Based on a True Story | |
---|---|
Genre | Comedy thriller |
Created by | Craig Rosenberg |
Written by | Craig Rosenberg |
Starring | |
Music by | Sherri Chung |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 8 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Producers |
|
Cinematography |
|
Editors |
|
Running time | 25–55 minutes [1] |
Production companies |
|
Original release | |
Network | Peacock |
Release | June 8, 2023 |
Based on a True Story is an American comedy thriller television series created by Craig Rosenberg, starring Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina. The series premiered on Peacock on June 8, 2023. [2] [3] In October 2023, the series was renewed for a second season. [4]
No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | "The Great American Art Form" | Alex Buono | Craig Rosenberg | June 8, 2023 | |
Ava and Nathan Bartlett are a Los Angeles couple expecting their first child in the midst of financial struggles and a failing marriage. They hire a charming plumber, Matt Pierce, to install their new toilet and Nathan quickly befriends him. While at a bar with Matt one night, Nathan shares a flirty interaction with a bartender, Chloe Lake, who is later brutally murdered in her apartment. The media reports Chloe as the latest victim of the "Westside Ripper", a local serial killer targeting young women. When the police find the same shoe covers as Matt's at the crime scene, Ava, an avid true-crime follower, deduces that Matt is the Westside Ripper. She also noticed scratches on Matt's arms and connects him to the unsolved murder of a young woman in his apartment building in Pomona two years earlier. Instead of contacting the police, Ava proposes to Nathan that they start their own podcast so they can interview Matt. Despite initially declining, Nathan confronts Matt on a secluded beach and accuses him of being the Westside Ripper while Ava watches them from afar. | |||||
2 | "BDE" | Anu Valia | Craig Rosenberg | June 8, 2023 | |
A flashback reveals that Matt killed Chloe after following her for some time. In the present, Nathan offers Matt the opportunity to join his podcast in exchange for his silence, but Matt scoffs at Nathan's accusation. At the Beverly Club, LAPD detectives Quincy Burrell and Jessie Peterson question Nathan about his connection to Chloe and Matt. Nathan claims he vaguely remembers Chloe while admitting that Matt is his friend. Unnerved, Nathan insists to Ava that they hand Matt over to the police. The following day, Nathan discusses his proposal with Matt, denying Ava's involvement in order to protect her. To support his accusation, Nathan cites Matt's bloodstained shoe covers, his scratches, and the murdered Pomona woman. After Matt agrees to participate in the podcast, Ava and Nathan choose an empty warehouse as their recording location. Instead of meeting Nathan at the warehouse, Matt surprises Ava at the couple's house. | |||||
3 | "Who's Next" | Anu Valia | Craig Rosenberg | June 8, 2023 | |
Matt pretends to fix the plumbing and reveals to Ava that he knows she is the one who figured out that he is the serial killer. He brings Ava to the warehouse with him and demands a location change. The trio records the podcast and Matt names it 'Based on a True Story', getting his will in many decisions. | |||||
4 | "The Survivor" | Jennifer Arnold | Craig Rosenberg | June 8, 2023 | |
Matt and the Bartletts go to CrimeCon, a true-crime convention in Las Vegas to try and promote their podcast. The Lipsinki Sisters (a competing true-crime podcast) have a live speaker Dahlia Stone, who supposedly was attacked by Matt but survived and has started a charity. During the panel, she retells her story of how she survived the Westside Ripper (which is very embarrassing to Matt). Matt dismisses all of Dahlia's claims about how she survived, calling her a liar, and later confronts Dahlia on the rooftop balcony of their hotel. Matt also sees a merchandise booth for The Zodiac Killer and gets the idea of developing merchandise for "Based on a True Story". Meanwhile, Nathan and Ava go around to all the booths and then run into Ruby and Carlos at the convention. They later get dinner at the bar in the fancy hotel, only to then they see Dahlia jump from the rooftop balcony and fall all the way down to her death, impaling herself on the umbrella of their table. | |||||
5 | "Ted Bundy Bottle Opener" | Jennifer Arnold | Craig Rosenberg | June 8, 2023 | |
Immediately following Dahlia's suicide, Ava suspects Matt pushed her off the balcony while Matt denies any involvement in her death. Ava wants to leave the convention and return to her normal life in L.A and confess everything to the police, but Nathan is convinced that they cannot just throw this all away and they are in too deep to turn back having already lied to police about their involvement with Matt. At CrimeCon, Matt begins selling Westside Ripper 'merch' and runs into a TV writer named Susie who explains her interest in the Westside Ripper. That night, they are all dancing on the dance-floor high off ecstasy Ruby smuggled in and Matt follows Susie to the bathroom and they talk some more about a need for more "fresh content". Matt fantasizes making out with Susie before slitting her throat with a shard of glass and then going on a killing spree of everyone else on the dance floor. The Bartletts reignite their love for each other in their room. The next morning, the Lipsinki Sisters are hosting a memorial service for Dahlia Stone, which is interrupted by Matt hosting his own event in the next room where guests have a chance to "meet the real Westside Ripper" and he confesses (through a voice-changer in a remote location) to pushing Dahlia off the roof, claiming Dahlia's survival story is fabricated and that her charity is only for her personal gain. Ava tries to confront Matt about this, but gets stuck in the massive crowd of people and drops her burner phone on the floor. Ruby later picks up the phone and reads the messages about Ava accusing Matt of killing Dahlia. | |||||
