American Monster

This is definitely one of my favourite series on the ID channel. The home videos is what really drives it home for me. I haven't seen any new episodes in a long time though or any promotions for a new season so I'm getting a little nervous it might not stick around. If you love true crime then you'll like this series.

I love the earlier episodes where the narrator had more prominence. It's interesting how this show has evolved over the years. The more recent episodes are still well done but I miss the heavy narration of the first six or seven seasons.

ABOUT MY REVIEWS:

I do not include a synopsis of the film/show -- you can get that anywhere and that does not constitute a meaningful review -- but rather my thoughts and feelings on the film that hopefully will be informative to you in deciding whether to invest 90-180 minutes of your life on it.

My scale: 1-5 decreasing degrees of "terrible", with 5 being "mediocre" 6- OK. Generally held my interest OR had reasonable cast and/or cinematography, might watch it again 7 - Good. My default rating for a movie I liked enough to watch again, but didn't rise to the upper echelons 8- Very good. Would watch again and recommend to others 9- Outstanding. Would watch over and over; top 10% of my ratings 10 - A classic. (Less than 2% receive this rating). For Lifetime Movies for Chicks (LMFC), drop the above scale by 3 notches. A 6 is excellent and 7 almost unattainable.

One of the best season 1-6, for some reason season 7 is falling flat. Prior years, I was engaged, the story and the telling were riveting. Not sure what has changed, but, change it back.

Not that American Monster it's the best true crime shows out there but the selection of the crimes, and the way they are told, make one of the most expected new series each time they are released. And to be honest each series it's better than the one before.

Overall: I understand the tactic of profiling the family and illustrating what a good father he is, but fully 2/3 of the episodes seem to be about family activities. Who really cares that they had a backyard barbecue, or went on a picnic? They could make these into 30-minute episodes and still cover all the relevant content.