Unusual Suspects

I think it is very sick and twisted that HBO uses the actual names of people involved in crimes. I was the actual friend that was with Charmel Ulrich as we walk down the road at age 13/14.... I am still traumatized by it all and I'm 48 now. It's horrible that you associated Michael Perry Jackson with the story. Surprised you couldn't fit Michael Butler in too ....the guy I had such a good description of, someone turned him in...... The details of the Capital Murder trial are sketchy to me as I was only 14 years old. My parents did their best to shield me from all of this and HBO puts these names together like peanut butter and Jelly.....shame on you!

I watch everything True Crime, and I can't stand the shows where the narrator talks in an exaggeratedly dramatic, whispy voice. He is also super disrespectful and keeps referring to sex workers as hookers and prostitutes like it's 1999. I was recommended this show because I liked Your Worst Nightmare - which is 1000x better - and was hugely disappointed.

Aside from Unsolved Mysteries, Unusual Suspects is one of my favorite true crime TV shows. Production-wise, the show looked cheap in its debut season. But when the show returned for its second season in 2011, it looked much better. One may see Unusual Suspects as something of a throwback to the 1980s. That might sound unfair, but I can see why it can be viewed as such. In fact, there are moments in the show where reenactments remind me of reenactments from the early seasons of Unsolved Mysteries, due to the look and feel. Unusual Suspects has nice production values.

If Unusual Suspects can teach us anything, it is that even your quiet and seemingly harmless neighbor can be a cold-blooded murderer. Sometimes, a person's public persona can be a stark contrast to who they truly are behind closed doors.

I've seen all the true crime shows, and this one is definitely at the top. My only thing is how long the show takes to get to the point of who actually did it. It could be a solid 30 minute show but instead it drags out for another 20 after that. I've gotten to the point where I just fast forward it on Hulu.

I think the show is well executed and documented. However sometimes the facts are blurred. An example is how a 1985 case was solved using DNA which wasn't in use at that time. The only other thing that stands out is that seemingly every case is about the murder of a female. I say this because in every single show the producers will replay the victims screaming at least 15 times. There is always multiple suspects and they replay the screams with each one as they might have committed the crime as well as catch ups after commercials. In almost every case there were no I witnesses so there is no evidence there was any screaming to begin with. It may be a minor point to many people but it drives me to distraction.