Dark Minds

Great insight to unsolved murders in my hometown.. I would think the editors or producers would have caught such a simple mistake. There is a connection to our civic theater with these murders but yet the episode is called " The Phantom of the CIVIL Theater "

Let me get this one out straight away, M. William Phelps claims to be a "journalist". He's more like a cheesy reality star, with very little star quality. His corny presentations are perhaps only undercut by an even worse musical underscore - and that by an even cornier "inside serial killer" with the "codename" of 'Raven.'

It is completely un-watchable, lowest denominator, drivel-formed television programming. I don't even know how the good name of Discovery even agreed to attach itself with this terrible stuff. I'm used to American cheeseballing faux-reality TV (with poorly constructed stuff like "Cheaters" or "Lizard Lick Towing") - but this one tries so hard to pass off as a serious crime show that it ends up being toe-curlingly cringe-worthy.

Avoid it at all costs if you're a serious lover of crime documentaries. It will waste several hours of your life if you try to "give it a go" (as did I). 4 episodes (from a selection of seasons) and it never gets any better - if anything, it gets worse.

The only thing this might be good for is driving up the profits of your local liquor store as you'll find yourself needed a liter bottle of Jack Daniels to make it through... though at least the show does give you some good tips and choices on how you'd like to bump off Phelps and the rest of the production team for inflicting this upon society.

Phelps is great as the host of a show investigating unsolved crimes. He explores many different scenarios and suspects and sometimes he gets really close to very probable person of interest. You really need to watch this show with the fact these crimes are unsolved in mind. Many comments and reviews express discounted at the lack of a cookie cutter ending to the whodunit. The host is clearly very emotionally invested in solving these crimes and he has brought attention to cases that would probably be sitting in a cold case file untouched and forgotten about. 10 out of 10 if your a true crime buff this is a great addition to your collection.

True crime falls into two basic categories: the somber, detailed, respectful type that places its emphasis on the events and the victims - and the loud, percussive, sensationalist type that focuses on the presenter. Dark Minds falls hard into the latter pigeonhole. There are quite a few churned out programs featuring preening forensic types who love the camera more than the lab, but none of these people are as disrespectful or narcissistic as M. William Phelps, who chews up the scenery at every opportunity, whether on camera or in voice over.

This program is presented as if it's hard-boiled fiction, the cod suspense a terrible mask, as if there might be a chance the victims weren't really brutally murdered in real life. In the wake of recent masterpieces like The Jinx, Making a Murderer and the first two seasons of A Crime to Remember, Dark Minds serves as an example to potential film makers of what not to do when approaching such material.

Lighten. UP people!! Love Phelps, love the show! Different, intriguing, spooky and very interesting!