Watch: New CBS Docu-Series Attempts to Find Out What Happened to JonBenét Ramsey
Not content with sitting on the sidelines while true crime stories become all the rage elsewhere on the small screen, CBS has unveiled the first look at the network's upcoming docu-series The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey, a new show that will attempt to solve the presumed murder that captivated the nation back in 1996.
I like the way Vanity Fair breaks down the gist of the case:
Most people at least remember the basic narrative of the tragedy: JonBenét, a six-year-old pageant star, was reported missing and subsequently found dead in her family’s basement eight hours later. For a long time, the focus was on Ramsey’s parents and brother Burke, who was nine years old at the time of her murder. But in 2008, DNA evidence that suggested the killer was an unknown man led the Boulder district attorney to publicly exonerate the Ramsey family and apologize.
This show unites brand new investigators with those who worked on the case twenty years ago, and they've recreated the Ramsey home in a soundstage to allow the experts to physically walk through the scene to examine the crime with fresh eyes. With things like FX's American Crime Story, ESPN's terrific O.J. Simpson documentary Made in America, Netflix's Making a Murderer, and the first season of Serial, real life crime stories are all the rage right now. And while any revelations that come out of this may not be as shocking as what happened at the end of HBO's The Jinx, it could still be a good show on its own.
I don't know, though — I'm starting to wonder if we as a culture are starting to lose touch with the real people involved with these cases and instead are just looking to be entertained by these stories the same way we would be reading a good crime novel or something. But these things happened to actual people, and it might be a good time for all of us to take a step back and examine why we're watching this stuff before things get too far out of hand. I'm including myself in that suggestion, by the way, because I've watched or listened to all of those things I mentioned. I'm not trying to judge anyone...just sort of wondering aloud.
The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey will air in three parts, premiering on CBS on September 18th at 8:30 pm, and followed by the last two installments airing on September 19th at 9 pm and September 25th at 8:30 pm.