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Cold Open · Monday · 28 min

Primetime: Vindicating Pedophiles or Nuanced Take?

This week we finally watched Primetime, Lance Oppenheim's first fiction feature, starring Robert Pattinson as To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen. We get into what it means to turn child predator stings into primetime entertainment, why the casting works (and where it doesn't), and whether a documentarian's eye makes this story better or just shinier. We also go through Oppenheim's earlier work, including Spermworld, and Pattinson's run of strange, brilliant choices. Then we bring it home. How much of Indian TV news learned its tricks from American pop culture, why our media chases the sensational story but rarely looks at itself, and the moral questions every viewer should be asking. Also - the review is split because one of us likes it and one of us doesn't - both for solid reasons.

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This week we finally watched Primetime, Lance Oppenheim's first fiction feature, starring Robert Pattinson as To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen. We get into what it means to turn child predator stings into primetime entertainment, why the casting works (and where it doesn't), and whether a documentarian's eye makes this story better or just shinier. We also go through Oppenheim's earlier work, including Spermworld, and Pattinson's run of strange, brilliant choices.

Then we bring it home. How much of Indian TV news learned its tricks from American pop culture, why our media chases the sensational story but rarely looks at itself, and the moral questions every viewer should be asking. Also - the review is split because one of us likes it and one of us doesn't - both for solid reasons.

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