User reviews

Renée Zellweger transformation in this film is incredible. She really is an amazing actress. Keith Morrison well known crime documentary voice narrating the story of Hupp made it enjoyable. Yeah, the acting in general is a little over-the-top and hammy, but I considered that part of its charm. A comedic crime drama. This seems to be a new trend with real-crime dramas like Netflix's Tiger King and NBC's spoof of the Tiger King on Peacock.

At no time did I feel the producers were trying to make a serious true-crime documentary. It was evident to me this was more of a tongue and cheek show of a real life story.

My husband and I think Pam is a riot. It's a mystery, a comedy, a drama and we get to enjoy Academy Award Winner Renee Zellweger kill it in the lead. The big surprise is the fantastic Katy Mixon in the role of the victim. She is better than I've ever seen her before and deserves accolades as she keeps up with Renee line for line. This show is based on a true story. That real life event was tragic. But this show is really good. Give it a chance. It's not your usual limited series. It's nice to have unique programming. Great job, NBC!

I love it. Huge Dateline fan.

Contra the "top review", I think it's an inspired telling. I was surprised by Keith Morrison's narration but it's a bold move that works better than it should. It does an effective job of creating a hybrid of the Dateline roots and a dramatic re-telling. That reviewer wanted a "traditional drama" - this is bolder than that. It's a prestige re-enactment.

For me, the dark humor and the slight camp are a perfect fit for the story. Some people may find it offensive. That's fine, but likely hypocritical unless you are personally affected by this case. There is so much entertainment filled with senseless death and violence, I think it's odd to criticize a show that is at least showing sympathetic victims and the utter immorality of a sociopath - even if with a darkly humorous take.

RZ is fantastic. Duhamel gives the best performance I've ever seen him give in anything. Judy Greer is fantastic in everything she does, no surprise she is here too.

Familiar with the story, not necessarily a fan of RZ, I put off watching the first episode. It far exceeded expectations - currently quite underrated with a 6.1 IMDB rating. I know the story very well and am still very eager for the next episode.

By now anyone who doesn't know who Pam Hupp is should do a quick search. This limited six-episode series is not intended to surprise you, we pretty well know the sequence of events. It is intended to entertain. With heavy makeup and prosthetics Renee Zellweger is unrecognizable until she speaks. She plays Pam with a lot of dark humor, I'd suppose the character is exaggerated. But the way she does it totally entertaining.

This week I finished the series and my overall take is the old saying "Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction."

Good series. The actors are all in fine form.

I've been reading about the actual case, and this movie isn't overexaggerating a thing. The authorities really were that arrogant, Pam really is that psychotic, and the people around her were really that manipulated.

Watching shows like this taught me more about the human psyche than any college psychology course. Another crazy movie was " The Good Father: The Martin MacNeill Story."

I honestly do not get the bad reviews at all, even if you object to the subject matter it's actually entertaining!

Renee is always good and josh d puts on another good performance as does judy greer.

Just watch one ep you'll see I am right :)

I found the show and Rene's acting very entertaining. It is good for what it is, a light network show.

BTW, Unless you were related or knew the people in this show personally you better stop your fake outrage over NBC's portrayal of them and take it as what it really is, a TV SHOW!

I think anyone who writes a review ... especially a negative one. At least get the character's name(s) correct. It's not Pam Huff - it's Hupp. ((rolls eyes))

Keith Morrison as the Narrator ?? Blew my Mind, loved it even more. His voice is one of the best I have ever heard narrating true crime stories.

Small Town, small minds think alike - and that is the scariest truth about this story line.

I liked the story - even though the truth about it is infuriating.

Only one episode so far, so rating subject to change.

Renee Zellweger does a very good job as Hupp, but otherwise the acting isn't out of this world. It's believable enough.

If you're already familiar with this story from the podcast or otherwise, you'll find the accuracy to real events is pretty dang close, especially considering it's an NBC drama. Hoping it continues like this for the rest of the series and doesn't stray too far from reality.

Where it falls short for me is the tone. As others have mentioned, it feels a little "off," as if they weren't sure whether or not to make a serious true crime drama or a dark comedy. It's a little of both and doesn't do either of them particularly well. Sticking with a serious approach would have been the right move here, and had they done so my opinion of the show would be a lot more positive.

Overall, it's entertaining. It think it's worth a watch if the subject matter is of interest to you. Whether or not you'll like it probably depends on how well the quirky tone sits with you, but it's definitely not a 1 star show - nor is it a masterpiece.

I am uneasy with the idea of turning the story of a serial killer into a comedy - especially since these crimes are recent enough to still be very painful to the survivors. But if we judged Hollywood according to the standards of good taste, we'd all be watching nothing but Leave It to Beaver reruns.

The pacing is good, the script is well written, I like the narration (something I usually dislike), and Renee Zellweger is quite convincing as the "psycho next door." So despite the fact that I agree with the reviewers who say this is in poor taste and it's all about turning a tragedy into a comedy. I am going to continue watching...

... because the bottom line is this is an entertaining show.

It's always surprising to me to see how can someone rate it with a 10 and others give 1 star, but I guess this is the type os series that elicit those reactions.

I had a really hard time getting into this series because the overall tone is somehow confusing. I remember watching a documentary about the case on Youtube and I was instantly hooked, the story was gripping, raw, complex and ultimately bitter. Here we find none of that, it feels more like a parody of the case, with scenes of humor and acting that can only be described as taken from a soap opera. There's a narrator that sounds almost exactly like the narration in Desperate Housewives. At moments it even feels disrespectful for the persons involved, let's not forget real people died here.

