‘Inventing Anna’ to ‘The Tinder Swindler’: How True Crime’s Dark Charm Has Enticed Streamers
variety.comSteve Clarke Crime has always been part of television’s DNA, but in global marketplaces, true crime is enjoying unprecedented levels of success across the streamers and on more traditional outlets.Earlier this year, Shonda Rhimes’ “Inventing Anna,” starring Julia Garner as the fake heiress Anna Sorokin (aka Anna Delvey), became one of Netflix’s biggest shows ever.“Inventing Anna” is the tip of TV’s latest crime wave as producers and commissioners hope to find the horrifying stories that might one day take their place alongside such TV true crime successes as “ The Jinx,” “ The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” “Don’t Fuck With Cats” or “Making a Murderer,” the Netflix series that took true crime to the streamers. “The fascination with true crime has never been stronger,” says Dan Korn, VP of programming at A+E Networks U.K ., whose channels include Crime + Investigation. “We spend a lot of time trying to work out why that is.
Did people’s sense of isolation in lockdown have something to do with it?“People are fascinated by stories of almost inconceivable inhumanity and trying to understand why people do these things,” he adds. “They’re also in love with the detective process — the romance of police detection.
The audience loves seeing cops doing their work.”A&E’s “The First 48” — that is, the first 48 hours following a homicide — is still going strong after more than 20 seasons.
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