True crime genre is getting more and more popular each day and there’s no secret why: gripping stories about things that seem impossible in real life. However, what makes them even more exciting for the viewers is the fact that what is shown on screen has actually happened in reality, and that just makes people lose their minds.
One of the recently released true crime dramas is Netflix’s Baby Reindeer. The miniseries tells the gripping story of the performer Richard Gadd, who at his young age was harassed by a female stalker.
The story is powerful and already got 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, but here we have 5 more jaw-dropping series that follow real-life terrifying stories.
1. When They See Us (2019)
When They See Us is just 3% short of a perfect score, but that means nothing in this case because the series is considered the best true crime of all time.
One of the recently released true crime dramas is Netflix’s Baby Reindeer. The miniseries tells the gripping story of the performer Richard Gadd, who at his young age was harassed by a female stalker.
The story is powerful and already got 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, but here we have 5 more jaw-dropping series that follow real-life terrifying stories.
1. When They See Us (2019)
When They See Us is just 3% short of a perfect score, but that means nothing in this case because the series is considered the best true crime of all time.
- 4/22/2024
- by info@startefacts.com (Rachel Bailey)
- STartefacts.com
Peacock has ordered a limited scripted series about notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy, Variety has learned.
The announcement was made during the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena. The series is inspired by the 2021 Peacock/NBC News Studios docuseries “John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise,” with the scripted series sharing the same name.
Patrick Macmanus will serve as writer, showrunner, and executive producer on the show. Macmanus previously created the first season of the Peacock true crime series “Dr. Death” and the Hulu true crime limited series “The Girl From Plainville,” with Macmanus also serving as showrunner on both shows.
Macmanus will executive produce via Littleton Road Productions along with Kelly Funke, with Noah Oppenheim and Liz Cole of NBC News Studios also executive producing. UCP, where Macmanus is currently under an overall deal, will serve as the studio.
Macmanus is repped by UTA and Cartel Entertainment.
The announcement was made during the Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena. The series is inspired by the 2021 Peacock/NBC News Studios docuseries “John Wayne Gacy: Devil in Disguise,” with the scripted series sharing the same name.
Patrick Macmanus will serve as writer, showrunner, and executive producer on the show. Macmanus previously created the first season of the Peacock true crime series “Dr. Death” and the Hulu true crime limited series “The Girl From Plainville,” with Macmanus also serving as showrunner on both shows.
Macmanus will executive produce via Littleton Road Productions along with Kelly Funke, with Noah Oppenheim and Liz Cole of NBC News Studios also executive producing. UCP, where Macmanus is currently under an overall deal, will serve as the studio.
Macmanus is repped by UTA and Cartel Entertainment.
- 2/14/2024
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
During a recent Gold Derby video interview, senior editor Rob Licuria spoke in-depth with Mckenna Grace (“A Friend of the Family”) about her Peacock limited series, which is eligible at the 2023 Emmys. Watch the full video above and read the complete interview transcript below.
The true crime drama was created by Nick Antosca, with Emmy nominee Jake Lacy (“The White Lotus”) portraying Robert “B” Berchtold, a close friend and neighbor of the Brobergs, a close-knit family with strong Christian values that prove to be all too forgiving and naive. In 1974, after B kidnaps their daughter, Jan Broberg (Grace) at age 12, he relentlessly pursues a relationship with her and shockingly manipulates his way back into their good graces and then kidnaps her again at age 14.
“I am just so proud to have gotten to tell Jan’s story and gotten to play her and portray her,” the actress revealed in our webchat.
The true crime drama was created by Nick Antosca, with Emmy nominee Jake Lacy (“The White Lotus”) portraying Robert “B” Berchtold, a close friend and neighbor of the Brobergs, a close-knit family with strong Christian values that prove to be all too forgiving and naive. In 1974, after B kidnaps their daughter, Jan Broberg (Grace) at age 12, he relentlessly pursues a relationship with her and shockingly manipulates his way back into their good graces and then kidnaps her again at age 14.
“I am just so proud to have gotten to tell Jan’s story and gotten to play her and portray her,” the actress revealed in our webchat.
- 6/27/2023
- by Latasha Ford and Marcus James Dixon
- Gold Derby
As original true crime dramas go, “A Friend of the Family” is a highly unusual one — not just for its harrowing subject matter but due also to its production pedigree. The nine-part limited series premiered on streamer Peacock last October, telling the story of Jan Broberg and her family. In the 1970s, Broberg was a young girl and adolescent who was systematically groomed — along with her parents and younger siblings — by her next-door neighbor, a charismatic, master manipulator sociopath and pedophile named Bob Berchtold. He kidnapped Jan twice — when she was age 12 and again at 14 — and went largely unmonitored and unprosecuted for the better part of a decade. The vividly-dramatized docudrama stars Oscar winner Anna Paquin, Colin Hanks, Jake Lacy and Mckenna Grace.
To shine a spotlight on the show’s powerful, wrenching and superbly-rendered narrative, watch Gold Derby’s special 42-minute “Making of” roundtable discussion of “Friend of the Family...
To shine a spotlight on the show’s powerful, wrenching and superbly-rendered narrative, watch Gold Derby’s special 42-minute “Making of” roundtable discussion of “Friend of the Family...
- 6/7/2023
- by Ray Richmond
- Gold Derby
“The truth is, I knew nothing about the real story,” reveals “A Friend of the Family” director and producer Eliza Hittman. “So I came to it really with fresh eyes. I received the script from the writer, showrunner Nick Antosca, and it was just so exceptionally written, and the characters were so vivid on the page, and the world was so beautifully rendered that I just kind of devoured the script immediately.” We talked to Hittman as part of our “Meet the Experts” TV directors panel. Watch our exclusive video interview above. Click the Cc button on the video for closed captioning subtitles.
SEEInterviews with top Emmy contenders
“A Friend of the Family” tells the disturbing true story of Jan Broberg (played at different ages by Mckenna Grace and Hendrix Yancey), who in the 1970s was abducted multiple times by Robert Berchtold (played by Jake Lacy), a neighbor who had...
SEEInterviews with top Emmy contenders
“A Friend of the Family” tells the disturbing true story of Jan Broberg (played at different ages by Mckenna Grace and Hendrix Yancey), who in the 1970s was abducted multiple times by Robert Berchtold (played by Jake Lacy), a neighbor who had...
- 5/22/2023
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
Exclusive: Mckenna Grace (A Friend of the Family) and Asher Angel (Shazam! films) are set to star in Alloy Entertainment’s teen romance 99 Days, based on the New York Times bestselling novel of the same name by Katie Cotugno, which we were first to tell you was in development.
Martha Stephens is attached to direct from a script she co-wrote with Shannon Bradley-Colleary, her screenwriter for the 2019 drama To the Stars. Leslie Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton will produce through Alloy Entertainment, which also produced the book, with Architect to launch worldwide sales at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.
99 Days marks Alloy’s follow-up to Purple Hearts, the smash hit YA romance, starring Sofia Carson and Nicholas Galitzine, which remains in the Global Top 10 of the most-watched movies ever on Netflix. The film tells the story of Molly (Grace), who is facing one long, hot summer vacation back at Star...
Martha Stephens is attached to direct from a script she co-wrote with Shannon Bradley-Colleary, her screenwriter for the 2019 drama To the Stars. Leslie Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton will produce through Alloy Entertainment, which also produced the book, with Architect to launch worldwide sales at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.
99 Days marks Alloy’s follow-up to Purple Hearts, the smash hit YA romance, starring Sofia Carson and Nicholas Galitzine, which remains in the Global Top 10 of the most-watched movies ever on Netflix. The film tells the story of Molly (Grace), who is facing one long, hot summer vacation back at Star...
