DINNER PARTNERS with Christopher & Eric

Christopher and Eric kick off their Pride Month celebration with a series of special Pride Pairings in which documentarians and dramatists alike illuminate the personal lives of two of gay culture’s most towering figures. In this episode, we begin a two-part exploration of one of the civil rights movement’s greatest – and previously unsung — heroes, Bayard Rustin, whose indefatigable nature and awe inspiring commitment to non-violence set the stage for one of the defining events of the entire civil rights era, the March on Washington. The documentary BROTHER OUTSIDER: THE LIFE OF BAYARD RUSTIN takes us inside his once secret relationships with other men, his mistreatment at the hands of some of his fellow civil rights activists and the causes to which he gave his heart after the Civil Rights Act became law due in no small part to his tireless efforts. It’s a nice preparation for next week’s serving of RUSTIN, the starry Netflix biopic based on his life and directed by George C. Wolfe.

In this episode, Eric’s wit, wisdom and incisive commentary on life take center stage. More so than usual. Why? Because those are the things you told us you wanted to hear more of. (That and Christopher messing up his own notes during installments of True Crime TV Club.) We hope all of you aren’t living entirely according to the life lessons Eric serves up in between commenting on gruesome murders and morally bankrupt real life villains. (If you are, please sign this release and review our disclaimers.) How does he measure up to the other fancy queen of advice giving, Miss Manners herself? We decided to find out. We also presented him with some of the questions on life you submitted through our Facebook page. (Again, please sign this release.)

You can’t have Homecoming Month on a true crime-centric podcast if you don’t include an episode of true crime television that actually has the word homecoming in the title. Homecoming queen, no less. Such is the case with the thirty-fifth episode of the twenty-fourth season of the always in a class by itself DATELINE entitled “The Hometown Hero and the Homecoming Queen.” If the match sounds too good to be true, congratulations, you’re suspicious and jaded enough to enjoy this podcast! This tale starts with an Olympic Gold medalist (well, bronze, actually, but you get the idea) and ends with a hail of gunfire in a peaceful Oxnard, California neighborhood, and Eric’s got big opinions about the final judgment.

Christopher and Eric have identified many recurrent and grievous sins when it comes to the world of true crime television, but the first episode of season 22 of CRUISE SHIP KILLERS entitled “Nadia,” might have birthed an entirely new but nevertheless jaw dropping transgression. You’ll have to listen to find out what it is. But we’ll warn you. If this tale of murder and betrayal during a floating high school reunion sounds too twisted to be true then…We’ll stop right there. Set sail with a new installment of Homecoming Month. Google the details in this episode and you might be as shocked as we were.

Homecoming Month begins with a Dinner Partners style house tour. You’ve been asking for the final chapter of Eric’s home renovation saga, and it’s high time we blew the drywall dust of ourselves and delivered it to you. And this raised a very important question. Our beloved premier party person Anne Rice passed away before Eric started his journey into headaches and hot water heaters. Would she have approved of the end result? To find our answer, we travel back through time to discuss the homes Anne lived in throughout her career, from the classic and understated elegance of the San Francisco Edwardian where she wrote “The Vampire Lestat” to the gothic splendor of the Garden District mansion where “The Witching Hour” exploded onto the page. Take a very special peek behind the heavy velvet curtAnnes.

Sometimes the rankest easter eggs during Easter Eggs Month are the ones buried in the basement. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. To close out this month devoted to all the things that didn’t survive the growing season, Christopher and Eric serve up both installments of the recent HBO Max documentary MURDER IN GLITTERBALL CITY. Some of the subjects feel uncomfortably familiar. (Did we date any of these guys?) And many of the houses on display are charming. But is this expose of two addicts moving murderous mayhem into a quaint historic neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky a new ‘Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil’ or a cautionary tale of filmmakers losing focus? And are we still in a place where owning bondage gear for private sexual acts is enough to implicate you in a murder? Christopher and Eric debate these and other questions as Easter Eggs Month rolls to a stop.

Christopher and Eric are the proud inventors of the term “recincrapments” – actually, we think it was Eric, but Christopher likes to steal half the credit — and they feel justified in bestowing this dubious honor on the absolutely hideous re-enactments smeared all over this week’s serving. If there was ever an episode of television for which the term “reincraptacular” was invented, it’s THE PERFECT MURDER (OK. Eric really did invent that one.) As Easter Eggs Month continues, we include those who honor the Passover season by serving up the first episode of the second season of this badly acted masterclass in slut shaming and condescending detective work, “The Kosher Killer”.

Easter Eggs Month continues with a depraved and disturbing crime that unfolded in the dead of Easter Sunday night on an isolated Nebraska farm, shattering a respected local family in the process. In typical DATELINE style, Christopher and Eric are taken down winding, labyrinthine roads peopled by vicious late night intruders, devastated families and dubious confessions obtained under duress. They’re serving it all up for you by way of the fourth episode of the iconic true crime show’s nineteenth season entitled “In The Dead of Night”. Whoever said the only real monsters roam the city has clearly never visited these haunting prairies.

Welcome to Easter Eggs Month, where the only thing that’s risen is the scent of death and deception. Christopher and Eric begin their dark celebration of the growing season with this tale of Spring Break gone to hell. While they’re pleasantly surprised by the production quality of the luridly entitled MURDER IN THE HEARTLAND, the arresting and emotional tale served up by the fourth episode of the ninth season, entitled “Spring Breaking Up”, walloped them both with a stomach churning twist. But this tale of a community coming together to find one of its own while overcoming racial bias is one that will stick with them forever.

When money isn't a motive, a dirty prosecutor will use sex shaming and sexual discrimination to make up for a lack of evidence or investigation. How's that for carrying the theme of the month all the way through to the end? Dirty Sexy Money Month concludes with a serving of two-part, Peacock true crime special, WHO KILLED ROBERT WONE? If their March birthdays only aged Christopher and Eric by another year, watching this special aged them both by several more. Christopher was stunned by the number of forensic twists and turns on display, and Eric was left outraged by the actions of the detectives and prosecutors. What transpires is a real trial based on a fictional story.