America’s True Crime Fix: Why We Can’t Look Away from Real-Life Tragedy

We live in an era where our dinner conversations are often dominated by the darkest corners of the human psyche, as society remains endlessly gripped by the world’s most chilling true crime cases. Why are we so occupied with reality television and the popularity of true crime shows when our current news headlines are full of real-life and real-time legal dramas of national proportion? Next Witness…Please decided to explore this question with one of the leading producers of true crime/reality television. Jack Cole is an executive producer, documentary filmmaker and write behind some of the most popular reality and true crime series, including Suddenly Amish on HBO’s Max and The Curious Case Of… series on Prime. He breaks down for our audience, how cases are found to portray, and walks us through his thought processes in editing reality and true crime programming. Many critics say that reality television is staged and acted pursuant to scripts. However, Cole assures us there are no scripts and that “reality tv is more real than not.” Cole also discusses why, we as a culture are so “uniquely at home” with stories of tragedy and strife. Why are we innately curious? He compares our reactions as being the same as when we “rubberneck” to see the details of a vehicular accident we may pass on the highway. We want to see the destruction and sometimes the carnage. We also are intrigued with other people’s travails and tragedies. He says we, as individuals, can either identify with a person in trauma or be thankful that we are not experiencing the same in our lives or both. Cole does not see the popularity of true crime or reality shows abating any time soon. Most people’s lives are tough, and we are often looking for a way to escape into someone else’s trauma, he says.