- 5/12/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
In 2021, 15-year-old Mckenna Grace broke new ground as the first child ever nominated for a guest acting Emmy. The notice came for her performance as Esther Keyes on Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which could bring her another Best Drama Guest Actress bid this year. She also currently has a shot at a nomination for Best Movie/Limited Supporting Actress for Peacock’s “A Friend of the Family,” which would make her the all-time youngest performer with mentions in multiple Emmy categories.
Grace, whose 17th birthday will precede the 2023 Emmy nominations announcement by 17 days, appears on “A Friend of the Family” as Jan Broberg, a future actress who was kidnapped at ages 12 and 14 by her neighbor, Robert Berchtold. The true crime series also stars Jake Lacy as Berchtold and Colin Hanks and Anna Paquin as Broberg’s parents. (Watch our exclusive video interview with Grace.)
SEEWill ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ extend...
Grace, whose 17th birthday will precede the 2023 Emmy nominations announcement by 17 days, appears on “A Friend of the Family” as Jan Broberg, a future actress who was kidnapped at ages 12 and 14 by her neighbor, Robert Berchtold. The true crime series also stars Jake Lacy as Berchtold and Colin Hanks and Anna Paquin as Broberg’s parents. (Watch our exclusive video interview with Grace.)
SEEWill ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ extend...
- 5/3/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
A Friend of the Family showrunner-creator Nick Antosca, stars Lio Tipton and Colin Hanks and activist and producer Jan Broberg, on whose life the series is based, joined Deadline’s Contenders Television to spotlight sexual-abuse awareness.
The Peacock true-crime drama series follows Robert Berchtold (Jake Lacy), a serial child kidnapper. After becoming close friends with the Broberg family, Berchtold kidnaps their daughter Jan (played by both Mckenna Grace and Hendrix Yancey) twice within the span of two years. Anna Paquin, Austin Stowell and Patrick Fischler also star.
During the panel, Broberg, whose harrowing life experience has been recounted multiple times across books and documentaries, made a passionate statement regarding the importance of the serialized drama series. “I’ve been telling my story for 30 years, never on purpose, never thinking this would happen, but just because I knew that by telling our stories, maybe we could help future children not experience this,...
The Peacock true-crime drama series follows Robert Berchtold (Jake Lacy), a serial child kidnapper. After becoming close friends with the Broberg family, Berchtold kidnaps their daughter Jan (played by both Mckenna Grace and Hendrix Yancey) twice within the span of two years. Anna Paquin, Austin Stowell and Patrick Fischler also star.
During the panel, Broberg, whose harrowing life experience has been recounted multiple times across books and documentaries, made a passionate statement regarding the importance of the serialized drama series. “I’ve been telling my story for 30 years, never on purpose, never thinking this would happen, but just because I knew that by telling our stories, maybe we could help future children not experience this,...
- 4/16/2023
- by Destiny Jackson
- Deadline Film + TV
Deadline’s Contenders Television, where the top networks and streamers are showing off their wares and Emmy hopefuls, continues Sunday with 20 more panels after a chock-full Saturday featuring some of the best and brightest series this awards season.
Click here to register for and watch the livestream.
After the likes of Riley Keogh, Patrick Stewart, Steven Yeun, Natasha Lyonne, Marc Maron, Wanda Sykes, Kathryn Hahn and Joel McHale took the DGA Theater stage in Los Angeles, Sunday’s lineup is slated to feature appearances by Helen Mirren, Adam Scott, Quinta Brunson, Maya Rudolph, Taron Egerton, Jason Segel, Bryan Cranston, Weird Al Yankovic, Kerry Washington, Elle Fanning, Paddy Considine and many more.
The studios and streamers participating this weekend at our panel extravaganza: Peacock, Prime Video, National Geographic, Apple TV+, Netflix, Hulu, CBS Studios, Showtime, Fox Entertainment, Paramount+, AMC/AMC+, HBO Max, Starz, Sony Pictures Television, ABC, Roku, Onyx Collective and Disney+.
Click here to register for and watch the livestream.
After the likes of Riley Keogh, Patrick Stewart, Steven Yeun, Natasha Lyonne, Marc Maron, Wanda Sykes, Kathryn Hahn and Joel McHale took the DGA Theater stage in Los Angeles, Sunday’s lineup is slated to feature appearances by Helen Mirren, Adam Scott, Quinta Brunson, Maya Rudolph, Taron Egerton, Jason Segel, Bryan Cranston, Weird Al Yankovic, Kerry Washington, Elle Fanning, Paddy Considine and many more.
The studios and streamers participating this weekend at our panel extravaganza: Peacock, Prime Video, National Geographic, Apple TV+, Netflix, Hulu, CBS Studios, Showtime, Fox Entertainment, Paramount+, AMC/AMC+, HBO Max, Starz, Sony Pictures Television, ABC, Roku, Onyx Collective and Disney+.
- 4/16/2023
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
Alison Brie and Jake Lacy have joined the cast of Peacock’s upcoming limited series adaptation of the Liane Moriarty novel “Apples Never Fall,” Variety has learned.
The pair join previously announced cast members Annette Bening and Sam Neill in the series. The show was originally ordered at Peacock in February 2022.
Per the official logline, the series “centers on the Delaneys, who from the outside appear to be an enviably contented family. Former tennis coaches Joy (Bening) and Stan (Neill) are parents to four adult children. After decades of marriage, they have finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. But after Joy disappears, her children are forced to re-examine their parents’ marriage and their family history with fresh eyes.”
Brie will star as Amy Delaney, the oldest Delaney child. The character is further described as “the black sheep of the family.
The pair join previously announced cast members Annette Bening and Sam Neill in the series. The show was originally ordered at Peacock in February 2022.
Per the official logline, the series “centers on the Delaneys, who from the outside appear to be an enviably contented family. Former tennis coaches Joy (Bening) and Stan (Neill) are parents to four adult children. After decades of marriage, they have finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. But after Joy disappears, her children are forced to re-examine their parents’ marriage and their family history with fresh eyes.”
Brie will star as Amy Delaney, the oldest Delaney child. The character is further described as “the black sheep of the family.
- 2/23/2023
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Amazon’s Prime Video is in negotiations to acquire a John Candy documentary from Colin Hanks and Ryan Reynolds, TheWrap has confirmed.
Hanks, son of Tom Hanks and star of “Life in Pieces,” “Orange County” and “A Friend of the Family,” will direct the project while Reynolds, star of “Deadpool,” “Free Guy” and “The Adam Project,” will produce alongside George Dewey via his Maximum Effort production company.
The documentary feature will explore John Candy’s life and career, including starring roles in “The Great Outdoors,” “Spaceballs,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” “Uncle Buck” and “Cool Runnings.” The actor was on the verge of establishing himself as a comic actor who could also handle dramatic roles in weightier fare like “Only the Lonely” and Oliver Stone’s “JFK” when he died in 1994 of a heart attack at the age of 43.
Also Read:
Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham Soccer Team Just Had Another Fa Cup...
Hanks, son of Tom Hanks and star of “Life in Pieces,” “Orange County” and “A Friend of the Family,” will direct the project while Reynolds, star of “Deadpool,” “Free Guy” and “The Adam Project,” will produce alongside George Dewey via his Maximum Effort production company.
The documentary feature will explore John Candy’s life and career, including starring roles in “The Great Outdoors,” “Spaceballs,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” “Uncle Buck” and “Cool Runnings.” The actor was on the verge of establishing himself as a comic actor who could also handle dramatic roles in weightier fare like “Only the Lonely” and Oliver Stone’s “JFK” when he died in 1994 of a heart attack at the age of 43.
Also Read:
Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham Soccer Team Just Had Another Fa Cup...
- 2/9/2023
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
This interview with “A Friend of the Family” production designer John D. Kretschmer first appeared in the Below-the-Line issue of TheWrap’s awards magazine.
