Vanity Fair Confidential

Just heard your narrator use the word "co-ed" to refer to a female university student -- referring to 2007! Really? This misogynistic term was outdated when I finished university 18 years before that. Time to stop using it.

You know about 90% of TV is crap. You also know that most of TV crime is the same. What you may not realize is that the ID network actually has a couple of shows that are not by the book, and therefore, not boring "BS". Vanity Fair Confidential is, along with A Crime To Remember, making the ID network into a more respectable brand.

48 Hours whatever and Dateline for the umpteenth time really gets old. Sure these are respectable crime shows...but, they're predictably the same. So for something different, something a bit more grand, we get this new series called Vanity Fair Confidential. It's a definite cut above and the selected crimes, ones sensational enough that they got major exposure in Vanity Fair are truly worthy for a deeper look. The look this show gives is definitely good. It cuts through time to the real meat of some truly bombastic crimes and does so with aplomb. You will not get bored and you won't wither with the usual "cable TV formula" doldrums. This show takes very notable crimes, quickly retells them with a bit of real investigative flair and, usually, a final outcome. Excellent.

Although it should not be a surprise, I have noticed some episodes where opinion is presented as fact or an unnecessary political spin was thrown in where one was not needed.

I tried watching one episode but they kept overusing some light strobe effect in their editing, so I had to stop before I developed a headache. It seemed interesting though, why ruin good content with aggressive visual gimmicks that will age poorly?

This series is just okay. Most of the stories I have heard many times before. Also, they go over and over the same material (within the 43 minuets or so).

Don't expect anything like 60 Minuets, 20/20 or Dateline. Boredom sets in quite quickly for the season viewer. Maybe I'm being a little harsh, after all it's a TV series, not a 90 minute feature film. Just sayin Z3