20/20

[Cranberry]

Discuss 20/20 Here!

[Raiderred]

I just watched last night's episode about "Fakes" and all I could think about when they talked about fake resumes was George Costanza. (Seinfeld)  "Say Vandelay Industries!  Say, Vandelay Industrustries!"  -George   "It's only a lie if you think it's a lie, Jerry" -George

[topanga]

The episode I watched tonight was very disturbing. It was about 2 best friends who ended up killing the 3rd best friend because she found out that the first two girls were having a lesbian relationship.

[Taylorh2]

First aired 8/12

I've never flown before and after always seeing things like what was shown on this show (and others) I really don't want to. My dh is flying to Seattle on 9/8 and he said that he's never experienced any of what was shown.

[ShellSeeker]

Hi all,

 

I merged a new thread into this one. This forum has been pretty slow, so for now, I think keeping the All Episodes Talk thread should suffice.

 

Thanks!

[Art Vandelay]

Is it just me, or do they use the same stories over and over again? I've seen the airline secrets story, the woman going overboard on the cruise ship and the hotel room death stories so many times. And it seems like each time they're packaged as a new show.

[walnutqueen]

It's not just you, Art Vandelay - between this show, Dateline & 48 Hours (not to mention the various crime shows on the ID Channel), you'd think there are only a few dozen crime stories to be retold.  :-)  Those "investigative news" stories are repetitive, too.

Edited September 10, 2014 by walnutqueen

[Morbs]

I enjoyed all the pearl clutching over kids who were familiar with Slender Man while the parents don't know who he is. They were talking as if Slender Man was really responsible for the crime and not two extremely disturbed little girls. Kids have traded ghost stories and urban legends, watched horror movies, or seen real life violence for a long time now, we are not about to face an onslaught of crimes inspired by Slender Man. Mental illness is the issue here, not internet use.

Edited September 27, 2014 by Morbs

[xls]

I enjoyed all the pearl clutching over kids who were familiar with Slender Man while the parents don't know who he is. They were talking as if Slender Man was really responsible for the crime and not two extremely disturbed little girls. Kids have traded ghost stories and urban legends, watched horror movies, or seen real life violence for a long time now, we are not about to face an onslaught of crimes inspired by Slender Man. Mental illness is the issue here, not internet use.

So true, even so the story just broke my heart.

[tobeannounced]

What I didn't get was why they found the Slender Man character so compelling and would want to go LIVE with the dude!  I have a 13-year-old daughter (granted, she's high-functioning autistic) but that character would terrify her.  Even if they thought it was real, what did they think life with him would be like?  Trips to Justice and fro yo?

[CMH1981]

I watched this episode regarding the Slender Man stabbing based off of preview on the View, and the preview made tears well up so I thought I need to watch this episode.  I teared up during the story when they talked about how she dragged herself out b/c she wanted to live, and listening to the 911 call, and then watching her w/the kittens a the animal shelter.  This girl is going to have trust issue for the rest of her life.  I remember hearing of this story on the news when it happened on it was appalling, and watching this was just crazy.  I was hoping we would get an interview w/the two girls, but I guess since the case is still ongoing I can see why we didn't.  I was reading up on this case somewhat and how the creator of the myth of the Slender Man said what happened was tragic but wouldn't give any other comments or interviews.  

 

I wonder how this event will affect Hollywood when they eventually make a Slender Man movie, b/c you know the myth of this character would be one hell of a scary movie.

Edited September 28, 2014 by CMH1981

[ChristmasJones]

It was kind of astounding how close that girl came to death. If the knife had gone a tiny bit deeper or if that man had not rode his bike down that particular path, it seems this girl would be dead now.

 

Its got to be a major mindf*ck that will stick with this girl for the rest of her life- two best friends trying to stab her to death.

