy of the victims. Rachel Scott's father started a program called Rachel's Challenge, which was implemented at high schools across the country (including my own) to encourage people to be kinder to one another and look out for bullying, as Rachel had apparently done before her death. Now, this is not to diminish the tragedy of what happened to Rachel, but her dad came and spoke at my school and um...it was weird. All this stuff from Rachel's diaries about her predicting she'd die in a homicide at a young age, the last drawing in her diary was like of a rose with tears and there were 13 tears and 13 victims...idk it was very strange and my school ended up ditching Rachel's Challenge the next year when they found out it was something of a "come to Jesus" cash grab. There's also the whole "she said yes" thing with Cassie Bernall...idk the quest to turn these poor kids into Christian martyrs was bizarre but would add an interesting element to the story. Also it would be a good way to examine the phenomenon of people (mostly white teenage girls, let's be honest) who glorify these horrible mass murderers.

 

Mason: I know it's been done to death, but I feel like a miniseries is the best way to examine the batshit craziness of this crime. They could start out with examining the hold Manson had over his followers, put the murders at the halfway point, and then finish with the investigation and trials. It is the quintessential American Crime Story, imo, and also has ties to Hollywood and moderate racial elements.

 

Other random ones that crossed my mine...serial killers are always a trip, so Bundy, Dahmer, the Zodiac Killer aka Ted Cruz (kidding)...this might be a weird one, but what about Watergate? It's a good political angle to go down, and not as overdone as the JFK assassination.

 

I'm in the same boat. There are so many cases that I'd love to see tackled. Lizzie Borden, Genene Jones (especially since she will be released in 2018), the Bath school bombing, Oklahoma City, Manson, Jonestown, the Moscone/Milk murders and the aftermath, Andrew Cunanan, Charles Starkweather, Red Scare, WTC 93 (possibly leading into 9/11), the Black Sox scandal, and many more.

 

Some of these would be difficult. With some, there probably wouldn't be enough material to fill 10 episodes. Others would be difficult to fit everything into 10 hours.

 

As for Columbine, I would like to see this show tackle it, but I don't want them to at the same time. While I remember the OJ trial, I was fairly young at the time/wasn't paying very close attention and a lot of my recollections are a bit hazy. Columbine was my Bronco chase. I remember that very clearly. It was something that resonated with me on a very personal level since I was very close in age to the shooters and most of the victims and was a bit of an oddball weirdo.

 

The Manson case would be absolutely fascinating. I don't care if the subject has been done to death, I'd be interested to see another take on it. Hell, they could do separate seasons dealing with the formation of The Family, the Hinman/Tate/LaBianca/Shea murders, the investigation, the trial, and the aftermath. Shit...that could be a series in and of itself.

 

The only case I don't particularly want to see is Albert Fish. *shivers*

Edited April 13, 2016 by Rosiejuliemom

[helenamonster]

It's still a little fresh, but I think a Casey Anthony season would be pretty interesting, as it was kind of the first big trial of the social media age. The whole thing went on for years, and there's a lot to cover and a lot of "characters" like the OJ trial had.

 

And I guess she's too old for the part now, but Maggie Siff would kill it as Anthony.

[starri]

What about doing Jodi Arias?  That's got some of the same hooks as Casey Anthony, an even more insane crime, and an also very colorful cast of characters.  If someone played Nancy Grace (who, to be fair, would be part of a Casey Anthony season as well) with as much skill as Sarah Paulson played Marcia Clark, that's another Emmy right there.

 

Additionally, the media was involved with Arias in a different way, since Maureen Maher's 48 Hours interview was part of the evidence against her.

[shang yiet]

Lizzie Borden and OJ - two cases where I 'know' they're guilty, despite the court verdict.

 

My top votes are Borden and Lindbergh (dramatic trials)  and Manson (celebrities, 60s vibe, a genuine madman).

 

However, Elizabeth Smart case is too straightforward and JonBenet (no obvious suspects).

[Princess Sparkle]

What about doing Jodi Arias?  That's got some of the same hooks as Casey Anthony, an even more insane crime, and an also very colorful cast of characters.  If someone played Nancy Grace (who, to be fair, would be part of a Casey Anthony season as well) with as much skill as Sarah Paulson played Marcia Clark, that's another Emmy right there.

 

Additionally, the media was involved with Arias in a different way, since Maureen Maher's 48 Hours interview was part of the evidence against her.