Music is cheesy and there are some very unnecessary VFX (I'm looking at you fake dog).

Seeing that some people gave it a perfect score, I think you have to set your expectations right before watching. The real events were so shocking that I was expecting a crime Thriller in the vein of Mindhunter, but what we're presented with is a thriller/comedy, which I found totally inappropriate and not fitting the source material.

There's a lot to like about this series unfortunately not much has to do with the series itself. It's a very interesting story. It's a crazy story. But this series is just kinda... weird... First Renee Z does a good job capturing her likeness which is pretty shocking but she did. However RZ has a very distinct voice that really doesn't work at all. Pam Hupp sounds like baritone 30 year smoking lady at the DMV. So it does pull you from the moment. She was okish in the role but this is one of those scenarios I can't help but wonder if they casted too high for that role. RZ can't be the best fit. There has to better fits to try to capture an ugly middle aged mean scowled woman than RZ. The strangest thing is without a doubt Keith Morrison though. He narrates the story at unnecessary time which I assume is suppose to be reminiscent of Dateline but instead feels like Christmas movie. It's just bizarre and would work better without this constant fourth wall stuff. A traditional drama I was genuinely looking forward to so this was disappointing. The only other odd thing was that this woman was indisputably evil, so why play it for laughs? She killed 3 people. I mean there's dark humor and then just tasteless humor. These laughs they were going for kinda flopped. The series is really worth watching but the show has some massive weirdness that is pretty distracting.

Zellweger is excellent in this playing the Machiavellian Pam up against weak-minded, incompetent, small-town law enforcement. This whole works extraordinarily well despite my prejudice against narrated stories and 'true story' drama. Judy Greer performs admirably as the closed-minded prosecutor, and effectively colludes with the police, the judge and Pam in framing the innocent husband.

... but oh boy, did they EVER do that monster too many favors in casting. Even when you try to make Renee Zellweger look like a flaming pile of garbage, it still can't accurately capture the level of absolute droopy, pock-marked hideousness that is the real deal. And that's just Pam's soul. Never mind that face. Yikes.

I listened to the podcast, so I did know the background on this case. The case is very interesting, so I was intrigued.

It seems like intentionally they don't want you to really like any of the characters.

Personally, I do love when a show is narrated, but it feels almost silly the way that this was done.

If I were a family member or friend of Betsy Faria and watched how this show was framed, I would be upset. Somehow, they managed to take a heartbreaking case and turn it almost 'silly'.

I say check out the show, but keep in mind that this was a woman (Betsy) whose story deserves to be told.

This story is so well done and covered. It gives many of the fictionalized documentary type series a run for their money. It is so well done. Definitely watch it.

The acting was excellent. But making this as a comedy is cringe af. Real people were murdered and this shows a lack of respect not only for the victims' families but also for the very important investigation shortcomings. The entire situation is mindboggling but not funny.

Y'all it's true - we all know a "Pam." Sociopathic behavior is nothing new. It's been around (although often misdiagnosed) for many years. But Pam (Renée Zellweger) is a high octane sociopath. She enjoys being pushy and belligerent. Indeed, she shares displays many of the characteristics associated with this particularly dangerous mental disorder.

Sociopaths are typically expert liars and manipulators. They tend to believe in their own lies. These traits can be traced as far back as a person's childhood. In this series, Pam's mother might have unconsciously contributed to Pam's extraordinary bad behavior.

In cinema, Pam seems to emulate the "real life " sociopathic behavior of the fictional Norman Bates from Psycho or Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs. And like a classic sociopath, she beguiles others to believe that she is truly a very nice, caring person. But eventually, under social pressure, the facade begins to erode. And then we get to see the real Pam, and when we do, it's pretty frightening.

She's capable of anything.

Renée Zellweger will likely be nominated for a best actor in a leading role for her performance in The Thing About Pam. But Zellweger also has a very talented supporting cast, including Josh Duhamel, Judy Greer (who is almost unrecognizable), Gideon Adlon, Sean Bridgers. Suanne Spoke, Mac Brandt, Katy Mixon and Glenn Fleshler.

No spoilers here as usual, but I will reveal the obvious. She's wearing a fat suit. Duh. Renée has said "the daily makeup and prosthetics process was amazing to watch, and part of the adventure of acting, despite it being really hot to wear while filming in New Orleans for hours at a time."

A really interesting story of a true crime but the way it's told makes it boring. Acting is decent but most of scenes are long and dragged out. Filler including backstories added nothing.

Well done whoever cast Renee Zellweger as Pam Krupp. She is by far an unobvious choice but is absolutely excellent as the fascinatingly unlikeable- but seemingly mundane and harmless- Pam. There is a true crime book that has recently been released which is how I knew of the story (having never seen the dateline show.) It's twisty and I can see why a show would have been warranted. The creative angle here of Pam slurping her drink and the Desperate Housewives style narrative just work in bringing to story to life as a sort of disturbing caricature as opposed to a dark and miserable crime retelling. This was original and interesting, particularly as I had a vested interest in the case already.

It appears that the reviews here come from two ends of the spectrum. This isn't a documentary but was based on a Dateline story about a psycho/sociopath. Great cast. Unfortunately, episodes are only dropping once a week so for the curious who haven't seen the original Datelines it may get aggravating waiting for the weekly episodes. I had to look up the crazy story while awaiting the final episodes. I should have waited to watch all at once.

The family of the victim didn't want their pain turned into a quirky comedy but NBC went with it. Taking inspiration is one thing but to advertise it as the true story and trying to make it an irreverent comedy is not okay. All you need to know.