NBC Wants That ‘O.J.’ Money, Sets ‘Law and Order: True Crime’ Anthology on Menendez Brothers
Welp, if the true crime wave gave birth to dramatized true crime like American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson, you could bet the idea would tumble down to NBC eventually. Barring another Law & Order spinoff, the franchise will launch a new Law & Order: True Crime anthology, its first run to focus on the infamous Menendez brothers trial.
The new eight-episodes miniseries from Law & Order mastermind Dick Wolf will follow a recreation of the Lyle and Erik Menendez case, two brothers convicted of murdering their own parents, and subsequently sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the potential for parole.
Said NBC of the new rip-off series:
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. 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.
No word yet on an exact timetable, though NBC will likely have more details in the coming weeks as we head toward the yearly upfront presentations. If American Crime Story will move away from the courtroom for Season 2, is Law & Order: True Crime the next best thing?