Carole Baskin runs a Florida sanctuary for tigers with her doting husband. Her efforts to stop a traveling cub-petting operation sends her on a collision course with mercurial zookeeper Joe Exotic, who sees Carole as an existential threat to his livelihood. Based on season two of the podcast “Over My Dead Body,” the eight-part Peacock series “Joe vs. Carole” stars Kate McKinnon and John Cameron Mitchell. While played for laughs in sections, the dramatized retelling regards its lead characters wi...
Mar 21, 2022•53 min
The crime writers welcome Ronald Young Jr. from the HBO Docs Club podcast to fill in for the vacationing Toby Ball! In True Crime Update: MD prosecutors agree with Serial's Adnan Syed to test DNA on crime scene evidence not previously tested. What does it mean that the state supports re-testing and how might it affect Adnan's effort to win his release. Then: high-achiever Elizabeth Holmes went to college with a vague dream to invent something that would change the face of medicine. She dropped o...
Mar 14, 2022•52 min
Juvenile detainees in the Golden State are given an opportunity for service: fighting wildfires in California. The documentary “Fireboys” on HBO Max is a coming-of-age tale of incarcerated youth given a chance to earn money, reduce their sentence, help their community, and build their self-esteem. But will the lessons learned on the fire line give them hope for the future or set them up for more disappointment? FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "FIREBOYS" GO TO MINUTE 37:00 Note: Here's that Teen ...
Mar 10, 2022•44 min
In April 2016, eight members of the Rhoden family were murdered in their Appalachian homes. Investigators were puzzled at why an entire family would be annihilated. Was it because of their illegal marijuana operation? Or was it a more personal motive? In “The Pink Moon Murders” from Cavalry Audio and iHeart, host David Raterman explores the Pike County shootings. FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE PINK MOON MURDERS" GO TO MINUTE 42:00 Plus: an update on the Campside Media podcast "Wild Boys." ...
Mar 07, 2022•48 min
Since his conviction for murdering Rhoda Nathen in her hotel room, Elwood Jones has maintained his innocence. To believe him means to accept his argument that he was framed by the police. From the Cincinnati Enquirer and USA Today comes season 4 of “Accused: The Impending Execution of Elwood Jones.” Host Amber Hunt looks at alternative suspects, shaky evidence, and investigators who spent a year resubmitting forensics until they finally found an expert to build their case. FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE R...
Mar 03, 2022•46 min
For decades, he was an A-list entertainer who projected an image of wholesomeness. But the public was shocked to learn of Bill Cosby’s dark double life - one in which the so-called “America’s Dad” was drugging and raping women for years. The four-part Showtime series “We Need to Talk About Cosby” examines all aspects of Cosby’s life - both as a trailblazer and beloved entertainer and as a felon. W. Kamau Bell provides a platform for some of his many victims. He also turns the mirror on the Black...
Feb 28, 2022•51 min
Anna Delvey was a twenty-something who posed as a young German heiress while living on the amenities of New York’s super rich. Magazine writer Viviant Kent sees Anna’s story as her shot at professional redemption. She struggles with her editors and with her subject to retell Anna’s path from Instagram darling to high society to incarceration. Anna Chlumsky and Julia Garner star in “Inventing Anna,” a nine-episode, partly-fictionalized look at the Anna Delvey case. The docudrama recounts her long...
Feb 24, 2022•45 min
Anna is drowning the loss of her daughter and the end of her marriage in bottles of red wine. She’s taken by the kindness of the handsome widower and his daughter who’ve moved in across the street. Then one night, Anna peers across the way to see the man’s girlfriend get her throat slashed. When police say the girlfriend is safe in Seattle Anna sets off to confirm she’s not crazy, prove a murder happened, and discover who the killer in her quiet neighborhood is. Kristen Bell stars in the mystery...
Feb 21, 2022•40 min
Using a popular dating app, Cecilie connects with a caring playboy named Simon - the son of a rich diamond broker who wears designer clothes, dines at five-star restaurants, and flies her around Europe in a private jet. Though it seems like true love, their lives are upended when Simon goes on the run to escape his violent business rivals. Cut off from his fortune, he convinces her to borrow money so he can continue his extravagant lifestyle. But when the bills come due, Cecilie realizes Simon i...
Feb 17, 2022•45 min
In 2014, a letter emerged detailing an elaborate plot by Islamic extremists to infiltrate schools in Birmingham, England. It became known as The Trojan Horse Affair. When journalism student Hamza Syed met podcaster Brian Reed, he told him about the scandal and the unexplored question of the author’s true motives. They teamed up to investigate where the ham-fisted letter came from in the first place - and if there was no extremist plot, what was the writer actually hoping to achieve? From Serial ...