I wonder if for the 3rd season (and beyond), they could do "themed" seasons, for cases that wouldn't necessarily support a 10-part miniseries.  Like, Jodi Arias, Casey Anthony, and Amanda Knox are all decently similar cases, or you could do a "school shooting" type season with Columbine (good call on that Helenamonster; I can remember that incident like it was yesterday), Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook.  Or even a "Filicide"(brain fart - thanks for the correction Helenamonster!) theme with Susan Smith, Diane Downs, and Andrea Yates - those three specifically, since there all had various societal issues involved in their trials.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Princess Sparkle

[GOMAVS41]

WTC 93 would be a really good subject to cover. There was a pretty good HBO movie about it, and there is plenty to work with.

With the Katrina angle, I bet they will focus on the Danziger Bridge shootings and the cover up of the murder of Henry Glover. Frontline did an amazing documentary on it, and I believe the officers were tried and convicted.

[helenamonster]

I wonder if for the 3rd season (and beyond), they could do "themed" seasons, for cases that wouldn't necessarily support a 10-part miniseries.  Like, Jodi Arias, Casey Anthony, and Amanda Knox are all decently similar cases, or you could do a "school shooting" type season with Columbine (good call on that Helenamonster; I can remember that incident like it was yesterday), Virginia Tech, and Sandy Hook.  Or even a "Matricide" theme with Susan Smith, Diane Downs, and Andrea Yates - those three specifically, since there all had various societal issues involved in their trials.

 

Ooh, that's an interesting idea. School shootings are hard to stretch out over 10 episodes, especially if the trials aren't that interesting (and most times there aren't trials at all, since the perpetrators usually kill themselves before they can be apprehended). I feel Columbine could fill 10 episodes, maybe 8, just because of the impact it had on high schools across the country regarding security and students' mental health, and it also sparked a lot of discussions/debates about teenage subcultures and American popular culture at large. As well as the weirdness surrounding the victims' martyrdom that I mentioned before. Maybe the first episode could just be about Harris/Klebold before before the shooting, second episode could be the shooting, and then from there the story expands to examine things like the impact of violent films/music/video games, bullying, and whatever other moral panics sprung up because of this tragedy.

 

Also, not to be pedantic, but those cases you mentioned would be filicide, a parent killing their child. Matricide is a child killing their mother.

[Princess Sparkle]

 

 

Also, not to be pedantic, but those cases you mentioned would be filicide, a parent killing their child. Matricide is a child killing their mother.

God you're right, I had a total brain fart - I was even listening to the filicide episode of Sword & Scale recently (side note: don't listen to that ep, it's disturbing as shit), so I have no excuse.  I just edited.

 

And I agree with you, I actually think you could do a full miniseries about Columbine, since there is just so much there.  Not to mention that Dave Cullen's book is an excellent resource, and breaks down a lot of the misinformation that originally surrounded the case, plus expands on Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold before the shooting, and what their original intent was.  And selfishly, that shooting is such a cultural touchpoint for me (I was in jr. high at the time, and not long after that, we had "school shooting" drills that lasted through my senior year of high school), that I would love to see a well done miniseries on it.  I think a lot of that misinformation people had about the shooting still lingers in a lot of people's minds, and to Starri's point above, a lot of necessary conversations weren't had because the prevailing narrative was "goth kids listened to metal music".  Which, actually dovetails into the West Memphis 3 case nicely, but I don't think you can do better than Paradise Lost for that case.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Princess Sparkle

[Umbelina]

I wish they would do something that didn't involve death, but was crime, and significant crime.

 

I know, hard to find that hasn't already been done, but maybe something in espionage, especially since more things have been released about certain things.  (Or maybe because I absolutely adore The Americans!

[ShadowHunter]

I have seen people post they want Ryan do the Manson family story now I turn on the news and see "Board Recommends Parole for Manson Follower Leslie Van Houten". 

[Aethera]

I wish they would do something that didn't involve death, but was crime, and significant crime.

 

I know, hard to find that hasn't already been done, but maybe something in espionage, especially since more things have been released about certain things.  (Or maybe because I absolutely adore The Americans!

 

Fraud/embezzlement etc could be mined well, I think. Madoff just had a movie, but there are other things like that. I'd totally get sucked in on a multi-part series about Enron, for example.  A "how did this happen" sort of unfolding of the facts.

[Shannon L.]

 

Fraud/embezzlement etc could be mined well, I think. Madoff just had a movie, but there are other things like that. I'd totally get sucked in on a multi-part series about Enron, for example.  A "how did this happen" sort of unfolding of the facts.

