TV's true crime trend isn't showing any signs of slowing down.
NBC has officially ordered Dick Wolf's Law & Order: True Crime – The Menendez Murders to series with Law & Order vet Rene Balcer set as showrunner, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Similar to FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson, the eight-episode first season will be a recreation of the trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez's trial. The brothers were convicted of murdering their parents and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1996. The brothers, who were 21 and 18 years old, respectively, at the time of the murders, were tried separately but eventually found guilty in a third trial after no verdicts were rendered in the first two trials because of hung juries. Like the Simpson trial, the Menendez brothers trial became an early hit for then-burgeoning cable channel CourtTV.
NBC put the project into development shortly after the finale of The People v. O.J. Simpson and similarly, the network's official pickup comes a day after the FX drama earned 22 Emmy nominations. In addition to ABC, which has scripted true crime anthology series American Crime, CBS is getting in the true crime business this fall with an docuseries centered on the unsolved murder of JonBenet Ramsey.
“Rene and I have been working together over the past three decades and he is one of a handful of truly great showrunners with whom I’ve worked," Wolf said. "Law & Order won the Emmy for outstanding drama series under his watch.”
NBC has officially ordered Dick Wolf's Law & Order: True Crime – The Menendez Murders to series with Law & Order vet Rene Balcer set as showrunner, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Similar to FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson, the eight-episode first season will be a recreation of the trial of Lyle and Erik Menendez's trial. The brothers were convicted of murdering their parents and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 1996. The brothers, who were 21 and 18 years old, respectively, at the time of the murders, were tried separately but eventually found guilty in a third trial after no verdicts were rendered in the first two trials because of hung juries. Like the Simpson trial, the Menendez brothers trial became an early hit for then-burgeoning cable channel CourtTV.
NBC put the project into development shortly after the finale of The People v. O.J. Simpson and similarly, the network's official pickup comes a day after the FX drama earned 22 Emmy nominations. In addition to ABC, which has scripted true crime anthology series American Crime, CBS is getting in the true crime business this fall with an docuseries centered on the unsolved murder of JonBenet Ramsey.
“Rene and I have been working together over the past three decades and he is one of a handful of truly great showrunners with whom I’ve worked," Wolf said. "Law & Order won the Emmy for outstanding drama series under his watch.”
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