User reviews

Lately, Dateline has become a poor copy of 20/20, Sixty Minutes, and 48 Hours with hours spent on covering crime such as murders and scams. Much like A&E's American Justice, Investigative Reports, and other series. Dateline covering the Suitcase Murders was kind of inferior to other shows that focused on the same crime. There is plenty of true crime out there but you should pick and choose one that will engage the audience and expand on understanding it. They aired the Suitcase Murders after the verdict and before sentencing Melanie McGuire to life in prison for murdering and dismembering her husband, William McGuire. Even though there was no evidence connecting her to the crime but circumstantial coincidences. THe fact that Court TV was airing the trial made it easier for NBC Dateline to obtain access to the proceedings.

Dateline is predictable in the best way: I know it's going to be well produced and interesting, if necessarily uneven. That said:

1) First, high praise: What I like most about Dateline (and other crime shows) is that vast majority of people we meet in any given episode are good people. There's always a murderer or two, but they're the exception. The rest-- survivors, witnesses, prosecutors and most cops-- are truth-seekers in search of justice. (I forgive the defense lawyers because they're doing a necessary job). Ultimately, far from being a condemnation of humanity, Dateline proves that most of us are honorable.

2) This bugs me. Common to many, if not most, episodes is a phrase like "Stuff like that never happens here." Give it up, guys. Obviously homicides can happen anywhere-- especially the murders that Dateline specializes in, which involve family dysfunction and/or sociopaths.

3) Could someone please ask Andrea Canning to tone down her sing-song delivery; it undermines the gravity of the subject matter. She speaks like a normal adult when she's interviewing people, but her voice-over narration sounds like she's reading "Goodnight, Moon" to a four-year-old.

4) I'd also appreciate it if the women being interviewed weren't coiffed and slathered in make-up. A significant number have also had significant plastic surgery without significant success. So while the men are allowed to age gracefully, the women are often one whorl of hair away from looking grotesque.

Three years ago, Travis Forbes murdered a young woman in Denver. After becoming the prime and indeed the only suspect and while under surveillance of sorts he attacked another one in Fort Collins. How Lydia Tillman survived after being raped, severely beaten and left for dead in a burning apartment remains to be seen, but she did, and made a miraculous recovery.

Forbes was eventually persuaded to confess to the murder of the diminutive Kenia Monge, leading the authorities to her grave; he received a life sentence in return. Disturbing and inspiring though this tale of depravity and survival may be, this programme could have been cut by at least half an hour because much of it is taken up with lengthy interviews that should have been severely edited if not excluded altogether.

Since 1992 the news program "Dateline" has been a peacock mainstay changing over the years with different hosts now Lester Holt does the duties. Each week each episode is in depth with great reporting from top "NBC" anchors as the cases shown are real life, often featuring murders, love triangles, and cold cases that have been cracked with some unsolved mysteries are also showcased. The research done on each story is informative and really in depth as it's like a case timeline supported by news footage, and interviews with family members and officials involved. The stories are often heart touching and filled with emotions as you the viewer will soak up the informative real life drama and fill for all involved. Overall well done investigative news program.

Dateline just isn't the same as it used to be. And why do they show the hosts profiles?? This is irritating, I don't want to see the side of their faces!

I found Dateline when I was in the hospital one time flipping through channels. Overall, I think the shows are good. Shows like 48 Hours and Dateline capture my interest because they are based on true stories. My only compliant is the individuals' (Natalie and Greg) profiles are shown while they are speaking. I find that to be very annoying and would prefer they be filmed facing the camera only.

Very informative and suspenseful and entertaining! I just love Keith Morrison and his insinuative voice! And I love all the other correspondents! But I just don't get why Lester Holt is on the show. He is not needed, he adds nothing to the episodes. In fact, he just phones it in. He gets a paycheck for doing nothing at all.

I really enjoy this series and the background they do to present it.

What does annoys me is that they spend a lot of time interviewing family of the victims or friends. Some of these people have horrible, yes horrible, voices or are emotional and blubber throught each interview.

Just far too much time with these same types of horrible voices or emotional blubbering, I suppose that makes the series more authentic .

Usually you can hardly understand what they are saying and get tired of the repetitive interviews. Some of the people interviewed are playing to the camera and are really tiresome. Shorten up these interviews and move on !

Otherwise a very good series.

I used to love this show. I felt it was grade A crime reporting. The two hour shows are ludicrous. God help you of you do a shot every time they say, "coming up ..." You would end up passed out on the floor.

If this show is going to survive they better go back to a concise on hour format. The two hour shows are frustrating and end up boring. The episodes ate so padded and dragged out!

There are some pretty decent crime videos on YouTube that are about 20 minutes! They may not be as reliable, professional or polished as Datel8ne but they are the new competition. Get with it NBC. You are losing viewers.

Love Dateline. Would appreciate new stories.

Love Lester. Addicted. I probably have seen all the episodes, through streaming etc. Hungry for some new material.

Not sure why I am a true crime junkie, but I do really love the show.

Highly recommend.

I just watched a two how episode of Dateline. I'm not kidding when I say there must have been about 50 minutes of commercials. Every 4 minutes of the actual show was interrupted by 3 or 4 minutes of commercials. It seems more important to make money from these shows than to actually tell a story about a crime. Thank goodness for DVRs and fast forwarding. Also I love the acting by the interviewers. Like when the cops says "Well we put out a BOLO on the guy". Then the interviews astoundedley asks.. "Bolo? What's that?". Come on, you've been on the show for 16 years, you know what a BOLO is. At least take some acting lessons.

