'Dateline,' TV's True-Crime War Horse, Starts Its 25th Season
Posted in: Uncategorized
Decades before “Serial” and “Making a Murderer” made true crime a phenomenon in new media, and before “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” won more Emmys than “Game of Thrones,” “Dateline” was telling the stories of little-known crimes taking place in small towns in Kansas or rural Ohio week in and week out.
The NBC series began its 25th season on Friday, joining a vanishingly small group of TV series to last so long. Other members of the club include “60 Minutes,” “The Simpsons,” “Survivor” and not many more. But “Dateline” also starts its latest run in a unique position, both buoyed and crowded by the surging interest in true crime. Newcomers are generating greater buzz on stories similar or identical to those that “Dateline” regularly covers by elevating them to the stature of critically acclaimed dramas. Then there are the downdrafts on traditional TV generated as viewers migrate to rivals like Netflix, drawn by programming such as “Making a Murderer.”
“‘Dateline’ doesn’t get the credit, but if you went back and looked at the audience for when it started doing true crime, it was likely a way bigger audience than what any of these others have done,” said Robert Thompson, TV and pop culture professor at Syracuse University.
Post a Comment