Lance Oppenheim’s 2006-Set 'Primetime' Revisits 'To Catch a Predator' Collapse After 1 Suicide
Updated
Updated · The New Yorker · Oct 2
Lance Oppenheim’s 2006-Set 'Primetime' Revisits 'To Catch a Predator' Collapse After 1 Suicide
3 articles · Updated · The New Yorker · Oct 2
Summary
Set in 2006, “Primetime” dramatizes how “To Catch a Predator” grew from a “Dateline NBC” segment into a hit before a fatal sting helped end the franchise.
Robert Pattinson plays Chris Hansen as a driven host whose moral crusade blurs with performance, while the film tracks mounting budget pressure, workplace strain and his personal scandals.
The story builds to the 2006 suicide of a target after an operation involving both the TV crew and police, the incident that took the show off the air.
The review says Oppenheim vividly recreates the lurid broadcast-TV era and assembles strong performances, but finds the film thinner on what the show meant culturally or ethically.
That gap matters because “To Catch a Predator,” which aired from 2004 to 2007, still echoes in today’s conspiracy culture and vigilante-style online predator hunts.