 

What I went through pales in comparison, but in my early 20's, I was attacked/beat up by two skinhead girls one night after leaving a nightclub. They had me down on the ground, kicking me, punching me, pulling my hair. I was terrified. I think they wanted my leather jacket and boots.  For about four hours after the attack, I was just shaking like crazy due to so much adrenalin. Anyway, for the next year or so, anytime I saw a skinhead, I became very anxious and would avoid them at all costs if I saw any out in public.

 

Given how that attack affected me, I can't begin to imagine being only 12yo and having two friends using knives on me.

 

I would love someone to write a book profiling these pairs of female teenagers who try to kill (or do kill) someone - there are the two who killed Skylar Neese, and then the two back in New Zealand in 1954 - featured in the movie Heavenly Creatures, and now these two. Any others? Those are the only three I can think of.

 

edit: I just went to read the Wiki on Heavenly Creatures and now I find it interesting that in the New Zealand case and this one, the girls were caught up in an elaborate fantasy life with each other.

Edited September 28, 2014 by ChristmasJones

[walnutqueen]

ChristmasJones - that must have been a terrifying experience for you. 

 

Did anyone catch last night's episode about the missing/presumed dead grocery store clerk?  What bothered me most about this case is the body was never found.  A body isn't easy to dispose of, especially for a lone teenaged boy, which is (I think) what the new defense lawyer lady (we've seen her before, haven't we) is trying to prove.  Bloody men's underpants hidden in the ceiling tile of the ladies' room and the cops don't test for DNA?   WTF? 

[ChristmasJones]

Was I the only one wondering why a pair of underwear was stuffed up in the ceiling???? WTF???

 

If they killed the guy, why not just leave his underwear on him????

[applecrisp]

i thought the underwear belonged to Brian Render the presumed murderer who in now dead.

[walnutqueen]

i thought the underwear belonged to Brian Render the presumed murderer who in now dead.

 

I think that is why the lawyer lady wants DNA testing.  If they find both the victim's blood and Render's DNA on the underwear, they can try to introduce it as new evidence and grounds for appeal.

[ChristmasJones]

But why stuff it in the ceiling? And why was his underwear bloody? Did the blood from the murder just soak through his pants? What would the point be to leave underwear up there if all of his other clothing was also covered in blood? Why not bundle it all up somewhere and toss it/burn it? Its not like if stripped off his underwear and put them in the ceiling that he could then just walk out in public. If a bloody jacket or shirt was up there, I could understand that a bit more, as it would seem that he was getting rid of something that people would notice if they saw him.

 

Does anyone here think the guy who is in prison for this murder actually did it?

[Morbs]

I don't think he did it.  The idea that he was a drug dealer who was owed 500 dollars so he cut up the body with meat cutters seemed really laughable to me; it reminded me of when prosecutors go over board with occult theories.  I hope he gets out.

[GirlMonday]

.

Edited October 11, 2014 by GirlMonday

[Medicine Crow]

Friday night's show was so blah I deleted it!!!

[Morbs]

I loved how Nancy Grace categorized eating at IHOP as "living it up" after a murder. She is such a ghoul.

[kathybgd]

I enjoyed this episode. I always find jilted, revenge lovers or crazy women stories interesting. Boy, that Tawny chicks breast implants were so disturbingly hilarious! I loved her begging the judge for mercy in the end. Bitch deserved everything she got!

[ChristmasJones]

I loved how Nancy Grace categorized eating at IHOP as "living it up" after a murder. She is such a ghoul.

 

I just finished watching this episode on my DVR, and after NG said that about IHOP, I said "Living it up at IHOP... that is rich!" out loud to my cat. OMG NG makes me :::shudder:::

I enjoyed this episode. I always find jilted, revenge lovers or crazy women stories interesting. Boy, that Tawny chicks breast implants were so disturbingly hilarious! I loved her begging the judge for mercy in the end. Bitch deserved everything she got!

 

Completely agree.

 

I do think that the fact that she kept everything documented in those notebooks reveals some mental health problems being involved here. But.... she definitely deserved to go to prison. Getting someone fired and accusing them of being a pedophile are super not OK, and I am very glad she was convicted.