Feb 14, 2022•49 min
In 2003, a pair of teenage boys emerged from the woods around Vernon, British Columbia. They claimed to have lived their lives in the wilderness with no contact with civilization. As the town rallied behind them, the so-called “Bush Boys of B.C.” attracted international media attention - as well as the suspicions of the Mounties who wanted to know their true identities. From Campside Media, season three of Chameleon: “Wild Boys” looks back at the strange tale that gripped two nations. FOR OUR SP...
Feb 10, 2022•43 min
Omar Navarro has offered Marty and Wendy Byrde a plan to finally walk away from their debt to the Mexican cartel. All they need to do is help the drug kingpin go legit and receive immunity from prosecution in America. Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, and two-time Emmy winner Julia Garner return for season four-part one of “Ozark.” The series again finds the Byrdes dealing with complications large-and-small to protect their family and get out of the money laundering business. FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REV...
Feb 07, 2022•49 min
Just in time for the Winter Olympics, the podcast “Torched” from FilmNation Entertainment recalls some of the most controversial moments surrounding the games. Hosted by former skier and noted poker game runner Molly Bloom, this an anthology podcast looks at a different kind of human drama of athletic competition. Each episode features a story of scandal, disgrace - and sometimes - redemption. FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "TORCHED" GO TO MINUTE 40:00 For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up a...
Feb 03, 2022•47 min
The Cliftons have not seen their mother in years. She ran off with David, the boyfriend who controlled her money and her life. What’s his connection to Rob, a supposed MI-5 agent who in 1996 took a trio of college kids into hiding, claiming they’d been targeted by IRA assassins? From Netflix, “The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Con Man” looks back at the exploits of Robert Freegard - accused of controlling, conning, and fleecing several women. Told largely by his victims, the docuseries als...
Jan 31, 2022•38 min
In 1989, as she was preparing to divorce her husband, Birgit Meier vanished from her home in Lüneburg, Germany. Detectives began to focus on the neighbor’s gardener, a man with a violent past and a secret room filled with instruments of torture and kidnapping. The Netflix German import “Dig Deeper: The Disappearance of Birgit Meier” follows a group of experts as they attempt to do what police have refused to - name the killer and find Birgit's body. FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "DIG DEEPER" GO...
Jan 27, 2022•54 min
In 1971, Sherman McCrary and his son-in-law Carl Taylor went on a multistate spree of robberies, killing and raping doughnut shop employees along the way. “Families Who Kill: The Donut Shop Murders" examines their murderous run. Featuring commentary from police, professors, and other podcasters, the show also profiles a felonious family from the 1800s. FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "FAMILIES WHO KILL: THE DONUT SHOP MURDERS" GO TO MINUTE 37:00 In Crime of the Week: ...and the Joker got away, he...
Jan 24, 2022•42 min
In 2003, Charis Song was killed execution-style in her Koreatown apartment, along with her nanny and two-year-old son. Years later, a DNA sample from a former neighbor matched a latex glove from the crime scene. The podcast " Strangeland " from Western Sound revisits the Miracle Mile Murders and asks how much of the investigation was colored by cultural misunderstandings. FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "STRANGELAND" GO TO MINUTE 42:00 For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon . Sign u...
Jan 20, 2022•49 min
In 1996, an airplane carrying a high school girls soccer team crashed in the wilderness. The few who returned home kept quiet about how they survived 19 months alone in the woods. In Showtime's feminist-powered horror-mystery series "Yellowjackets," an aspiring politician, a bored housewife, a recovering drug addict, and an unstable nurse find themselves being blackmailed for their untold story of strange symbols, supernatural premonitions, tribal warfare, and teenage drama. FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE...
Jan 17, 2022•42 min
After Baltimore homicide detective Sean Suiter was shot with his own gun in an alley, it was revealed he was about to testify before a grand jury about a group of dirty cops. The department determined the evidence pointed to the headshot being self-inflicted…but was it actually a hit to keep Suiter quiet? The HBO Max documentary “The Slow Hustle” examines the controversial investigation. FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE SLOW HUSTLE" GO TO 35:00 In True Crime Update: a court settlement agains...
Jan 13, 2022•42 min
Tony Hathoway pulled off 30 hold-ups in the Seattle area in one year. But how did he go from being a successful aviation engineer to a prolific bank robber? His addiction to oxycontin. The Campside Media podcast “Hooked” is part crime memoir - part case study into the opioid crisis. FOR OUR SPOILER FREE REVIEWS OF "HOOKED" GO TO MINUTE 35:30 In True Crime Update: a lawsuit in the case of Emanuel Fair from "Suspect." In Crime of the Week: Barbie Crime House. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign ...
