Growing up, my mom would always have one crime show or another playing. From Snapped to Deadly Women, our home was always filled with a crime show. I remember I would fuss about having to watch it because honestly, it terrified me looking at people’s murders, whether it be dramatized or not. However, as I’ve gotten older I understand why she was so interested in these shows. Now that I’m at college, I mostly watch crime shows. I’m fascinated by how crazy people are in the world. I love seeing how the crime unfolds and what caused someone to lose their life. Usually, it’s because the person is insane, jealous, or downright just a hateful human being. I’ve been baffled; I’ve cried; and I’ve been disgusted at some of the things that I’ve seen watching true crime television.
The best way to wrap up a night for me is lying in bed with all the lights off watching a crime show. No, it doesn’t freak me out. Yes, I sleep just fine at night. At times I do get a bit paranoid, but I feel like it’s educated me to always be aware of my surroundings and to protect myself. I admit I am definitely distrustful of meeting strangers from the internet. I don’t trust many people, but with the way the world is operating you can never be too careful. If you’re into crime shows like I am, here are a few that you watch on the ID Network channel or app:
Your Worst Nightmare
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This show features everything from home invasions to being murdered by someone that you trust. My favorite episode is from the third season, titled “Primal Instinct”. It’s about a couple whose home is broken into during the day by a stranger. Later that same night, he returns with the intent to do deadly harm. Awakened by their dog, they are alerted to the presence of their intruder. With their child and the wife’s mother in the house, they have no choice but to defend themselves. The wife ends up killing the guy, and the family lived to tell the story. Your Worst Nightmare airs every Saturday night at 9 PM.
Forbidden: Dying for Love
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This one is all about love. Some of these are really heartbreaking, because it’s crazy the things people will do because they don’t approve of someone’s love life. There’s things from family crimes to crimes committed by significant others. A standout episode of this one is called “The Shame of the Father”. When I mentioned heartbreak before, I was talking about this one. Two teenage girls are murdered by their father because they want to be normal girls and date. Though it was against their father’s rules, they went behind his back and pursued romantic relationships. Yes, it’s tragic that they were killed by their father, but the worst part, to me, is that their mother transported them to where they were killed. My heart hurt so much after watching that one. Their father, to this day, has never been found to pay for what he did to those girls. How sad is that? At this time, there isn’t a date for the new season, but I for one cannot wait until it airs again!
Home Alone
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I just found this one towards the tail end of last year, and I’ve seen every episode on the app. There was only six, but I’m obsessed, and I hope there’s going to be a season 2. This one is scary, because it usually involves someone’s home being broken into, and it’s not always a situation where they get out alive. For instance, the very first episode, “Portrait of A Stalker”, involves a 17-year-old girl with a crazed ex-boyfriend. He catches her alone when her parents are out one night, and it’s a nightmare for everyone. She does manage to call her stepfather and the cops, but with her and her ex locked in, holding a shotgun, locked in her bedroom, there is only so much that can be done. While her mom and stepfather stand outside helplessly with the police, she’s allowed to call her mother. After the call ends, she’s shot in the chest with the shotgun and pronounced dead on the scene. I cannot imagine what that must have felt like for her parents because watching it, I was overcome with so much grief…
Deadly Women
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Deadly Women has been around since 2005, and it’s still going strong! This one features female murderers. Their crimes range from significant others, to friends, or to their kids. Many of the women on this show are heartless, and the ones about the kids are almost unbearable to watch, but this show is a guilty pleasure of mine. One of the episodes that’s still fresh in my mind, though I saw it years ago, is about a mother who killed her children, because she thought that it would make her lover stay. Don’t you just hate people like that? She had 3 children. She shot the oldest one in the back of the head while he was watching tv first, because she knew that he’d try and defend his brothers. Afterwards, she went into their bedroom and shot the other two like it was nothing, leaving her nephew on the top bunk unharmed. I often think about this one because we think of mothers, they’re often a protector but her case she was the villain that those boys needed protection against.
These shows are the ones that I watch the most because there’s just something about the way the stories are told that captivates me. Honestly, I could never understand why people kill other people but looking at these shows you get a sense of just how crazy people in this world truly are. My mom watched crime television, not to annoy me, contrary to my beliefs at the time, but because it’s intriguing to see what people will do when things aren’t going their way. It makes you wonder about everyone you meet because you never know what one person is capable of.