I don't know what I'm going to watch when these two leave Dateline! Keith is a poet with his words, and I genuinely find Josh Mankiewicz to be hilarious. I know that he's a prosecutor, but I really wish Matt Murphy could hop on the NBC train as a full time correspondent. Dennis Murphy is okay, but his narration style isn't really able to capture my full attention.

As for Andrea Canning... her cadence and overall narration of the stories that she tells is completely beneath the series. She needs to step it up or move along; the amount of episodes/podcasts that I end up skipping altogether because of her is truly a waste. I thought it was just me until I found dozens of Reddit threads speaking to just this!

Dateline is - without a doubt - the best true crime series of all time, and no one will convince me otherwise.

I love a great podcast and Dateline is a great one! I don't have the time to sit and watch the broadcast but I'll listen to the podcast all day. Andrea Canning's singsong voice and absolutely stupid interview questions makes my ears bleed, though. How she's still interviewing people is beyond me. I skip all of the Andrea Canning episodes. But I love Keith Morrison and Josh Mankiewicz. They are great narrators and interviewers.

I understand the frustration with the subscription cost and I'll probably get rid of it, especially since the other podcasts I was promised are only a few episodes long.

I have been watching Dateline for a very long time. I love the way its narrated and how they tell the stories.

I also love the stories they pick to cover. In fact I have never seen a bad episode of this show. If your a true crime buff like me this is something I would HIGHLY recommend. Every Friday night & Sat night they are on I watch them. One of the best. Do not miss this fascinating series.

There is no reason each of these cases requires a 2 hour show. Two hours for a special? Sure. Is every episode a special? Hell no. The same cases are thoroughly covered in other series/TV shows in 1 hour or less. Cut out the BS interviews with friends and relatives answering low-brow questions like, "Were you sad when you found out they were dead?", or, "Did you feel relieved when the perpetrator was caught?" These are duhhh questions and answers that offer no added perspective to the story, only a drawn out episode with fading attention from the viewer. I would rather watch the same crime case on another program and get the same information without my back hurting from sitting so long.

I have a very similar story that happened with my first cousin back in 2008. If someone could please contact me for more details. And for my aunt to go in to detail about it all give u all the evidence to show the world he was murdered. And there was no investigation done period.

This used to be my favorite show. Now it has about twenty commercial and is unnecessarily too long. I guess to get the commercials in. I just watched an episode and after about and hour and 40 minutes all we know is there are two possible suspects and the family got the case moved to a different law enforcement agency. Could have done that in 10 minutes. It's obvious there is enough material to fill two hours. They repeat the same stuff over and over again and add all this fluff interviews to prolonged the show. It's boring and sad I no longer have the patience for what used to be a great show.

To correct the nonsenisical notions that UPN wasn't as popular as The WB, "Friends" was more popular than UPN and "Seinfeld" respectively. And that The CW is more popular than MyNetworkTV/UPN. Guess what network this "Seinfeld"-loving show that ditched stupid Keith Morrison a long time ago, is on now? That's right, no longer is it NBC, but MyNetworkTV. Chris Hansen has earned my respect. In the past he would have come off as a "Friends"-loving punk, but he's a genuinely cool nice guy who does the Lord's work and brings predators to justice, and the show never gets preachy like "Geraldo" or "Springer." This show is equal to "Richard Bey" and countless others. Plus for all you New Yorkers who love highways and the skyline, the show used to offer the skyline view in the 1990s, during the end credits. Everything about the show is breathtaking. A score by Michael Karp, who was on the NBC roster throughout the 1990s. Premiering as a quaint show in 1992 under a different theme, and using different voiceovers (first the talented Bill St. James and then later on a more deeper baritone-voiced man), the show took on its theme. The show offers hard-hitting exposes on crime. Back when NBC wasn't under Littlefield's nonsense completely.

It might as well be called "How to get away with Felonies". Showing the case and evidence to some degree us fine but DON'T tell criminals what they did wrong so their successors can do better! That's just NOT smart. This review is ESPECIALLY true for "The Hunt for El Chapo

I've watched Dateline for years but the last couple haven't been that great. Sure, the veneer of the show is the same as it was but the content has changed greatly.

The old 1 hour format felt impactful and interesting most of the time. Since they went to their 2 hour format the hype is still the same but it feels like something is missing, some element has been removed but the show is still touted as being something more. The thing that's lacking certainly isn't the commercials by any means. In the most recent show I watched, (S31E8 - Dark Waters) there were eleven commercial breaks.

I know as well as anyone that with few exceptions television shows are largely funded by commercial revenue but in one break the actual program returned from one of the many commercials at approximately 1:01:27 by our counter and broke for the next at 1:06:34 after taking a few seconds prior to each commercial breaks to set the hook telling viewers what they'll see when the show returns.

This continues throughout the length of the entire show taking 2 hours of overall runtime to tell the same story that was originally told in just 1 hour and advertising exclusive never before seen content then presenting viewers with the same content chopped into mostly 5 minute segments throughout.

So, after years of faithful viewership I'm done watching this sham of a 'news' show.

I used to love this show. But the old style of presenting with the weird exaggerated inflections of voice is just too much anymore. The worst offenders are Andrea Canning and Keith Morrison. The rest of the cast is fine, but I can't listen to the unnatural voice cadence of either Andrea or Keith anymore. It almost sounds like a parody. I just started watching The Ultimate Betrayal episode on Peacock and couldn't last five minutes listening to Andrea Canning. Perhaps I'm in the minority, but there are so many other shows available that are just as interesting, but have cast members that speak like normal people.