Robert Pattinson Addresses Chris Hansen’s Criticism Over Playing Him in ‘Primetime’
Content warning: This story discusses suicide.
Once upon a time, To Catch a Predator was must-see cringe TV.
Millions of people tuned in to watch a series of unwitting men arrive at a nondescript house in the suburbs for what they thought was going to be a sexual encounter with an underage boy or girl, only to find themselves confronted by host Chris Hansen and some stomach-turning chat logs.
“If you haven’t seen it,” Jimmy Kimmel quipped on his late night show in 2007, “it’s like Punk’d for pedophiles.”
But while the Dateline NBC segment became a much-parodied cultural touchstone, the ethics of the ruse that was central to the show’s popularity remain up for debate.
As recounted in the 2007 Esquire article “Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die”—which inspired the new film Primetime, starring Robert Pattinson as the telegenic Hansen—the ruse went disturbingly awry in November 2006, when Texas prosecutor Bill Conradt died by suicide as police showed up at his home to arrest him while the cameras were rolling.
In the film, Conradt’s death occurs as the show’s ostensible mission is being surpassed by the quest to produce compelling television—and beat ABC’s Lost in the ratings.
