Primetime and What's Making Us Happy
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is Iraglass. On this American life, we tell stories about when things change. Like for this guy David, whose entire life took a sharp, unexpected, and very unpleasant turn. And it did take me a while to realize that it's basically because the monkey pressed the button. That's right. Because the monkey pressed the button. Surprising stories every week. Wherever you get your podcasts.
The first choice it makes is to yeet us straight into the slime. Uh and y'all said, see me, Gene? The first word in my notes is SCSI. This is a SCSI movie.
SCSI. Yeah. Yeah.
The new docudrama Primetime is a weird and highly fictionalized account of the rise of the NBC series To Catch a Predator, which became a cultural phenomenon back in the mid-aughts. It stars Robert Pattinson as the show's square jawed host, Chris Henson, who's feeling pressure to get bigger ratings as he and his team work with local law enforcement to drag the potential sexual abusers of minors before the camera and arrest them. I'm Glenn Weldon. And joining me today on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is my fellow host, Aisha Harris. Hey Aisha. Hi, Glenn. Also with us is one of the hosts of NPR's Code Switch podcast, Gene Dembe. Hey Gene, welcome in. How's it going with us? Great to have you. All right, so in the film Primetime, we enter the world of To Catch a Predator just as it's becoming a huge hit for NBC.
We enter it through the eyes of Dan, a wannabe actor played by Skylar Gisondo. Hired to act as a decoy, pretending to be a 13-year-old boy who lures men to suburban homes where the two-catcher-predator team ambushes them and cops arrest them. Dan has qualms about the job until he meets with the charismatic host Chris Hanson, played by Robert Pattinson. Hansen convinces the impressionable Dan to stay, even as the host is distracted by a troubled home life amid the show's meteoric rise. The show is so successful and Fact that another network is looking to poach Hansen's very stressed-out producer, Andy. She's played by the great Merritt Weaver. Primetime is the first scripted feature directed by documentarian Lance Oppenheim.
It was made without the cooperation of Chris Hansen. He's spoken out against it and continues to stand by his work on To Catch a Predator. Also, he hasn't seen it. He says the non-disclosure agreement he was asked to sign by the film studio A24. Was restrictive. Primetime is in theaters.
What is the new docudrama *Primetime* about and why does it matter?
Now, Gene, kick us off. What did you make of this weirder than I thought it would be movie?
Mm-hmm.
Weirder than I thought it'd be is exactly how I felt about it too. It's really claustrophobic, right? Like the way it opens is literally you hear Chris Hansen repeating, muttering to himself, I will address you and you will address me. And you know, the conceit there is that Chris Hansen is creepily watching the creepy people. Who is the voyeur? Who is the creepy person? Like, oh, who is the the gross person? Um, there's so many like tight shots and the people and the stuff we're talking about is so gross that just like even the sound of him Narrating the text conversations is like it's really knowing that these people who are thought to be predators and children, it's like the movie like really leans into like the seaminess of this enterprise.
And so if you're watching and you just feel like kind of like a visceral disgust. And I don't think I actually ever got over that feeling because the whole time I was like, ooh, I don't want to look at this, right? For better or for worse. I'm curious about what you
guys thought about it. All right, Aisha, seemy. That's one word. Give me another. Give me a few more.
See me is a great word. Uh
I
would also say kind of like funhouse mirror nightmare fever dream is like were other things that came up for me. These are all good words. I was really into what this movie was doing for the first like thirty, forty minutes or so. I think that It's making very deliberate choices. One of the things that stood out to me was the score by uh Ari Belusian, which to my mind kind of called to mind Bernard Herman's scores for taxi driver and psycho.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:23
2
What is the new docudrama *Primetime* about and why does it matter?
2:23–9:17
3
How does *Primetime* portray Chris Hansen and the ethics of *To Catch a Predator*?
9:17–16:01
4
What are the hosts’ first reactions to the film’s tone and style?
16:01–21:28
5
Why do the critics say the movie feels claustrophobic and empty?
21:28–26:21