[Edie Wharton]

I enjoyed hearing Nancy Grace mispronounce "finagle" as "finangle."  Hee!

[bmasters9]

 

Here's a 20/20 opening that I grew up with, from the time of the Challenger disaster, or shortly after. I was only 5, I believe, when I first saw it. I'm sure I'm not the only one who remembers it. It has a WABC 11 P.M. Eyewitness News promo and 9 A.M. Morning Show promo before it (Morning Show promo has a younger Regis Philbin). 

 

What I really recall is how Hugh and Barbara opened:

 

"Good evening...I'm Hugh Downs."

"And I'm Barbara Walters, and this is 20/20."

Edited November 2, 2014 by bmasters9

[Wings]

 

Is that Vandelay Industries?  :)

   

 

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!  

[kathybgd]

Oh for Gods sake! Leave the dead alone and move on. Chris McCanless's sister needs to go off into the wild herself! What ? Not enough money made off your dead brother?

Oh for Gods sake! Leave the dead alone and move on. Chris McCanless's sister needs to go off into the wild herself! What ? Not enough money made off your dead brother?

[Wings]

I agree.  Another book about a bad childhood. Really?   I have heard many worse that didn't drive someone into the mountains.  She isn't doing this to hurt her parents, it is for Chris. What?   

[Medicine Crow]

Oh for Gods sake! Leave the dead alone and move on. Chris McCanless's sister needs to go off into the wild herself! What ? Not enough money made off your dead brother?

Oh for Gods sake! Leave the dead alone and move on. Chris McCanless's sister needs to go off into the wild herself! What ? Not enough money made off your dead brother?

 

I agree.  Another book about a bad childhood. Really?   I have heard many worse that didn't drive someone into the mountains.  She isn't doing this to hurt her parents, it is for Chris. What?   

I couldn't agree more!!  I couldn't believe 20/20 was giving this MORE air time.  As soon as they started into THAT story & it dawned on me it was about that idiot, delete!!!  C'mon 20/20, did a little deeper.

 

On a more superficial note, I was SO happy to see Elizabeth Vargas looking so well.  I have nothing but respect & high hopes for her continued recovery & happy life.

[Wings]

Just looked up Gordon Samuel.   I am not so sure that would be that interesting.  Bi polar drunk flees police then tries to run one of them over!  LOL!  

Edited November 8, 2014 by wings707

[walnutqueen]

Just looked up Gordon Samuel.   I am not so sure that would be that interesting.  Bi polar drunk flees police then tries to run one of them over!  LOL!  

 

I'd watch that.

 

;-)

[wanderwoman]

I don't understand why 20/20 billed this episode as "a secret never revealed" about Chris. The second family and the family violence was not only in the Krakauer book, but it was also in the movie. I think this whole segment was a plug for his sister's book. Also, his sister had already visited the bus. It was well documented.

[Scout Finch]

She had but this was the first time for her sisters, IIRC.

Edited November 11, 2014 by Scout Finch

[Intocats]

The 11/14/14 episode about "natural insemination" , or the 23-year-old sperm donor doing it "the old-fashioned way":  He bragged about his "good genes" and "passing on his legacy" but talked like a male Valley Girl! I can just imagine when the baby starts talking..."Hey mahmmmm! I don't, like, ya know, eat that Gerber craaaaaap! Make me, like, some brown riiiiiice and banaaaaanas."

 

Newsex, indeed!

[MarysWetBar]

Just watched the episode on betrayal of trust. Young women meeting a club girl in a club, allowing her to move in cus she said she liked your dress and you looked so hawt and skinny. .. then being SHOCKED when she steals your identity and credit cards and money! Oh. And the absolute worst thing the little thief did? Stole the one girl's HAIR STRAIGHTENER!

