Bill the bad guy
Bill Cosby’s sordid past is retold is shocking honesty and with real-life accounts from his accusers.
Reality doccie series Bill Cosby: An American Scandal (2017) followed hot on the heels of TV legend Bill Cosby’s public downfall in March this year. His history of sexual abuse was exposed and accusers came out the woodwork on an almost daily basis, leaving the loveable icon’s image all but destroyed. But it’s not just the sex scandal that’s under the microscope. An American Scandal investigates the people who covered for Bill, how he got away with it for so long and “other traumatic psychological events that could have impacted on this,” says a show insider. “We went to the source of these allegations and got proper interviews and did this properly.”
FACT VERSUS FICTION
Like William Shatner-narrated reality show Rescue 911 (1989-1996), Bill Cosby: An American Scandal makes use of actual people as well as dramatic reenactments using actors cast in specific roles “for scenes that we simply could not get actual footage for. Mr Cosby was in court and there was absolutely no access to him,” explains the source.
BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW
“We hope to explore how this person who was universally revered could’ve been leading this double life,” says executive producer Pamela Deutsch. “People have heard the stories from the women who came forward, so we wanted to put it in context. Sometimes when this stuff plays out in the news, we lose sight of the bigger picture, so we’re giving viewers a capsulised form of the situation. We’re hoping to look at some of the people in his inner circle to kind of figure out how and why we’ve arrived at this point.”