A miniseries created by Nick Antosca (“Channel Zero”), “A Friend of the Family” deals with the charming but sinister Robert Berchtold (Jake Lacy), who spent years seducing, brainwashing and eventually kidnapping — twice — a young Idaho girl, Jan Broberg (played by Hendrix Yancey and Mckenna Grace at different ages). The story “is pretty much a gut punch,” production designer John D. Kretschmer said. “However, this family survived, and they are still alive and happy and a loving family today. That makes them very intriguing, and I thought (it was) very much a story that needs to be told.”
“A Friend of the Family” (Peacock)
Kretschmer and his team wanted to honor the Broberg family, right down to re-creating their Pocatello Idaho home. They did so in Atlanta,...
A miniseries created by Nick Antosca (“Channel Zero”), “A Friend of the Family” deals with the charming but sinister Robert Berchtold (Jake Lacy), who spent years seducing, brainwashing and eventually kidnapping — twice — a young Idaho girl, Jan Broberg (played by Hendrix Yancey and Mckenna Grace at different ages). The story “is pretty much a gut punch,” production designer John D. Kretschmer said. “However, this family survived, and they are still alive and happy and a loving family today. That makes them very intriguing, and I thought (it was) very much a story that needs to be told.”
“A Friend of the Family” (Peacock)
Kretschmer and his team wanted to honor the Broberg family, right down to re-creating their Pocatello Idaho home. They did so in Atlanta,...
- 1/5/2023
- by Jason Clark
- The Wrap
“I learned so much about myself and about acting, because I had to push myself to places that I hadn’t gone before,” reveals Emmy-nominated actor Mckenna Grace (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) about her role in the nine-episode limited series “A Friend of the Family.” For our recent webchat she adds, “It was really emotionally and sometimes physically exhausting. But I am just so proud to have gotten to tell Jan’s story and gotten to play her and portray her story.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
See Exclusive Video Interview: Jake Lacy (‘A Friend of the Family’)
In the Peacock original true crime drama “A Friend of the Family,” which was created by Nick Antosca, Emmy nominee Jake Lacy (“The White Lotus”) portrays Robert “B” Berchtold, a close friend and neighbor of the Brobergs, a close-knit family with strong Christian values that prove to be all too forgiving and naive.
See Exclusive Video Interview: Jake Lacy (‘A Friend of the Family’)
In the Peacock original true crime drama “A Friend of the Family,” which was created by Nick Antosca, Emmy nominee Jake Lacy (“The White Lotus”) portrays Robert “B” Berchtold, a close friend and neighbor of the Brobergs, a close-knit family with strong Christian values that prove to be all too forgiving and naive.
- 12/14/2022
- by Rob Licuria
- Gold Derby
Exclusive: Emmy nominee Jake Lacy (The White Lotus) is set to star opposite Kiefer Sutherland in The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial, Deadline has learned. He is set to portray Stephen Maryk, Queeg’s (Sutherland) executive officer aboard Caine, and the officer who relieved Queeg of duty.
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is an update on the 1953 play by Herman Wouk, itself an adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Caine Mutiny. It hails from Paramount Global Content Distribution for Showtime.
The original story follows a naval officer who stands trial for mutiny after taking command from a ship captain he feels is acting in unstable fashion, endangering both the ship and its crew. While the original is set during World War II, the new project is being updated by director William Friedkin.
“The original piece was written for WWII, and Wouk included all the pent-up anger in this country over Pearl Harbor,...
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial is an update on the 1953 play by Herman Wouk, itself an adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Caine Mutiny. It hails from Paramount Global Content Distribution for Showtime.
The original story follows a naval officer who stands trial for mutiny after taking command from a ship captain he feels is acting in unstable fashion, endangering both the ship and its crew. While the original is set during World War II, the new project is being updated by director William Friedkin.
“The original piece was written for WWII, and Wouk included all the pent-up anger in this country over Pearl Harbor,...
- 12/13/2022
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
“The story is essentially one person knocking you off kilter two at a time, until over three years you wind up in a place where you just don’t know how you got there,” declares Emmy nominee Jake Lacy (“The White Lotus) about the core themes explored in the unsettling nine-episode limited series “A Friend of the Family.” For our recent webchat he adds, “You wind up making choices that are against your best interests,” he explains. “How do you wind up in that spot? Berchtold, as a master manipulator, stumbled upon the exact circumstances of innocence, naivete and trust. This faith-based family [had] the forgiveness and compassion and all the elements that he could then twist and pull and manipulate into creating space to get what he wanted, which was a sexual relationship with their daughter.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
See Exclusive Video Interview: Nick Antosca (‘A Friend of the Family...
See Exclusive Video Interview: Nick Antosca (‘A Friend of the Family...
- 12/5/2022
- by Rob Licuria
- Gold Derby
“This is too disturbing, too uncomfortable, too hard to comprehend” admits creator and showrunner Nick Antosca, on his initial hesitation about adapting limited series “A Friend of the Family” for television. For our recent webchat he adds, “I was incredibly fascinated by the story, so I read more about it. I read the book,” he says, “and when I started to hear it in their voice a little bit more and experience the slow burn of the story, because it took place over six years … I started to experience it more the way that they experienced it. I realized it was a story about how people didn’t see something and because of that, there was a psychological and compelling story that hadn’t really been told.” We talked with Antosca as part of Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2022/2023 awards contenders. Watch our exclusive video interview above.
- 11/30/2022
- by Rob Licuria
- Gold Derby
Click here to read the full article.
[This story contains mild spoilers for Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale season five and Peacock’s A Friend of the Family.]
The day The Handmaid’s Tale released its season five finale, Mckenna Grace, who stars in the Hulu series as Esther Keys, decided to share something personal.
Along with a video of herself in recovery from a spinal surgery, Grace took to social media to thank her surgeon and reveal how life imitated art when, weeks earlier, she watched her handmaid character lying in a hospital bed while she, in real-time, was in a hospital bed. “Social media only reflects what we want people to know — often we don’t see the ugly, hard, less-flattering sides of a person and their life,” she wrote, in part, with a promise to soon elaborate further.
As it turns out, Grace was recovering from a surgery to fix her scoliosis, something the...
[This story contains mild spoilers for Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale season five and Peacock’s A Friend of the Family.]
The day The Handmaid’s Tale released its season five finale, Mckenna Grace, who stars in the Hulu series as Esther Keys, decided to share something personal.
Along with a video of herself in recovery from a spinal surgery, Grace took to social media to thank her surgeon and reveal how life imitated art when, weeks earlier, she watched her handmaid character lying in a hospital bed while she, in real-time, was in a hospital bed. “Social media only reflects what we want people to know — often we don’t see the ugly, hard, less-flattering sides of a person and their life,” she wrote, in part, with a promise to soon elaborate further.
As it turns out, Grace was recovering from a surgery to fix her scoliosis, something the...
- 11/27/2022
- by Jackie Strause
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
In Peacock’s A Friend of the Family, Jake Lacy plays Bob “B” Berchtold, a man who befriends a Midwestern Mormon family in the 1970s, only to kidnap their young daughter Jan not just once, but twice. It would be an unbelievable story if it weren’t true: Jan Broberg’s story was previously chronicled in the 2017 documentary Abducted in Plain Sight.
For Lacy, playing a kidnapper and pedophile was an emotional challenge for the actor, particularly given the ages of his victim: Jan was 12 and 14 when she was kidnapped. Hendrix Yancey, now 11, and Mckenna Grace, 16, play Jan at the different ages, while the real Jan Broberg and her mother, Mary Ann, were often on set as they served as producers on the limited series.
“It’s so selfless for them to say, ‘We want this story told so that people understand what...