Then the stunned twat cant stop whining about the straightener for the rest of the blessedly short segment. Long story short... she gets her hair straightener back and squeals like Babe the pig, while hugging some NEW strangers that are now BFFs. The scene where it showed the women who had been robbed by the "frenemy", rooting through a big box of thongs and bras and glitter stilettos was beyond sickening. ..grabbing what they thought was their stuff. Lord whatever happened to the old 20/20? The one that had stories that were relevant. This was truly barrel bottom journalism.

Edited November 22, 2014 by MarysWetBar

[bmasters9]

Lord whatever happened to the old 20/20? The one that had stories that were relevant. This was truly barrel bottom journalism.

That's a good question! I think you're speaking in reference to that old 1986 segment I mentioned above (from the edition of Jan. 30, 1986 that had stories about the Kennedy assassination and Challenger, James Garner, and winter depression). Is that true?

Edited November 22, 2014 by bmasters9

[MarysWetBar]

Yes. That is the show i grew up on. The one where it was actual investigative journalism.Last night was a train wreck.

[walnutqueen]

This episode sounds so bad I may not bother watching it.  I long for the good old days of real investigative journalism.  These shows don't even come close.   Thank goodness for shows like Frontline and VICE.

[bmasters9]

Yeah, it's basically turned itself into Entertainment Tonight at this point. Even when they tackle a serious subject they won't do it seriously. They muck it up with Nancy Grace or cheap loud music and graphics and what passes for purple prose in the tv medium.  Too bad they are so shallow now that they probably can't even be ashamed of themselves for how far they've fallen. 

Even the title card of today's 20/20 hardly reflects the name of the show. That magnifying glass going over the vintage ABC News globe logo, and then stamping the axis on that globe, before finally going in between the 20s in the title-- all that did more (in addition to Hugh and Barbara) to say "This is 20/20" than anything the current show can ever do, at least IMO. 

[Lovecat]

Just watched the episode on betrayal of trust. Young women meeting a club girl in a club, allowing her to move in cus she said she liked your dress and you looked so hawt and skinny. .. then being SHOCKED when she steals your identity and credit cards and money! Oh. And the absolute worst thing the little thief did? Stole the one girl's HAIR STRAIGHTENER!

Then the stunned twat cant stop whining about the straightener for the rest of the blessedly short segment. Long story short... she gets her hair straightener back and squeals like Babe the pig, while hugging some NEW strangers that are now BFFs.

That girl,was *such* a fucking drama queen. I wanted to punch her in the throat.

[Scout Finch]

Just watched the Hot Pursuit episode that was done in San Francisco. At the risk of blaming the victim, a few of them should really have known better. You leave your laptop and iPhone on the table in a busy coffee shop while you go to the bathroom? Also, I thought most people were aware that you don't leave valuables in plain site in your car. I did feel for the girl whose violin was stolen from the practice room at the music conservatory she attended. I would have expected that to be a much more secure environment too.

 

Unlike the staged experiments where the thieves actually did cut locks on bicycles and break into places, the setup with the guitar in the car was ridiculous. The car is parked curbside with the windows down and obviously unlocked (the locks were the old metal kind that pop up), and the guitar case is prominently sitting upright in the passenger seat. The circumstances did not match those of the other controlled conditions and it wouldn't seem like the results would be as quantifiable. Although the real idiot is the one who stole the $400+ guitar and quickly sold it for freakin' $20.

Edited December 7, 2014 by Scout Finch

[bmasters9]

Also, I have no idea why David Muir and Elizabeth Vargas are even hosting this mess because they entire participation seems to be standing together in front of the logo and just giving a cheesy intro and closing to the show.  They are simply unnecessary.  

 

How true, how true! Getting back to that 1986 segment, at least then Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters sat at the desk in front of a backdrop of monitors, and a header with the ABC News logo and 20/20 title of the time was on the backdrop above the monitors. The camera then zoomed in for a tight shot on them as they introduced themselves, and then the opening titles played (before that, the camera didn't even need to zoom in on Hugh [it stayed in a tight shot on him, IIRC, because he hosted solo, and Barbara was an occasional contributor]). 

