Marion "Suge" Knight Jr. gives director Antoine Fuqua a compelling oral history...of himself.

Al returns to TBP to talk about Netflix's latest holiday-season bingeable, The Innocent Man, and how very much not...OK (sorry) the state of law enforcement is in Ada, Oklahoma. It's based in part on John Grisham's book about one of the two murder cases centered around false confessions; Al thinks it's one of the best she's seen of this type. *I* think that's in no small part thanks to one "Aint Peppy."

Later, the great Bryan Burrough does a lot to rescue the not-great inaugural ep of the Misfortune podcast, which tries a little too hard to be the all-dude, white-collar version of My Favorite Murder, and not quite hard enough to squelch its Buzz-and-Dave-in-the-morning tendencies. It's hard to mess up a brown-blimp-crash story, though.

Support the pod/site on Patreon!

SHOW NOTES

Special Guest: Allison Lowe Huff.

...No, not "that boat show." A new documentary about photographer Andy Sweet grieves his loss, and celebrates his reflections on/of Miami.

Is The Australian's look at the long-cold Lyn Dawson case the Serial of the antipodes?

Jeb Lund is back to put the third season of Leah Remini's eponymous confrontation of Scientology "on the cans," and we don't mean to be entheta about it, but why not change the format to include some expert analysis from psychologists, debriefers, or forensic auditors? Why isn't Mike Rinder using his counter-PI-terrorism skills to find Shelly Miscavige? Why is dental floss apparently suppressive? And why doesn't Remini ever drive?

Folded into that conversation is a "celebration rundown" of Lawrence Wright's outstanding very-long-form "The Apostate" from 2011; it's the New Yorker article that became Going Clear, and it's a triumph of information-gathering, context, and chilly shade. Along the way, Jeb and I discuss Bobby Knight, Sauron, the road to German fascism, GOP county executives, spotted dick, and Iyanla. Obviously.

SHOW NOTES

Support the pod/site on Patreon!

Special Guest: Jeb Lund.

Was there a crime committed in Kasem's 2014 death? Which one? And by whom?

"The Long, Strange Purgatory Of Casey Kasem"

Kate Davis and David Heilbroner's latest for HBO is a poetically harsh investigation of Sandra Bland's death in 2015.

Stephanie Early Green probably regrets suggesting Believed as a Most Wanted topic, but nicely saw the idea through as she sat down to discuss Michigan Public Radio's difficult but significant new podcast on the predations of Larry Nassar -- what he did, how he got away with it, and how survivors finally brought him down.

Later, we thought a vintage 30 For 30 on soccer might lighten the mood...but given how much Pablo Escobar loved the sport, and the lengths he was willing to go to to prevail in ANY situation, the story we discovered in 2010's "The Two Escobars" didn't exactly qualify as a pick-me-up. Turn-of-the-'90s South American hairstyles did, though. The topics are grim, but the storytelling is good in The Blotter Presents, Episode 77.

SHOW NOTES

Special Guest: Stephanie Green.

The Wing's new podcast about "women who were too bad for your textbooks."

[NB: I biffed the location of the Riverside Terrace Mausoleum; it's in HAMILTON Heights, not Morningside Heights. Mgmt regrets etc.]

[NB: The sound's tinny this week; I'm so sorry.]

Bravo has turned the L.A. Times series, then podcast Dirty John into an all-star-cast TV series, and book glutton/attorney Julian Gross is here to discuss it. Did it need to become a TV series? Is Eric Bana the right casting as the titular John? Will we stick with it despite 1) some pacing issues and 2) knowing the outcome, which may affect 1) for us? And could someone please nominate Veronica for president?

Later, it's a look at the How Stuff Works podcast Stuff You Missed In History Class and their explainer on Cassie Chadwick, who claimed she was an illegitimate Carnegie daughter, rooked banks out of millions...and yet kind of sucked at her job? Teenage Spanish-prisoner cons, sexism in Philadelphian crime reporting, and more on The Blotter Presents, Episode 76.

SHOW NOTES

Special Guest: Julian Gross.