In Peacock’s A Friend of the Family, Jake Lacy plays Bob “B” Berchtold, a man who befriends a Midwestern Mormon family in the 1970s, only to kidnap their young daughter Jan not just once, but twice. It would be an unbelievable story if it weren’t true: Jan Broberg’s story was previously chronicled in the 2017 documentary Abducted in Plain Sight.
For Lacy, playing a kidnapper and pedophile was an emotional challenge for the actor, particularly given the ages of his victim: Jan was 12 and 14 when she was kidnapped. Hendrix Yancey, now 11, and Mckenna Grace, 16, play Jan at the different ages, while the real Jan Broberg and her mother, Mary Ann, were often on set as they served as producers on the limited series.
“It’s so selfless for them to say, ‘We want this story told so that people understand what...
- 11/26/2022
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
In Nanfu Wang’s docuseries Mind Over Murder, the town of Beatrice, Nebraska, is still struggling with a 38-year-old tragedy. Six people were convicted of raping and murdering a woman in 1985, but DNA evidence exonerated them decades later. The six-part HBO series chronicles the extended miscarriage of justice with a focus on the town’s unique coping mechanism: A local community theater did a staged reading of court records and transcripts. It’s storytelling as confrontation therapy and, in one of the year’s best TV offerings, it’s an exploration of how our insatiable appetite for true crime, so often presented in voyeuristic terms, can be healing for those most personally involved with the tragedy, and for our societal wounds.
Throw in the myriad examples of true-crime content that have contributed to the exoneration of the innocent (The Thin Blue Line, Serial...
In Nanfu Wang’s docuseries Mind Over Murder, the town of Beatrice, Nebraska, is still struggling with a 38-year-old tragedy. Six people were convicted of raping and murdering a woman in 1985, but DNA evidence exonerated them decades later. The six-part HBO series chronicles the extended miscarriage of justice with a focus on the town’s unique coping mechanism: A local community theater did a staged reading of court records and transcripts. It’s storytelling as confrontation therapy and, in one of the year’s best TV offerings, it’s an exploration of how our insatiable appetite for true crime, so often presented in voyeuristic terms, can be healing for those most personally involved with the tragedy, and for our societal wounds.
Throw in the myriad examples of true-crime content that have contributed to the exoneration of the innocent (The Thin Blue Line, Serial...
- 11/20/2022
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“A Friend of the Family” isn’t a light lift. In fact, even the person handling 14 hours a day of Adr had to step outside for walks in between editing. The story behind the Peacock series is a true one: Bob “B” Birchtold was a family man who abducted Jan Broberg when she was 12 and again when she was 14 and sexually assaulted her numerous times. He also had sexual encounters with both of her parents.
His crimes were overlooked because of the times but also because he was a trusted man in the community — and trusted by the Broberg family.
Many actors would shy away from tackling such a daunting task as playing Birchtold. Instead, Jake Lacy dove in headfirst, especially after learning that the real Jan Broberg was a producer on the show and that no sexual assault would be shown. In order to get into that disturbing headspace...
His crimes were overlooked because of the times but also because he was a trusted man in the community — and trusted by the Broberg family.
Many actors would shy away from tackling such a daunting task as playing Birchtold. Instead, Jake Lacy dove in headfirst, especially after learning that the real Jan Broberg was a producer on the show and that no sexual assault would be shown. In order to get into that disturbing headspace...
- 11/17/2022
- by Emily Longeretta
- Variety Film + TV
“Bel-Air,” the hit series that reimagines the 1990 sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” is coming back with its second season in February, and the characters have a slew of decisions to make according to the Season 2 teaser trailer.
“Life is a series of choices,” says character Will in the opening of the “Bel-Air” Season 2 trailer. The entire trailer is narrated by Will, who is played by Jabari Banks, as the video clip cuts to each of the show’s leads, with Will highlighting some of the challenges each character was faced with in the first season. “Push for what you want, or let people figure it out on their own,” says Will over a visual of Philip Banks, played Adrian Holmes.
You can watch the full teaser in the video above.
The one-hour drama series stars series regulars Banks, Holmes, Cassandra Freeman (Vivian Banks), Olly Sholotan (Carlton Banks), Coco Jones...
“Life is a series of choices,” says character Will in the opening of the “Bel-Air” Season 2 trailer. The entire trailer is narrated by Will, who is played by Jabari Banks, as the video clip cuts to each of the show’s leads, with Will highlighting some of the challenges each character was faced with in the first season. “Push for what you want, or let people figure it out on their own,” says Will over a visual of Philip Banks, played Adrian Holmes.
You can watch the full teaser in the video above.
The one-hour drama series stars series regulars Banks, Holmes, Cassandra Freeman (Vivian Banks), Olly Sholotan (Carlton Banks), Coco Jones...
- 11/17/2022
- by Raquel "Rocky" Harris
- The Wrap
Jan Broberg Felt, the real-life woman at the heart of Peacock’s narrative series “A Friend of the Family,” wants people to realize her story could happen to anyone. Throughout the series’ nine episodes, audiences have watched Jan Broberg (played as a child by Hendrix Yancey and a teen by McKenna Grace) grow up as the groomed, manipulated victim of pedophile Robert Berchtold (Jake Lacy). And yet, for as wild as the story is, the real Broberg Felt reiterates everything was true.
For her, it was the key reason she decided to tell her story in a narrative format, after participating in a 2017 documentary called “Abducted in Plain Sight.” It was “telling the story in a way where you could be drawn into the characters, where you could see the psychology of a groomer, of a predator, and how they operate and lead not just the child, but lead the whole orbit around the child,...
For her, it was the key reason she decided to tell her story in a narrative format, after participating in a 2017 documentary called “Abducted in Plain Sight.” It was “telling the story in a way where you could be drawn into the characters, where you could see the psychology of a groomer, of a predator, and how they operate and lead not just the child, but lead the whole orbit around the child,...
- 11/11/2022
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
Jan Broberg produced the dramatization of her two-time childhood abduction, A Friend of the Family. But what viewers didn’t know was she would appear in the Peacock limited series’ finale as her own family’s therapist. After Mary Ann (Anna Paquin) and Bob Broberg (Colin Hanks) get their daughter free from Robert “B” Berchtold’s (Jake Lacy) clutches, the healing begins. As Jan actor Mckenna Grace previously told us, coming back together as a family was the Brobergs’ revenge on the predator, played with chilling effect by Lacy. Broberg tells TV Insider the series nailed the essence of her experience and getting to play Dr. Carr was a new addition to her lifelong healing journey. Like in the show, Broberg is an actor. The stage has been a lifelong lifeline as she processed difficult feelings. Broberg says appearing in the series was an if, not when thing. “It goes...
- 11/10/2022
- TV Insider
Sandra Oh is joining the cast of HBO’s “The Sympathizer,” the TV adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name starring Robert Downey Jr., who also executive produces. The recurring role marks her first after the series conclusion of BBC America’s “Killing Eve.” Kieu Chinh and Nguyen Cao Dy Duyen also join in recurring roles of the same capacity as Oh’s.
Described as a “blistering exploration of identity and America, a gripping spy novel and a powerful story of love and friendship,” Nguyen’s novel has been hailed by critics as a new classic of war fiction, and has been compared to the works of Kafka, Orwell and le Carré.
Also Read:
The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs to Adapt Her Novel ‘This Bird Has Flown’ Into Feature for Universal
The series logline is as follows: “An espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French,...
Described as a “blistering exploration of identity and America, a gripping spy novel and a powerful story of love and friendship,” Nguyen’s novel has been hailed by critics as a new classic of war fiction, and has been compared to the works of Kafka, Orwell and le Carré.
Also Read:
The Bangles’ Susanna Hoffs to Adapt Her Novel ‘This Bird Has Flown’ Into Feature for Universal
The series logline is as follows: “An espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French,...