Edited December 15, 2014 by bmasters9

[walnutqueen]

A new low bar has been set - even for the lowlife shlock/shock of the 20/20s.  Sympathetic ear to a child molester/ sexual assaulter  because he's a beloved TV star, and letting him "explain" (defend) his proclivities?  Under the guise of informing, explaining and educating the public?  Fuck the perv formerly know as Stephen Collins, and fuck 20/20 up the ass for airing this., and devoting all of almost 15 minutes to the perpetrator, rather than the problem.

 

Is THIS the world we are living in?  When The Interview garners a knee-jerk ignorant terrorist response, and this POS doesn't?

 

Life hasn't changed much since the days I was hit on by any guy old enough to be my molestingly inclined stepfather.

[Wings]

I found the interview with Collins interesting and informative.  He showed another face of child molestation.  He was careful not to defend himself or lay blame and handled himself well, I thought.  

[walnutqueen]

I found the interview with Collins interesting and informative.  He showed another face of child molestation.  He was careful not to defend himself or lay blame and handled himself well, I thought.  

 

The other face of child molestation is a CHILD MOLESTOR.  No matter how you slice & dice it, it's like seeing the face of a serial killer.  Chilling.  This is coming from a child who was "molested" by a trusted stepdaddy, and was challenged because "he didn't go there".  It doesn't have to involve penetration to be a gross violation, and leads to a lifetime of "issues".   [/rant]

 

Happy Holidays, y'all.  And keep those kiddos safe.

[Wings]

By another face I meant pattern and should have said that.  No where did I imply this was not wrong.   I believe he used the term "young woman" because she is a young woman now.  

[RedheadZombie]

The other face of child molestation is a CHILD MOLESTOR.  No matter how you slice & dice it, it's like seeing the face of a serial killer.  Chilling.  This is coming from a child who was "molested" by a trusted stepdaddy, and was challenged because "he didn't go there".  It doesn't have to involve penetration to be a gross violation, and leads to a lifetime of "issues".   [/rant]

 

I completely agree with you, but I also believe, like Wings said, that there can be another face shown.  This wasn't it.  But Dan Abrams, about ten years ago when he had a show on MSNBC, routinely had a guest who was an admitted/convicted Pedophile.  Unlike Collins, he did not pretty up his crime or attempt to appear sympathetic.   He was there to tell the public exactly how a pedophile thinks.  He molested his own daughter as well as other children, and he stated with certainty that the urge never goes away.  The man had to be in his sixties at this point, but described a slippery slope of simply standing at a bus stop and seeing a child, and where a pedophiles mind will go to.  He explained that he had to be vigilant - no bus stops, parks, schools, playgrounds - or else the fantasies begin.  I found the man pretty brave for doing this at his stage of life.   Dan Abrams was polite to him, but never tried to humanize him like Katie Couric did to Stephen Collins.

 

BTW, When Katie Couric appeared on The View to discuss her Stephen Collins interview, Rosie O'Donnell became emotional and discretely walked off stage (she is a victim of sexual abuse, and knew Collins).

[Morbs]

"So many young lives changed forever!" was said about 50 times. They don't even realize they start to talk about the rapists as victims too.

[Blergh]

The collegiant rape case they profiled featured them actually airing footage of the crime that was supposed to be sealed  with only attorney access and now everyone's trying to pin down who leaked it to them[and I hope they find and throw the book at whoever did this). However; I'd like to ask what was stopping "20/20" from not airing it AND telling whoever pitched it to them to take a flying leap [and blow the whistle on them]. Sorry, IMO, this wasn't as though these events enacted on the footage had been previously unknown or unreported. A new low even for them and they need to be called on it.

Edited February 6, 2015 by Blergh

[Taylorh2]

Last night's show was really good. One was about an  "ex "White House lawyer who was convicted of the attempted murder in the severe beating of his wife.

 

She got away from the house with very bad injuries that he inflicted on her.

Edited February 7, 2015 by Taylorh2