City Confidential

City Confidential is a wonderful show that unfortunately has lost something with the death of its original narrator, Paul Winfield. The heavy sarcasm in the scripts suited his voice beautifully. However, the show's formula goes on without him. Each episode looks at a major scandal in a city - a scandal that usually belies the wealth, beauty, or old money residents of the area. What makes the series a cut above is the history given of each city and a profile of its typical residents at the time of the crime. And the narration! "Why, you could see the sweat roll off him as if it was a July day on the Bayou." The episodes also include interviews with residents, reporters, and witnesses.

All in all, City Confidential is a fascinating series. The new narrator is less intrusive, which says that the producers did not try to replace the flamboyance of Winfield. Probably a good move, because they couldn't have done so.

GOOD - You learn interesting facts about different cities in the United States. The first part of this program is always about the place where a particular crime occurred. It's a fascinating little segment, every time, whether they are discussing a small town or a big city. The program is not only interesting but entertaining as the writers use all kinds of dramatic and often humorous ways to describe people, places and motives behind why they do things. You also get a good mix of locals commenting on a situation. The announcer, Paul Winfield, has a fabulous voice and a distinct way of presenting his material. When he died in 2004, the program suffered a huge loss.

BAD - After you've watched a half dozen episodes, cultural and political agendas jump out at you. For instance, they've never been able to resist showing anyone who goes to church and the commits a crime. The writers just can't get enough digs at anyone religious, particularly Christianity. In the dozen episodes I've watched, at least half of them put not-so-subtle propaganda in them directed at anyone who believes in the Bible or attending church. They also love - to the point where it's overt bias - to pick on rich, white people. You rarely (I'm still waiting) see a crime story involving a minority. What Liberal bias?

OVERALL - The program is so politically-correct it's pathetic, but it's so well-written and so well-narrated by Winfield that it's almost always a very entertaining show. At the very least, it's a great travelogue where you learn a lot of interesting facts about places around the United States. The show is never dull but, man, it's biased big-time. You're going to either love or hate some of these episodes.

I wish Amazon Prime and other apps would get this show, I can't even find it on reruns. This was one of the best series ever. I love the way Paul wenfield narrated the show for five years I believe, and then after he passed someone else narrated it another two years. It was a excellent show, to every episode had a 10! details were on point and then they always got the right guy free and the wrong guy / the bad guy locked up where they belong!!!

It's shows like this that is the reason I love A&E Network. Paul Winfield's narration is just masterful. I believe his voice is right up there with James Earl Jones and the late Robert Stack as one of the most powerful and recognizable in all of showbiz. The show can make the sleepiest of towns sound like a place you genuinely would want to be. I also love how they do a brief history of the towns before they get into the crimes that made them famous or infamous (you be the judge). It also gets extra kudos for doing a feature on my hometown, Baton Rouge.

The element that distinguishes City Confidential from its sister show, American Justice, and so many other true crime shows, is the background on the setting of the crime. Sometimes it's a whole half hour before we know who's been murdered (usually it's a murder) because we're learning about the environment of the crime. Sometimes the background takes a shorter portion of the show, but it's always fascinating to learn about small towns and big cities across the country. And the cases they choose to highlight are generally interesting.

I thought Paul Winfield's narration (from the beginning till his death in 2004) was as close to perfect as possible. The new narrator is fine, it's just that his voice is not as resonating as Winfield's. I'd love to hear James Earl Jones narrate -- but I doubt the producers could afford him!