- 11/10/2022
- by Natalie Oganesyan
- The Wrap
The real Jan Broberg cameos in the finale of Peacock’s “A Friend of the Family,” which premieres Thursday, Nov. 10. She plays a therapist counseling Mckenna Grace, who plays a younger version of Jan who’s still unshakably loyal to her abductor and abuser Robert “B” Berchtold (Jake Lacy).
In the clip, Grace tells the therapist she doesn’t understand why her parents (played by Anna Paquin and Colin Hanks) are so mad at “B,” as she and Berchtold had “equal responsibility” in his crimes.
The series is based on the Broberg family’s own jaw-dropping true story of how Jan was abducted at age 12 and again at 14 by a close family friend, who convinced the young girl that they were engaged in an important mission to save an alien race and protect her own family.
Also Read:
‘A Friend of the Family’ Review: Jake Lacy Channels His Nice-Guy Persona...
In the clip, Grace tells the therapist she doesn’t understand why her parents (played by Anna Paquin and Colin Hanks) are so mad at “B,” as she and Berchtold had “equal responsibility” in his crimes.
The series is based on the Broberg family’s own jaw-dropping true story of how Jan was abducted at age 12 and again at 14 by a close family friend, who convinced the young girl that they were engaged in an important mission to save an alien race and protect her own family.
Also Read:
‘A Friend of the Family’ Review: Jake Lacy Channels His Nice-Guy Persona...
- 11/10/2022
- by Sharon Knolle
- The Wrap
Peacock retold the story of Jan Broberg and her abuser Robert Berchtold in the series "A Friend of the Family." Now, the real Broberg is speaking out in a new documentary from the streamer titled "A Friend of the Family: True Evil." The new documentary features Broberg confronting her story and interviews with her mother, Mary Ann Broberg. More than 50 years ago, Jan was kidnapped and abused by a family friend, Berchtold, who had affairs with both her parents in order to cover up his actions.
"Many harmed by child sexual assault and long-term abuse are still striving to heal and thrive years later," Broberg said in a statement. "Through support and community, the healing journey of 'Thrivivors' can create a ripple effect towards change for children, and I am grateful to Peacock for the opportunity to continue telling my story. It is my hope that with greater awareness and...
"Many harmed by child sexual assault and long-term abuse are still striving to heal and thrive years later," Broberg said in a statement. "Through support and community, the healing journey of 'Thrivivors' can create a ripple effect towards change for children, and I am grateful to Peacock for the opportunity to continue telling my story. It is my hope that with greater awareness and...
- 11/3/2022
- by Victoria Edel
- Popsugar.com
Jan Broberg is facing generational trauma head-on.
After Peacock’s “A Friend of the Family” dramatized the Broberg family abuse saga, starring Jake Lacy as Jan’s trusted neighbor turned abductor Bob “Brother B” Berchtold, Jan is taking audiences on her healing journey following the horrific aftermath of being abducted twice at ages 12 and 14. The true crime documentary, “A Friend of the Family: True Evil,” premieres November 15 on Peacock.
“There must be a special place in hell for people that hurt children,” Jan says in the trailer while walking past her “torture chamber” Rv camper where Berchtold kept her. Fifty years later, Jan revisits the scenes of the many crimes, including the bedroom where her abuse began and where police rescued her in Mexico. “True Evil” also features never-before-revealed information from another Berchtold victim, who Jan meets on her journey, as well as an emotional and honest conversation with Jan...
After Peacock’s “A Friend of the Family” dramatized the Broberg family abuse saga, starring Jake Lacy as Jan’s trusted neighbor turned abductor Bob “Brother B” Berchtold, Jan is taking audiences on her healing journey following the horrific aftermath of being abducted twice at ages 12 and 14. The true crime documentary, “A Friend of the Family: True Evil,” premieres November 15 on Peacock.
“There must be a special place in hell for people that hurt children,” Jan says in the trailer while walking past her “torture chamber” Rv camper where Berchtold kept her. Fifty years later, Jan revisits the scenes of the many crimes, including the bedroom where her abuse began and where police rescued her in Mexico. “True Evil” also features never-before-revealed information from another Berchtold victim, who Jan meets on her journey, as well as an emotional and honest conversation with Jan...
- 11/3/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
It was a documentary that brought Jan Broberg‘s shocking true story of her two-time childhood kidnapping to the world. The events of Netflix‘s Abducted in Plain Sight were dramatized in Peacock‘s A Friend of the Family, currently in-season. And now, Broberg is returning to this harrowing time of her life in the new documentary A Friend of the Family: True Evil coming to Peacock. The streamer has also revealed the official trailer and images from the upcoming series, set to premiere Tuesday, November 15. (The finale of A Friend of the Family drops November 10.) In it, Broberg will continue her lifelong journey of healing from the abuse she and her family endured at the hands of Robert “B” Berchtold, who died by suicide in 2005. As shown in A Friend of the Family, B (played by Jake Lacy) groomed the young Jan (Hendrix Yancey and Mckenna Grace) for years,...
- 11/3/2022
- TV Insider
After co-creating Emmy-winning series “The Act,” this year’s “Candy,” and now creating “A Friend of the Family,” it’s easy to label Nick Antosca the highbrow king of true crime streaming series.
Yet the acclaimed showrunner quickly corrected labeling “A Friend of the Family” as part of the trendy true crime genre.
“I don’t think the stories that I like to do are true crime,” Antosca exclusively told IndieWire. “I think of them in terms of human stories and psychological horror stories, so I don’t see it as ‘What’s the next true crime story that we can tell?'”
“A Friend of the Family” centers on the Broberg clan, led by husband and wife Bob (Colin Hanks) and Mary Ann (Anna Paquin) Broberg. Next-door neighbor “Brother B” Berchtold (Jake Lacy) takes a special interest in their tween daughter Jan and seduces the whole family in a...
Yet the acclaimed showrunner quickly corrected labeling “A Friend of the Family” as part of the trendy true crime genre.
“I don’t think the stories that I like to do are true crime,” Antosca exclusively told IndieWire. “I think of them in terms of human stories and psychological horror stories, so I don’t see it as ‘What’s the next true crime story that we can tell?'”
“A Friend of the Family” centers on the Broberg clan, led by husband and wife Bob (Colin Hanks) and Mary Ann (Anna Paquin) Broberg. Next-door neighbor “Brother B” Berchtold (Jake Lacy) takes a special interest in their tween daughter Jan and seduces the whole family in a...
- 10/28/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
[Warning: The following contains Major spoilers for A Friend of the Family Episode 6, “Son of Perdition.”] In A Friend of the Family Episode 6, Robert “B” Berchtold (played by an intentionally unsettling Jake Lacy) took his obsession with Mckenna Grace‘s Jan Broberg public, telling his wife, Gayle (Lio Tipton) and everyone around him that he intends to marry a teenager. Jan, completely under his thumb, is starting to panic as the “aliens” who “kidnapped” her and B years before told her they must have a baby by the time she’s 16. In her reality, time is running out, and B’s campaign against her parents, Bob and Mary Ann (Colin Hanks and Anna Paquin), has Jan convinced they’re jealous of her and B’s bond. It’s a bleak time for the Brobergs, to say the least. Here, Grace breaks down the episode, what it was like coming into the season halfway through, and what to...
- 10/25/2022
- TV Insider
Lio Tipton seems to be playing a fictional character in Peacock’s psychological thriller limited series “A Friend of the Family,” based on true events. But, as the Nick Antosca-created show proves, sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.
Actor Tipton, who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, portrays Latter Day Saints housewife Gail Berchtold, who seems to have the perfect life: a handsome husband (Jake Lacy), five adorable children, and kind neighbors, the Brobergs (Colin Hanks and Anna Paquin). Yet when Gail’s spouse Bob “Brother B” grooms and repeatedly kidnaps the young Jan Broberg, Gail’s own abusive relationship with Bob comes to light.
