‘Unspeakable’ crimes on Oxygen
The true-crime genre keeps growing. Directed by Joe Berlinger (“Brother’s Keeper” and the “Paradise Lost” trilogy), the five-part series “Unspeakable Crime: The Killing of Jessica Chambers” (7 p.m. today, Oxygen, TV-14) examines a gruesome 2014 murder in a small Southern town, and the investigation, prosecution and trial that touched upon incendiary racial divides.
At first glance, the 19-year-old victim was straight out of Central Casting: a delightfully upbeat blond, blue-eyed cheerleader. “Unspeakable” presents interviews with dozens of residents of Courtland, Mississippi, a town of just over 500 residents, a place where everybody waved to each other, knew one another’s business, cheered at the football game on Friday night and attended church on Sunday.
As much as this is a story of a small town, it reflects several obsessions of cable news and cable TV in general, a medium that exults in coverage of missing and/or murdered blondes to the exclusion of seemingly every other crime victim. The film also echoes another cable constant, the need to turn every murder into a forum on racial resentment. And it follows a pattern established in true-crime docuseries: The more we hear about the victim and the suspect, the less we trust our first impressions.
TECHNICAL EMMYS
The 2018 Creative Arts Emmys (8 p.m. today, FXX, TV-14) honor artistic and technical excellence in television over the past year. The ceremonies were held in Los Angeles over two nights last weekend, so it’s not giving too much away to reveal that HBO’s “Game of Thrones” and FX’s “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story” snagged more than a few trophies. “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown” also received notable posthumous recognition.
The 70th Emmy Awards will be broadcast live Monday night on NBC.
BOOKISH THRILLER
Now in its second week, the Lifetime series “You” (10 p.m. Sunday, TV-MA) follows the creepy but remarkably articulate and opinionated Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) as he obsesses over Guinevere Beck (Elizabeth Lail), a pretty young customer at the bookstore where he works.
This is more of a gentle psychological thriller than the CBS series “Stalker,” which earned creator Kevin Williamson a tsunami of hateful reviews. Lifetime series don’t have CBS’ need for body counts and mindless violence to keep the procedurals proceeding. “You” is more annoying than offensive. I can imagine that a lot of viewers will love to watch “You” just to hate Joe.
As a veteran of the publishing industry, I’m always interested in how television treats the bookish. The act of reading never makes for good television. At the same time, TV characters often decide to write books and do so over an episode or two and it inevitably changes their lives when it becomes a best-seller. On “Seinfeld,” Elaine was resolutely allergic to curiosity and reading. But that didn’t stop her from working as a book editor.
“You” essentially offers conflicting messages. Is Joe creepy because he is literate? Or does Guinevere’s literary aspirations make her inherently vulnerable and weak? Discuss amongst yourselves.
The most ludicrous aspect of this far-fetched fear-fest is that Joe, a mere bookstore assistant manager, can afford his own apartment in Manhattan.
FOOTBALL DREAMS
Debuting on Starz, the documentary series “Warriors of Liberty City” (8 p.m. Sunday, TV-MA) follows a youth football program in a poor, black Miami neighborhood that has had a remarkable success in turning out NFL talent.
TEEN SCENE
A teen’s life is changed when her sports-heroine poster pinup (Alex Morgan) magically peels off the wall and becomes her companion and mentor in the 2018 fantasy “Alex & Me” (8 p.m. today, Nickelodeon, TV-G).
LIFETIME REMAKE
Shannen Doherty stars in “No One Would Tell” (8 p.m. Sunday, Lifetime), a 2018 remake of a 1996 Lifetime movie. The original starred Doherty’s contemporaries Candace Cameron Bure and Heather McComb.
TODAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
› A scam artist stalks the PTA on “Pink Collar Crimes” (8 p.m., CBS).
› College football action includes USC at Texas (8 p.m., Fox) and Ohio State at TCU (8 p.m., ABC).
› A singing group reunites for a USO tour in the 2017 musical comedy “Pitch Perfect 3” (8 p.m., HBO).
› A couple reunites with a troublesome pet on “My Cat From Hell” (9 p.m., Animal Planet, TV-PG).
› “Planet Earth: Yellowstone” (9 p.m., BBC America, TV-G) chronicles the park during six winter months.
Kevin McDonough can be reached at kevin.tvguy@ gmail.com.