The Thing About Pam

Well done whoever cast Renee Zellweger as Pam Krupp. She is by far an unobvious choice but is absolutely excellent as the fascinatingly unlikeable- but seemingly mundane and harmless- Pam. There is a true crime book that has recently been released which is how I knew of the story (having never seen the dateline show.) It's twisty and I can see why a show would have been warranted. The creative angle here of Pam slurping her drink and the Desperate Housewives style narrative just work in bringing to story to life as a sort of disturbing caricature as opposed to a dark and miserable crime retelling. This was original and interesting, particularly as I had a vested interest in the case already.

My husband and I think Pam is a riot. It's a mystery, a comedy, a drama and we get to enjoy Academy Award Winner Renee Zellweger kill it in the lead. The big surprise is the fantastic Katy Mixon in the role of the victim. She is better than I've ever seen her before and deserves accolades as she keeps up with Renee line for line. This show is based on a true story. That real life event was tragic. But this show is really good. Give it a chance. It's not your usual limited series. It's nice to have unique programming. Great job, NBC!

I love it. Huge Dateline fan.

Contra the "top review", I think it's an inspired telling. I was surprised by Keith Morrison's narration but it's a bold move that works better than it should. It does an effective job of creating a hybrid of the Dateline roots and a dramatic re-telling. That reviewer wanted a "traditional drama" - this is bolder than that. It's a prestige re-enactment.

For me, the dark humor and the slight camp are a perfect fit for the story. Some people may find it offensive. That's fine, but likely hypocritical unless you are personally affected by this case. There is so much entertainment filled with senseless death and violence, I think it's odd to criticize a show that is at least showing sympathetic victims and the utter immorality of a sociopath - even if with a darkly humorous take.

RZ is fantastic. Duhamel gives the best performance I've ever seen him give in anything. Judy Greer is fantastic in everything she does, no surprise she is here too.

Familiar with the story, not necessarily a fan of RZ, I put off watching the first episode. It far exceeded expectations - currently quite underrated with a 6.1 IMDB rating. I know the story very well and am still very eager for the next episode.

I listened to the podcast, so I did know the background on this case. The case is very interesting, so I was intrigued.

It seems like intentionally they don't want you to really like any of the characters.

Personally, I do love when a show is narrated, but it feels almost silly the way that this was done.

If I were a family member or friend of Betsy Faria and watched how this show was framed, I would be upset. Somehow, they managed to take a heartbreaking case and turn it almost 'silly'.

I say check out the show, but keep in mind that this was a woman (Betsy) whose story deserves to be told.

Zellweger is excellent in this playing the Machiavellian Pam up against weak-minded, incompetent, small-town law enforcement. This whole works extraordinarily well despite my prejudice against narrated stories and 'true story' drama. Judy Greer performs admirably as the closed-minded prosecutor, and effectively colludes with the police, the judge and Pam in framing the innocent husband.