“It was really hard. There is nothing decisive in where she stands,” Lipton said of Gail. “The person I was representing in a big way was the most fictional representation of any of the characters. Because of that, I tried to...
Actor Tipton, who identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, portrays Latter Day Saints housewife Gail Berchtold, who seems to have the perfect life: a handsome husband (Jake Lacy), five adorable children, and kind neighbors, the Brobergs (Colin Hanks and Anna Paquin). Yet when Gail’s spouse Bob “Brother B” grooms and repeatedly kidnaps the young Jan Broberg, Gail’s own abusive relationship with Bob comes to light.
“It was really hard. There is nothing decisive in where she stands,” Lipton said of Gail. “The person I was representing in a big way was the most fictional representation of any of the characters. Because of that, I tried to...
- 10/22/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
If you’re watching Peacock’s new limited series “A Friend of the Family,” you’re undoubtedly doing so in disbelief. Following the lives of the Brobergs, an Idaho family whose eldest daughter, Jan, is twice kidnapped by a family friend, the series is heartbreaking and wild. So wild, in fact, that the real-life Jan Broberg introduces the premiere episode, seemingly in part to dispel claims the story is heavily fictionalized. It’s easy to see why if you’re familiar with the 2017 documentary “Abducted in Plain Sight,” which detailed the same story.
“Abducted in Plain Sight” tells the story in a far more matter-of-fact manner than the Peacock series, which ends each episode with a disclaimer that some events are included for dramatic effect (though it’s unclear how the story could become more dramatic). So what has been added? Let’s look at what “A Friend of the...
“Abducted in Plain Sight” tells the story in a far more matter-of-fact manner than the Peacock series, which ends each episode with a disclaimer that some events are included for dramatic effect (though it’s unclear how the story could become more dramatic). So what has been added? Let’s look at what “A Friend of the...
- 10/20/2022
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
"Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" is the latest true-crime dramatization to feature a famously good-looking actor as an infamous murderer. Evan Peters stars as the titular real-life serial killer in the September 2022 release, following the likes of Ross Lynch as Dahmer in 2017's "My Friend Dahmer," Zac Efron as Ted Bundy in 2019's "Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile," and many others. But despite its high production value, successful ratings, and supposed aim to educate its audience, the series is sparking long overdue conversations about how true-crime dramatizations tend to capitalize on shock value, exploit victims while romanticizing perpetrators, and ultimately do more harm than good.
Jeffrey Dahmer was a serial killer who murdered 17 young men and boys between 1978 and 1991. He sought out his victims - mostly Black, Latino, and Asian men - at gay bars, bus stops, and malls, luring them into his home and drugging them before strangling them to death.
Jeffrey Dahmer was a serial killer who murdered 17 young men and boys between 1978 and 1991. He sought out his victims - mostly Black, Latino, and Asian men - at gay bars, bus stops, and malls, luring them into his home and drugging them before strangling them to death.
- 10/14/2022
- by Hannah Resnick
- Popsugar.com
If you are a fan of Netflix's true-crime content, you most likely remember the kidnapping case of Jan Broberg examined in the 2017 documentary "Abducted in Plain Sight." The nature of Jan's kidnapping, as well as the emotional turmoil it caused the Broberg family, is a harrowing and deeply unsettling story that will make you question who you trust, no matter how close or friendly they may seem.
Following the documentary, Jan's case is once again being told, though this time through a dramatic lens in the Peacock series "A Friend of the Family," starring Colin Hanks, Anna Paquin, and Jake Lacy. Jan, along with her mother, Mary Ann Broberg, served as producers of the series, which premiered on Peacock on Oct. 6. Ahead, read all about what Jan is up to today.
Who Is Jan Broberg?
Born to Robert and Mary Ann Broberg on July 31, 1962, Jan grew up with her two younger sisters,...
Following the documentary, Jan's case is once again being told, though this time through a dramatic lens in the Peacock series "A Friend of the Family," starring Colin Hanks, Anna Paquin, and Jake Lacy. Jan, along with her mother, Mary Ann Broberg, served as producers of the series, which premiered on Peacock on Oct. 6. Ahead, read all about what Jan is up to today.
Who Is Jan Broberg?
Born to Robert and Mary Ann Broberg on July 31, 1962, Jan grew up with her two younger sisters,...
- 10/14/2022
- by Alicia Geigel
- Popsugar.com
Certain roles seem like they’d make an actor pause before signing on. And Jake Lacy notes he was asked whether playing pedophile Robert Berchtold, the man found to have kidnapped Jan Broberg Felt twice during her adolescent years, was a good idea. While speaking to IndieWire via Zoom, Lacy recounts how co-star Anna Paquin asked him if he or his representatives worried about him taking on the role. It’s a valid question, especially considering Lacy, prior to this year, has mostly been known for playing very sweet Good Guys.
But to hear Lacy recount the story, that was exactly what he was looking for from the part. “He [Berchtold] thinks he’s Steve McQueen,” Lacy said to IndieWire. “There’s so much to dive into. I get to be the force that changes the story.” He certainly does that. Playing Berchtold required Lacy to not only be despicable, but...
But to hear Lacy recount the story, that was exactly what he was looking for from the part. “He [Berchtold] thinks he’s Steve McQueen,” Lacy said to IndieWire. “There’s so much to dive into. I get to be the force that changes the story.” He certainly does that. Playing Berchtold required Lacy to not only be despicable, but...
- 10/13/2022
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
Mckenna Grace is grateful to not be playing the younger version of an older actor for a change. Grace plays Jan Broberg in Peacock's "A Friend of the Family," which premiered on Oct. 6 and tells the terrifying true story of Robert Berchtold, who kidnapped Broberg in 1974 and again in 1976.
The 16-year-old actor has played younger versions of many different characters over the years. She was the young version of Margot Robbie's Tonya Harding in "I, Tonya," Brie Larson's Carol Danvers in "Captain Marvel," and Annabelle Wallis's Madison Lake in "Malignant," to name a few. Finally, though, "A Friend of the Family" has allowed her to experience things from the other side.
"It was really special to finally have a younger version of myself," she tells Popsugar. "That was so cool. Hendrix [Yancey] on our show, who plays the younger ages of Jan, was so fun. She's so smart,...
The 16-year-old actor has played younger versions of many different characters over the years. She was the young version of Margot Robbie's Tonya Harding in "I, Tonya," Brie Larson's Carol Danvers in "Captain Marvel," and Annabelle Wallis's Madison Lake in "Malignant," to name a few. Finally, though, "A Friend of the Family" has allowed her to experience things from the other side.
"It was really special to finally have a younger version of myself," she tells Popsugar. "That was so cool. Hendrix [Yancey] on our show, who plays the younger ages of Jan, was so fun. She's so smart,...
- 10/12/2022
- by Eden Arielle Gordon
- Popsugar.com
True crime series continue to take up a lot of space on networks and streaming services thanks to our unwavering desire to investigate the truly horrendous and dark side of humanity. Sometimes these adaptations are impactful and other times they are underwhelming. But, when they are done well, they can be some of the best programming on the small screen. One such series is the new Peacock drama A Friend of the Family.
Based on the shocking true story of Jan Broberg, A Friend of the Family follows two Mormon families in Idaho who become very close. One of the fathers, Robert Berchtold, becomes infatuated with the eldest daughter of the other family. Over the course of decades, a sinister relationship develops that involves kidnapping, pedophilia, and much more. It is truly shocking to watch unfold and even more alarming as to how it was able to occur in the first place.