Jan 10, 2022•41 min
In 1981, Fred Roehler’s family was anchored on their luxury yacht when he convinced his wife and stepson to venture on a dory to nearby Bird Rock. Roehler said the family dog lunged and swamped the boat, sending the trio into the water. At first, the deaths of Verna and Doug were ruled accidental. Police wanted to know more about the strange incident at sea…and more about what happened to Roehler’s first wife. In season two of “Lost Hills: Dead in the Water,” host Dana Goodyear tells a story of ...
Jan 06, 2022•53 min
On the first episode of CWO's new release schedule, the panel looks at HBO Max series "Landscapers." A mild-mannered British couple come to the attention of police after a pair of bodies are found buried in a garden. Oscar-winner Olivia Colman and David Thewlis star in this dramatized version of the domestic crime that shocked England. FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "LANDSCAPERS" GO TO MINUTE 41:00 In Crime of the Week: shocking developments. For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patreon ...
Jan 03, 2022•46 min
It's an all thumbs-up way-up episode! The crime writers each give their top 10 lists for the best podcasts of 2021. In Crime of the Week: prattle royale . Toby’s top 10 list Fault Line: Dying for a Fight I’m Not a Monster Carrie Low VS 9/12 Suspect Do You Know Mordecai? Believe her Stolen: The Search for Jermain Through the Cracks The Apology Line Lara’s top 10 list I Am Not a Monster Suspect 9/12 Carrie Low VS Believe Her Murdaugh Murders Do You Know Mordechai? Welcome to Your Fantasy Mississip...
Dec 27, 2021•1 hr 13 min
An aging drug runner passes his most prized possession to his son: a work created by an immortal artist owned by an immortal author. But is it real? In “ Hemingway’s Picasso ” from Somethin’ Else, host Leah Carroll takes us through Steve Kough’s swashbuckling life and its effects on his family. It also attempts to learn once and for all if the painted ceramic is a masterpiece…or the work of someone else. FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "HEMINGWAY'S PISCASSO" GO TO MINUTE 24:00 The HBO Max four-p...
Dec 20, 2021•1 hr 14 min
A British DJ spent years in an online romance with a man she never met - but who was he? The podcast " Sweet Bobby " from Tortoise Media explores a complicated catfishing scheme and the motivations behind it. FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEW OF "SWEET BOBBY" GO TO THE 34th MINUTE. Collins Street Bakery was the most successful fruitcake baker in the world. So why was the company losing millions of dollars? " Fruitcake Fraud " from Discovery+ digs into a holiday-themed white collar crime. FOR OUR SPOIL...
Dec 13, 2021•1 hr 7 min
Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt were two seniors who helped the homeless in Los Angeles, but authorities became suspicious of their philanthropy after one of the men had been run over in an alley. Host Keith Morrison brings his unique style of self-aware cheesiness to “ The Thing About Helen & Olga ,” mined from the archives of Dateline NBC. FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE THING ABOUT HELEN & OLGA" GO TO MINUTE 27:26 A collaboration between street toughs and a pop artist created ...
Dec 06, 2021•1 hr 13 min
In this week's CWO Classic rewind: a look back at the Sept 29, 2017 review of the Netflix comedy "American Vandal." The unexpectedly savvy satire of everything we love about true crime. " American Vandal " may start as a lowbrow take-off on "Serial" or "Making a Murder," but the comedy is surprisingly meta, embracing all tropes of the podcasts and documentaries which have become ubiquitous. In the end, we still want to know, "Who drew the dicks?" For exclusive podcasts and more, sign up at Patre...
Nov 29, 2021•25 min
In True Crime Update: the latest on the murder of the rape defendant from "Carrie Low VS." In 2017 Nikki Addimando shot her partner after a violent confrontation. Officials viewed her years of abuse not as a self-defense justification, but as her plan to commit murder. In Lemonada's podcast “ Believe Her ” host Justine van der Leun sheds light on a part of our justice system in which survival is criminalized. FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "BELIEVE HER" GO TO MINUTE 34:30 A man seeks out a psyc...
Nov 22, 2021•1 hr 13 min
The panel starts with a True Crime Update about those remains found in the NH mountains that are not connected to a famous cold case. In 2003, police in Seoul were stumped by a serial killer who targeted elderly wealthy victims in their homes, then pivoted to dismembering sex workers. In the Netflix documentary “ The Raincoat Killer: Chasing a Predator in Korea ,” detectives, profilers, and crime techs recall the case that shocked a nation which believed serial killers were limited to the West. ...
Nov 15, 2021•1 hr 19 min
In the podcast " American Vigilante " a British journalist interviews a mercenary who travels the world to rescue children, capture fugitives, and avenge the innocent. But are his testosterone-fueled tales true? FOR OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "AMERICAN VIGILANTE" GO TO MINUTE 27:55 Using DNA tests, three girls adopted from China learn they're cousins. In " Found " from Netflix, they enlist the help of a Beijing researcher to find the birth parents who abandoned them because of the country's one...
Nov 08, 2021•1 hr 10 min
