Cruise Ship Killers

My wife and I love this show because it's so terrible.

As others have said, it's questionable whether many of the stories are actually true, though a couple of them did turn up internet hits. But that's the least bad thing about it.

From the actors pretending to be real friends or relatives (with no indication that they're being portrayed by actors other than the terrible acting), to the fact that *everything* except the talking heads is shown in slow motion, to the experts talking in such generic terms that it's clear they're not even talking about the case of the week, to the voiceover scripts that sounds like they've been written by someone who's never spoken English before**... it's all just weird. (And that's disregarding the fact that half the cases don't even seem to involve a killer at all... they're just disappearances that may or may not have involved foul play.)

We can't take our eyes off it!

** Most recent example: today a passenger was found "drowned to death". In an earlier episode, there was a piece of crucial evidence that "cracked the case wide open". Which was it, did it crack the case or blow it wide open?!

I thought it would be intriguing to hear about such stories but the droning narration with zero emotion and the ridiculous plausibility attributed to the suspects is a test in patience. Along with the slow pace and redundancy of description, I can't say this is a well-done series. However, it's very eye-opening. It makes me realize that cruise ships are ripe with people who are criminals and con artists looking for their next prey, almost protected by the fact that Maritime law &/or being in another country can make any crime hard to bring to justice.

These shows are totally twisted from truth some I think are completely made up. I can only find less than 10 that are partly true:

Example:

Sadie is the story of Lynn Kaufman who was murdered in 1959 by her lover who worked on the ship. He was a radio operator and the show says he was a chef. He was eventually acquitted even though he had confessed. I like how they interview her friend on the show and she seems to be a woman in her 20s. This woman would not have even been born at the time this murder occurred.

When Googling these episodes to find out more details, no information is available. Makes me think this is all just made up and question anything I see on the True Crime Network.

This is a low-budge crime show where they find an old story and revive it using bad actors, slow motion and replaying scenes almost to the point you see it in your sleep. With a few exceptions, names, places and even the time period are changed to the point it's almost completely unrelated to the actual account. Maybe to avoid paying royalty or legal fees? Who really knows. Even much of the so-called friends and family interviewed are just actors (I've recognized some of these faces from other shows). As mentioned, the few exceptions (and the best episodes) are the ones that document the real people involved with their true names, times, locations, etc. (such as the Amy Lynn Bradley episode). A lot of these stories can be found on sites such as the Cruise Ship Deaths website.