Based on the shocking true story of Jan Broberg, A Friend of the Family follows two Mormon families in Idaho who become very close. One of the fathers, Robert Berchtold, becomes infatuated with the eldest daughter of the other family. Over the course of decades, a sinister relationship develops that involves kidnapping, pedophilia, and much more. It is truly shocking to watch unfold and even more alarming as to how it was able to occur in the first place.
- 10/11/2022
- by Alex Maidy
- JoBlo.com
As someone who “makes documentaries as a side hustle,” Colin Hanks is used to telling true stories. That said, he wasn’t aware of Jan Broberg’s abduction and assault before he received the scripts for Peacock’s “A Friend of the Family.” And when he did, he still wasn’t sold.
“I was just instantly judging a book by its cover, saying, ‘I don’t want to play a super nice Mormon that goes through a bunch of stuff.’ There’s so much about it that just made me, at first, say ‘No, thank you,'” Hanks tells Variety. But after reading the first three scripts, he watched Netflix’s 2017 documentary, “Abducted in Plain Sight.”
“I just could not get their story out of my head — I talked about it with so many people. It ended up dragging me in. And coming out of the pandemic, two years of sitting around,...
“I was just instantly judging a book by its cover, saying, ‘I don’t want to play a super nice Mormon that goes through a bunch of stuff.’ There’s so much about it that just made me, at first, say ‘No, thank you,'” Hanks tells Variety. But after reading the first three scripts, he watched Netflix’s 2017 documentary, “Abducted in Plain Sight.”
“I just could not get their story out of my head — I talked about it with so many people. It ended up dragging me in. And coming out of the pandemic, two years of sitting around,...
- 10/10/2022
- by Emily Longeretta
- Variety Film + TV
This opening is usually where a disclaimer goes. For a series like “A Friend of the Family,” one that dramatizes the events behind a story that came to public attention through an acclaimed (or at least widely-seen) documentary, it’s almost second nature now to start off any discussion with a acknowledgment that many of the details are an open matter. Anyone who wants to know the story beforehand (particularly those who might want to avoid certain subject matter the story addresses) can easily find a concise summary with a few clicks.
Creators will go to great lengths to try to preserve a certain kind of viewing experience, one with twists unspoiled and jarring turns hidden. Amidst a sea of real-life stories of manipulation and grief and predation being turned into TV series, “A Friend of the Family” is one that stands out because it’s not constructed in that way.
Creators will go to great lengths to try to preserve a certain kind of viewing experience, one with twists unspoiled and jarring turns hidden. Amidst a sea of real-life stories of manipulation and grief and predation being turned into TV series, “A Friend of the Family” is one that stands out because it’s not constructed in that way.
- 10/6/2022
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
The documentary to podcast to scripted series is now a familiar progression for those of us who can’t help but blast blue light into our eyes at night, plunging into one true crime rabbit hole or another instead of sleeping. It’s no longer enough to consume a real-life travesty just for the facts; we need to obsess over the really juicy ones from every angle, from the lurid to the topical to the philosophical.
The latest now-familiar story to make the final stop on the all-platforms content cycle — the A-list scripted limited series — is the story of Jan Broberg, who was kidnapped twice as a child by her neighbor Robert Berchtold, and is now chronicled in “A Friend of the Family.”
Skye Borgman’s Netflix documentary “Abducted In Plain Sight” first introduced this strange, maddening story to a mass audience, leaving viewers with outrage and righteous judgment, the...
The latest now-familiar story to make the final stop on the all-platforms content cycle — the A-list scripted limited series — is the story of Jan Broberg, who was kidnapped twice as a child by her neighbor Robert Berchtold, and is now chronicled in “A Friend of the Family.”
Skye Borgman’s Netflix documentary “Abducted In Plain Sight” first introduced this strange, maddening story to a mass audience, leaving viewers with outrage and righteous judgment, the...
- 10/6/2022
- by Stephan Lee
- The Wrap
The premiere episode of Peacock’s limited series “A Friend of the Family” starts differently than other true crime genre series. Instead of a disclaimer emphasizing how these are based on true events, it starts on a soundstage, with the real Jan Broberg Felt sitting in a director’s chair. She tells the audience that the events in the series may sound shocking and preposterous but they’re true and they happened to her.
It’s not something commonly seen on television today, especially in the era of peak true crime television with creatives often adapting magazine articles and documentaries rather than going to victims directly for the rights to their story. It’s debatable how much of this is to get around paying for life rights and/or to give directors and screenwriters an out if they change real events too much. And it’s impossible not to think...
It’s not something commonly seen on television today, especially in the era of peak true crime television with creatives often adapting magazine articles and documentaries rather than going to victims directly for the rights to their story. It’s debatable how much of this is to get around paying for life rights and/or to give directors and screenwriters an out if they change real events too much. And it’s impossible not to think...
- 10/6/2022
- by Kristen Lopez
- Indiewire
Before Jake Lacy became Shane, the odious newlywed in last year’s smash-hit class satire The White Lotus, the 37-year-old actor was famous for playing nice guys. Not just good guys, but human beings so exceedingly pleasant in looks and affect that they could only be fiction.
In HBO’s Girls, for example, Lacy was Fran, the kindly schoolteacher who still offered Hannah a ride after she dumped him hundreds of miles from home. In the 2020 remake of High Fidelity, he played a harmless rock-climbing fanatic – the guy you date when you’re on the rebound from heartache.
Lacy thinks the nicest guy he ever played – I asked – was probably Ken from the film How to Be Single, a goofy one-night stand who coasts into unexpected fatherhood with uncanny aplomb. “But that’s a caricature almost,” Lacy says. “The idea of a nice guy.”
That said, the actor is incorrect.
In HBO’s Girls, for example, Lacy was Fran, the kindly schoolteacher who still offered Hannah a ride after she dumped him hundreds of miles from home. In the 2020 remake of High Fidelity, he played a harmless rock-climbing fanatic – the guy you date when you’re on the rebound from heartache.
Lacy thinks the nicest guy he ever played – I asked – was probably Ken from the film How to Be Single, a goofy one-night stand who coasts into unexpected fatherhood with uncanny aplomb. “But that’s a caricature almost,” Lacy says. “The idea of a nice guy.”
That said, the actor is incorrect.
- 10/6/2022
- by Amanda Whiting
- The Independent - TV
Click here to read the full article.
Making way-too-long, way-too-late indirect scripted adaptations of shoddily made Netflix true crime documentaries wouldn’t seem like a winning business plan. But six months after informally turning Tiger King into the almost unwatchably hammy Joe vs. Carole, Peacock has given the limited series treatment to 2019’s Abducted in Plain Sight.
Abducted in Plain Sight — one of those Netflix releases that come without any promotion, are all anybody discusses for three days and then are never mentioned again — was simultaneously tedious and tawdry. At only 91 minutes, it was either infuriatingly repetitive or repetitively infuriating, and the idea that Peacock’s A Friend of the Family was going to tell Jan Broberg’s harrowingly bizarre story in nine hours caused me immediate trepidation.
Based on six episodes sent to critics, A Friend of the Family is simultaneously doomed by that structural choice and close to a best-case scenario.
Making way-too-long, way-too-late indirect scripted adaptations of shoddily made Netflix true crime documentaries wouldn’t seem like a winning business plan. But six months after informally turning Tiger King into the almost unwatchably hammy Joe vs. Carole, Peacock has given the limited series treatment to 2019’s Abducted in Plain Sight.
Abducted in Plain Sight — one of those Netflix releases that come without any promotion, are all anybody discusses for three days and then are never mentioned again — was simultaneously tedious and tawdry. At only 91 minutes, it was either infuriatingly repetitive or repetitively infuriating, and the idea that Peacock’s A Friend of the Family was going to tell Jan Broberg’s harrowingly bizarre story in nine hours caused me immediate trepidation.
Based on six episodes sent to critics, A Friend of the Family is simultaneously doomed by that structural choice and close to a best-case scenario.
