The Wild Texas Story Behind ‘To Catch A Predator’

If you were alive in the 2000s, there’s a very good chance you remember the cultural chokehold that To Catch a Predator had on television.

It was impossible to avoid.

The dramatic hidden camera setups. The nervous suspects walking into suburban kitchens. Chris Hansen casually stepping out with “Why don’t you have a seat?” like some kind of real-life jump scare.

Now, nearly 20 years later, Robert Pattinson is stepping into the role of Chris Hansen in the upcoming A24 movie Primetime- and the internet is already fascinated by the eerie transformation.

READ MORE: HBO Revisits a Notorious Texas Crime in New Docuseries

But while the movie is bringing back nostalgia for a very specific era of television, it’s also reopening the conversation around one of the darkest chapters tied to the show, and that story happened in Texas.

The Movie Appears To Explore The Cost Of Predator TV Fame

The first trailer for Primetime dropped this week, showing Pattinson fully transforming into Hansen during the peak years of To Catch a Predator. The film is directed by Lance Oppenheim and appears to focus not just on the success of the show, but the ethical chaos surrounding it.

You have to admit, the voice is spot on!

For a lot of millennials, the show exists in this weird cultural space where people remember the memes and catchphrases before they remember how controversial it became.

The Texas Story That Changed Everything

While To Catch a Predator became one of the biggest television phenomena of the 2000s, many people don’t realize the show’s downfall is closely tied to a tragic case out of Texas.

In 2006, authorities in Murphy, Texas worked with the show during a sting operation targeting men accused of attempting to meet minors. One of the suspects was assistant district attorney Bill Conradt.

Before Conradt ever appeared at the sting house featured on the show, police and a SWAT team arrived at his home with warrants connected to the investigation. Conradt died by suicide during the confrontation.

READ MORE: A Shocking Texas Murder is Now Streaming on Netflix 

The incident sparked massive criticism over the show’s tactics, the blurred line between journalism and entertainment, and the involvement of law enforcement in a television production. NBC later settled a lawsuit filed by Conradt’s family, and the controversy ultimately contributed to the show ending in 2007.

A Movie About A TV Obsession That Went Too Far

That’s what makes Primetime feel different from a typical nostalgia movie.

This doesn’t look like a fun “remember this?” throwback. It looks more like a reflection on the era of reality television that blurred entertainment, justice, tabloid culture, and public humiliation into one massive spectacle.

Which is very on-brand for A24.

Whether the movie ends up being great or deeply uncomfortable, one thing is clear: people are about to revisit an era of television that was a lot darker than many remember.