TV Shows Inspired by True Crime: ‘The Thing About Pam,’ ‘The Act’ and More

usmagazine.com:

Ripped from the headlines! True crime isn’t only a podcast phenomenon — many chilling stories have also been brought to life on the small screen.Renée Zellweger shocked viewers with her major transformation for her role as the title character in NBC’s The Thing About Pam, which premiered in March 2022.

The series puts the criminal justice system under a microscope as police in suburban Missouri investigate the death of Betsy Faria (Katy Mixon).When asked what inspired her to sign on for the project, Zellweger told Harper’s Bazaar in her April 2022 cover story, “I wanted to do something that was lighter, which sounds absurd, because this is, you know, based on a horrific crime.”The Texas native was a fan of the Dateline podcast of the same name before teaming up with NBC and Blumhouse Television. “What makes Pam so fascinating is how benign she appeared,” Zellweger told the magazine. “Everybody feels like, ‘I know her.

I know that lady.’ Someone who looks like your next-door neighbor or the lady who would babysit you turns out to make some choices that are, to put it kindly, illegal.

This person was so outrageous, this sense of entitlement — I thought, ‘OK, as an actress, that’s fun.’”Along with the Oscar winner, the cast features an A-list lineup, from Josh Duhamel to Judy Greer.