🎥 Too many true crime shows now and I can't finish any of them

Last week I opened a streaming app to find something for the weekend. Half the screen was true crime. Documentaries, dramatised series, podcasts turned into shows. A whole row just for it. I remember when there were maybe 2 of these a year that people talked about. Now it feels like every month another real case is turned into 6 episodes. My sister loves them and watches 2 a week while she cooks. I've tried to keep up with her. Some are well made. You can tell the makers spoke to the family and took their time. Others feel like they just want you to gasp. Loud music, slow zooms, the same old photo. I stopped one halfway through last month and felt a bit dirty for having started. What bothers me is the families. Somebody lost a person and now strangers eat dinner to it. I don't know if they agreed to it. I don't know if they got paid or even asked. My sister says some of these shows made people look at old cases again. She might be right about that. I can't say she isn't, and I told her so. So I'm not against the whole thing. I just can't take the sheer volume of it on every app. I've started picking one, only when someone I trust says it was handled carefully. Last Sunday I watched one with my brother and we both went quiet at the end. That one I didn't mind at all. The rest I just scroll past now and look for something lighter.

A friend told me last year that it's odd to eat dinner to someone's worst day. I laughed it off, but I notice it every time now, with the plate in my lap.

I watched one last month that had the retired police officer on camera for nearly an hour. He was slow and careful and he sounded embarrassed about some mistakes. It felt like someone had done their homework, not just chased a scary headline. I'd take 1 of those over 10 shows with fast music and dramatic photos any day of the week.

My line is whether the family was involved. If they were, I'll watch. A show that gets built from old news clips and a narrator doing a scary voice is different. Nobody asked those people if their worst day could be a Friday night treat. Your sister has a point about old cases, but it doesn't make the shouty ones fine.