True Crime Murder Mystery Shows- Dateline, 48 Hours, 20/20

Feels so dirty watching these, but they're compelling and addictive as hell. As well as the regular versions on network TV, it seems like the repeats constantly show up as filler programming on different cable channels. Without these shows I would never have known the story of the man who smothered his own baby for the life insurance and then did it again because he didn't get caught the first time, or the story of the woman who wanted to avoid a custody battle so her parents murdered her ex while posing as delivery people, or the story of the hulking retard from straight out of a backwoods horror flick who everyone thought was harmless until he confessed to killing a little girl. The best ones are a combination of ghoulish crime scene spectacle, twisty whodunit, real life court room drama, and interviews with prosecutors/defense/jury/family members, and many have genius movie-related titles e.g. "In the Heat of the Night" (about an arsonist!) and "Dressed to Kill" (about a crossdresser on trial!) and "The Case of Mr Hyde" (about a murder suspect with the actual last name Hyde!). Anyone else watch this crap?

By the way, Dateline is my favorite out of these shows because one of their main reporters is the AWESOME Keith Morrison. He's the one who looks kind of like Peter O'Toole circa Troy crossed with Billy Drago crossed with anyone else you can think of whose face reminds you of the grim spectre of death. Morrison has this amazing mellifluous, playful, sinister, shifting voice that goes from zero to creepy in two seconds flat, and makes you wonder if he missed his calling doing Vincent Price/Cryptkeeper narration. Plus he has the most bizarre expressions and body language.

I found out via youtube that Bill Hader does Morrison sketches on Saturday Night Live sometimes, and he's quite good, but really Morrison is one of those people where the original is always going to be better than any impersonation. With a Dateline episode, you know if he's the one doing the reporting then it's going to be worth watching, even if the story is boring. He's so great.

Hader's Keith Morrison:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/45818/satu...-live-dateline

http://www.hulu.com/watch/62442/satu...-live-dateline

He's funny doing it, and clearly a fan because he's got some classic Morrisonisms down pat. But yeah, in this case nothing beats the real thing.