Four True Crime Shows I'm Currently Binging
The true crime genre has always appealed to me. When I was high school, I wanted to be a forensic psychologist. I’ve always been interested with stories; the process of processing and solving a crime, as well as the point of view for those who may have survived. Watching the entire process unfold from start to finish has always intrigued me. Out of the tens, possibly hundreds of shows I’ve seen, here are five that I’m currently watching.
‘Body Cam’ on Investigation Discovery
Body Cam, is a very fast paced and exciting show. It showcases the footage recorded on the body cameras of different police officers all over the country. This footage is paired with confessional style commentary from the officers either at the scene or in the footage shown.
The most interesting part of this show, is that it only shows footage from the body cameras themselves. Since this footage is filmed during regular emergency service callouts, there is not a chance for anything to be filmed professionally by a camera crew.
These callouts include and are not limited to high speed pursuits, house fires, natural disasters, traffic stops, and violent crime response. This show has been running for about seven seasons with no end in sight. It’s a very adrenaline driven show, and it’s easy to binge for several hours at a time.
Real Time Crime is an investigative show that presents crimes that develop from live camera feeds. This show is very similar to the British version ‘CCTV: Caught on Camera’, which is another interesting show. The investigators pan from one camera to another, as they capture evidence in real time. I personally enjoy this show, because I love watching the process of an investigation unfold in what feels like real time.
‘Real Time Crime’ on Investigation Discovery
It’s interesting and quite scary how advanced surveillance equipment has become. A surveillance camera that has become increasingly popular in major cities is the “gunshot detector”. This camera is designed to begin recording whenever the precise sound of a gunshot can be heard. These camera are more prevalent in high-crime or lower income areas. Personally, cameras have always seemed invasive and placing them in certain neighborhoods alone seems unfair.
The conversation of safety versus privacy has and will always continue to become a debate as technology and artificial intelligence continues to advance. I’m curious to see how the show will develop as quickly as technology has been.
Fear Thy Neighbor is a very intense and methodical show. All of the episodes start off very similar to each other. The show begins with introduction to both the former surviving neighbors and the setting of the type of neighborhood itself. This show is very suspenseful, and it can seem very slow, but once the actual crime part of the story begins toward the end, it is “all gas no breaks”.
‘Fear Thy Neighbor’ on Investigation Discovery
I took a long hiatus from this show because of how heavy it can be. I knew I wanted to finish the series and learn about each of the cases themselves, but this show can absolutely be mentally taxing and I do not recommend binge-watching this show whatsoever.
The cases themselves are very gruesome, unique and profound. There is not another true crime show I have seen, that I can compare it to. It is fairly common for different shows to cover the same cases by default, but none of them are depicted nearly as clear as ‘Fear Thy Neighbor’.
Feds is a newer show that is currently running a schedule of new episodes. This is a surprisingly immersive look into the cases worked by several former FBI agents. Given how well-known the FBI is for being secretive about their case files. Sometimes I wonder about the authenticity of the information being shared, based on this truth as well.
‘Feds’ on Investigation Discovery
This show has a wide variety of cases being discussed as well. Given that, the show can seem to become quite mundane. This show is very confessional heavy when it comes to interviewing almost every FBI agent that worked on the case; which can be a lot of talking and not much action at times.
I do plan to follow this show until the end of its first season. I catch myself having rewind different parts, because I’ve never really been a fan of confessionals in shows. Nevertheless, I am excited to have a new show on Investigation Discovery to follow and to learn about the many different cases as well.