- 10/5/2022
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A Friend of the family premieres on Peacock on October 6.
The series is a fictionalized take on a story you may know very well.
Jan Broberg's story was previously told on the Netflix docuseries, Abducted in Plain Sight.
Now, from creator Nick Antosca and with Broberg's help as an executive producer, her story is investigated again, this time without the details.
Instead, Antosca and Broberg try to show viewers how an insidious man made himself a friend of the family, ingratiating himself into their world, breeding a perfect scenario in which Broberg was kidnapped and abused, with her abductor never paying a steep price for his crimes.
Jake Lacey stars as Robert 'B' Berchtold, the man behind the crimes, and Lio Tipton is his wife, Gail.
In our interview, Lacey discusses how he was challenged as an actor to bring B's views to light without needing to understand the man himself.
The series is a fictionalized take on a story you may know very well.
Jan Broberg's story was previously told on the Netflix docuseries, Abducted in Plain Sight.
Now, from creator Nick Antosca and with Broberg's help as an executive producer, her story is investigated again, this time without the details.
Instead, Antosca and Broberg try to show viewers how an insidious man made himself a friend of the family, ingratiating himself into their world, breeding a perfect scenario in which Broberg was kidnapped and abused, with her abductor never paying a steep price for his crimes.
Jake Lacey stars as Robert 'B' Berchtold, the man behind the crimes, and Lio Tipton is his wife, Gail.
In our interview, Lacey discusses how he was challenged as an actor to bring B's views to light without needing to understand the man himself.
- 10/5/2022
- by Carissa Pavlica
- TVfanatic
Jan Broberg is telling her story again, with hope that this time, she’ll be able to help others. In 2019, she was the subject of Netflix’s documentary “Abducted In Plain Sight,” which told the story of how she was abducted twice in the 70s — first at age 12, and again at 14 — by Bob “B” Berchtold, a close family friend. At the time, he brought her to Mexico and brainwashed her into believing that she had been kidnapped by aliens and had to have sex with him in order to save her family.
Her parents, Bob and Mary Ann Broberg, also had sexual experiences with “B,” as they were both groomed as well.
Now, at 60, Jan serves as a producer on Peacock’s “A Friend of the Family,” a nine-episode drama based on her experiences. While she wasn’t expecting the public’s criticism of her family that came after the documentary,...
Her parents, Bob and Mary Ann Broberg, also had sexual experiences with “B,” as they were both groomed as well.
Now, at 60, Jan serves as a producer on Peacock’s “A Friend of the Family,” a nine-episode drama based on her experiences. While she wasn’t expecting the public’s criticism of her family that came after the documentary,...
- 10/4/2022
- by Emily Longeretta
- Variety Film + TV
Plot: Inspired by the harrowing true story of the Broberg family, whose daughter Jan was kidnapped multiple times over a period of a few years by a charismatic, obsessed family “friend”.
Review: There does not seem to be any end in sight for the current wave of true crime event series populating streaming services these days. While some are better than others, there are still some genuinely disturbing stories that have been told recently. Documentaries always have an advantage in the realm of true crime, but a well-made narrative series can chill you as much as entertain. A Friend of the Family, from producer Nick Antosca, is one of the most shocking and disturbing true crime stories I have ever heard and offers a well-made look at a story that is too crazy not to be true. With a great cast and the actual victim of the crime on board as a producer,...
Review: There does not seem to be any end in sight for the current wave of true crime event series populating streaming services these days. While some are better than others, there are still some genuinely disturbing stories that have been told recently. Documentaries always have an advantage in the realm of true crime, but a well-made narrative series can chill you as much as entertain. A Friend of the Family, from producer Nick Antosca, is one of the most shocking and disturbing true crime stories I have ever heard and offers a well-made look at a story that is too crazy not to be true. With a great cast and the actual victim of the crime on board as a producer,...
- 10/4/2022
- by Alex Maidy
- JoBlo.com
Peacock‘s new series A Friend of the Family (premiering October 6 with four episodes) dramatizes the true tale of the evil Robert “B” Berchtold (Jake Lacy) kidnapping, sexually abusing, and eventually marrying the young Jan Broberg right under her parents’ noses. Mary Ann and Bob Broberg knew Berchtold had taken Jan the first time, but to their horror, it happened again a few years later. The mind-boggling story was told in Netflix‘s documentary Abducted in Plain Sight, prompting viewers to express their bewilderment all over social media. With its title alone, A Friend of the Family aims to explain just how the Brobergs could have “let” this happen repeatedly — and to serve as a warning. Berchtold was their close family friend, and with the help of FBI recordings of the criminal, his own audio journals, and firsthand knowledge from Jan and her mother (both producers on the series), the...
- 10/3/2022
- TV Insider
The twisted real-life case of Jan Broberg, the Idaho youth abducted twice by a neighbor during the 1970s, drives the riveting nine-episode series A Friend of the Family. “What they lived through is so complex, so terrifying…it felt like a story that you needed to be immersed in over many hours to understand psychologically and emotionally,” says writer Nick Antosca, who executive produced the project. “Their experience was a slow burn.” (Broberg and her mother Mary Ann are producers.) Flack’s Anna Paquin and The Offer’s Colin Hanks star as the Broberg parents, who have no idea that Robert Berchtold (Jake Lacy of The White Lotus), the seemingly innocent Mormon next door, is obsessed with their daughter. Before they know it, Berchtold has not just infiltrated their marriage but also put into motion a plan that would find him kidnapping Jan at the age of 12 and ...
- 10/2/2022
- TV Insider
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Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including red carpets for Hocus Pocus 2, A Friend of the Family, Entergalactic and the Clooney Foundation for Justice’s Albie Awards.
Hocus Pocus 2 premiere
Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy premiered their highly anticipated Disney+ sequel in New York on Tuesday, along with newcomers Sam Richardson, Whitney Peak and Belissa Escobedo.
Anne Fletcher, Kathy Najimy, Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Adam Shankman, Lynn Harris and Sam Richardson Whitney Peak and Belissa Escobedo Bette Midler
Entergalactic premiere
On Wednesday, Netflix hosted a brunch and evening premiere for new series Entergalactic, the latter at the The Paris Theater in New York City. Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi, Jessica Williams, Ty Dolla ign, Laura Harrier and Teyana Taylor were in attendance along with executive producers Kenya Barris,...
Here’s a look at this week’s biggest premieres, parties and openings in Los Angeles and New York, including red carpets for Hocus Pocus 2, A Friend of the Family, Entergalactic and the Clooney Foundation for Justice’s Albie Awards.
Hocus Pocus 2 premiere
Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathy Najimy premiered their highly anticipated Disney+ sequel in New York on Tuesday, along with newcomers Sam Richardson, Whitney Peak and Belissa Escobedo.
Anne Fletcher, Kathy Najimy, Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, Adam Shankman, Lynn Harris and Sam Richardson Whitney Peak and Belissa Escobedo Bette Midler
Entergalactic premiere
On Wednesday, Netflix hosted a brunch and evening premiere for new series Entergalactic, the latter at the The Paris Theater in New York City. Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi, Jessica Williams, Ty Dolla ign, Laura Harrier and Teyana Taylor were in attendance along with executive producers Kenya Barris,...
- 9/30/2022
- by Kirsten Chuba
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A Friend of the Family is coming soon to Peacock. The true crime drama follows Robert Berchtold as he kidnaps Jan Broberg -- again and again. The limited series will consist of nine episodes. Jake Lacy, Anna Paquin, Colin Hanks, Lio Tipton, Hendrix Yancey, Mckenna Grace, Austin Stowell, Patrick Fischler, Bree Elrod, and Philip Ettinger star in the series which arrives in October.
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- 9/14/2022
- by TVSeriesFinale.com
- TVSeriesFinale.com
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