NBC developing 'Law & Order: True Crime' series, sets Menendez brothers murders as first case
NBC wants a piece of the true crime pie.
The network on Wednesday said it is developing a new anthology series from iconic Law & Order producer Dick Wolf that will dramatize real-life crime stories -- not unlike what FX is doing with its American Crime Story franchise, which concluded its stellar first season on Tuesday.
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The eight-episode first installment of Law & Order: True Crime, NBC said, will revisit the 1989 Menendez brothers murders.
“We’ve been talking with Dick about how to create an event series coming out of the Law & Order ripped-from-the-headlines brand. This case captured the public’s attention like nothing before it as it examined taboo issues such as patricide and matricide in gruesome detail, all against a backdrop of privilege and wealth,” said Jennifer Salke, president of NBC Entertainment. “We will recreate the cultural and societal surroundings of both the murders and trials when people were not only obsessed with the case but examining how and why these brothers committed these heinous crimes.”
Wolf, who is also responsible for the network's Chicago franchise, added: “Bob [Greenblatt], Jen and I have been focused [on] the natural evolution of the Law & Order brand for the last several years and are excited to extend the franchise with a scripted limited anthology series that focuses on a high-profile trial. There is no shortage of compelling real-life criminal cases, and the Menendez trial was more scintillating than most crime fiction.”
The story will reportedly focus on Lyle and Erik Menendez, the brothers who were convicted after three trials of murdering their parents and sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in 1996.
NBC's development of this series comes just one day after FX's The People Vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story concluded its first season to rave reviews and a few months after Netflix's Making a Murder proved that Serial wasn't the only player in the true crime game that could break through the pop culture conversation.
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Sandra Gonzalez was a Senior Television Reporter at Mashable. A Texas native, she spent almost four years in New York City before leaving the land of superstorms for Los Angeles, where she was introduced to these terrifying things called "rolling earthquakes."Previously, she was with Entertainment Weekly, where she wrote about every show that could fit into her perfectly crafted TV schedule and anything ever touched by Shonda Rhimes.You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @theSandraG