They could expand on The Big Short and the housing collapse.

[Kromm]

I wish they would do something that didn't involve death, but was crime, and significant crime.

I think more than a few things along this line have been suggested.

 

And arguably even though a lot of people died, that's likely not the core of the Katrina season either.

[ByTor]

I wish they would do something that didn't involve death, but was crime, and significant crime.

This one hits close to home for me in a literal sense, as this happened in the area where I grew up, but the Kids for Cash scandal would be a good crime to cover where there was no death (with the exception of a boy who committed suicide as a result). In a nutshell, there were two judges who imposed harsher than warranted penalties on juvenile "criminals", including sentencing them to "boot camp" type facilities. The problem is, these were "for profit" centers that the judges profited from. More convictions = more $$$. I actually had one of these judges when I was on jury duty, and I thought he was so nice...goes to show you!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal

[helenamonster]

ByTor, if you're interested in Kids for Cash scandal, I highly recommend Corrupted by Lisa Scottoline. It's directly based on the Kids for Cash scandal (checks it by name numerous times), although it is a fictionalized account of two children who suffered at the hands of the system. If this show ever wanted to adapt that scandal, I think her book could be great source material in order to tie the scandal to characters we can identify with and root for.

[ByTor]

^^^I had NO CLUE she wrote a book about that, thanks!

[Aethera]

This one hits close to home for me in a literal sense, as this happened in the area where I grew up, but the Kids for Cash scandal would be a good crime to cover where there was no death (with the exception of a boy who committed suicide as a result). In a nutshell, there were two judges who imposed harsher than warranted penalties on juvenile "criminals", including sentencing them to "boot camp" type facilities. The problem is, these were "for profit" centers that the judges profited from. More convictions = more $$$. I actually had one of these judges when I was on jury duty, and I thought he was so nice...goes to show you!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal

 

That's an excellent one. I think every police procedural did an episode fictionalizing that when it happened, but I'm sure the real story would be really interesting!

[Princess Sparkle]

This one hits close to home for me in a literal sense, as this happened in the area where I grew up, but the Kids for Cash scandal would be a good crime to cover where there was no death (with the exception of a boy who committed suicide as a result). In a nutshell, there were two judges who imposed harsher than warranted penalties on juvenile "criminals", including sentencing them to "boot camp" type facilities. The problem is, these were "for profit" centers that the judges profited from. More convictions = more $$$. I actually had one of these judges when I was on jury duty, and I thought he was so nice...goes to show you!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kids_for_cash_scandal

Have you seen the documentary about it?  If you haven't, I highly recommend it; it's called Kids for Cash.  I saw it on Netflix, but I believe it's available through Amazon Prime as well.

Edited April 22, 2016 by Princess Sparkle

[ByTor]

^^^ No, but I'll be sure to!

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

I never heard of Diane Downs and I am REALLY glad I didn't at the time it happened. I saw too many commercials for the Fatal Vision movie and was terrified for months my mother was going to kill me in my sleep.

I have a small connection to the Diane Downs case: my mother was a music teacher at the school the two surviving children went to after they were sent to live with their foster parents. She only met the girl once or twice, but worked with the little boy a lot, and has nothing but contempt and dismay for his foster parents: he was mostly paralyzed from the gunshots but still had a little bit of movement and feeling in his legs and feet. Everybody from the school was encouraging his foster parents to send him to physical therapy because there was a good chance he'd be able to walk again someday, even if he had to use a cane. But he complained that the PT hurt (which it probably did), so his foster "parents" stop sending him, thus condemning him to a wheelchair for life.

 

Sometimes, it's not about what a child wants. It's about what he needs.

As for future ACS stories:

 

Menendez Brothers

 

Robert Blake/Bonnie Lee Bakley (Cold-hearted manipulative conwoman found murdered, possibly by famous Hollywood actor)

 

Lincoln Assassination (lotsa stuff that hasn't gotten wide play, including a planned attempt on VP Johnson's life)

 

Watergate (Although it's been done to death)

 

Iran/Contra (might be too dry)

Edited April 25, 2016 by Sir RaiderDuck OMS

[Moose135]

This one hits close to home for me in a literal sense, as this happened in the area where I grew up, but the Kids for Cash scandal would be a good crime to cover...

 

I think that would make an interesting story - my late Mother-in-law lived in the area (Mountaintop, if you're familiar) and I spent a good bit of time out there.  I remember when the story broke, obviously big news.