6 | "Love You, Buzzfeed" | Francesca Gregorini | Craig Rosenberg | June 8, 2023 | |
Based on a True Story sees a massive boost in subscribers after Matt's stunt at CrimeCon and the podcast is now an American sensation. The Bartletts are expecting a massive payout from this and go visit Simon and Ruby at a dinner-auction at their huge Hollywood mansion. Matt shows up to the party as well with Michelle as his date. Matt's ego is also boosted by his popularity in the podcast and he wants to commit more murders to produce more "fresh-content" for the podcast. Ruby pulls Ava aside and shows her the burner phone she left behind at CrimeCon and states she suspects Matt is the Westside Ripper (she earlier called Matt on the burner and saw him pick up on his own burner, thus confirming her theory) and later blackmails the Bartletts to cut her in to their scheme (she got Matt to drink from a wine-glass, which now has his DNA) or she will go to the police. Ava denies the allegations, saying Matt is actually a family friend and is only pretending to be the Westside Ripper for the podcast because they are broke and this was a good way to make some money. Nathan wants to reclaim his dog "McEnroe" (whom they gave to Simon because their backyard is too small and who has since been renamed "Duke") since the money from the podcast will allow them to get a bigger house, so Nathan tries to buy the dog back. Simon and Ruby get into a fight in front of everyone after he paid off her lover Carlos (whom she invited) to leave her. Simon then uses a gun to kill McEnroe when his barking annoys them all, then returns to the audience with the gun in his hands and brandishes it at Nathan. Matt defuses the situation, but after that gets a message that their podcast has been deleted from Spotify. | |||||
7 | "National Geographic" | Francesca Gregorini | Craig Rosenberg | June 8, 2023 | |
Jessica Alba tweets a scathing indictment of the podcast "Based on a True Story" where she calls out the moral depravity of the interviewers and the Ripper. This sets off a chain reaction where "Based on a True Story" is removed of all streaming platforms, each company citing the podcast's promotion and glorification of violence against others. It was all for nothing. Nathan suggests they create their own platform to host their podcast and charge a monthly subscription fee. Matt additionally suggests a tiered subscription setup with "premium service" at the top (this service being "fresh exclusive content" which is code for "more murders"). Nathan and Ava have a fight over McEnroe wherein Nathan blames Ava for not letting him get the dog out. Matt and Nathan go to a bar and play darts, during which Matt discusses "making things right" and not to mull on his guilt for McEnroe. He tries to convince Nathan to let him kill again to keep the podcast alive, but Nathan then punches Matt in the face and strangles him to the ground. When he gets home Ruby shows up and tries to take advantage of Nathan's underlying lust for her, which works and he tells Ava to include Ruby in their podcast. Ava refuses and Nathan to tries to make amends with her by buying the beach-house in Malibu that they've always wanted, but Ava isn't as pleased as Nathan had hoped and they continue arguing. As they argue, they hear a knock at the door. When they open it, they find Ruby's dead body on the welcome mat with a blue dart in her neck. | |||||
8 | "The Universe" | Alex Buono | Craig Rosenberg | June 8, 2023 | |
The Bartletts have to dispose of Ruby's body, so they go to Matt for help. Matt decides to leave it up to them, as a challenge. Nathan suggests disposing it in the sinkhole at the tennis club. Upon going through her phone, they find that she had gone to the police already and was planning on turning the Bartletts in to them. They go to the tennis club at night to dump the body in the sinkhole. Another fantasy occurs where they notice the dart in Ruby's neck is missing when Ruby comes back to life and murders the Bartletts with the dart and the shovel they were using and buries them in the pit under the tennis court. Matt meets with a few other serial killers on Zoom to discuss further expanding the podcast "Based on a True Story" to include spinoffs about other killers. The season ends with Simon showing up at their beach house while the Bartlett's are cleaning up Ruby's blood while Matt and Ava's sister Tory are having an affair. |
In April 2022, it was announced that Peacock had given a straight-to-series order to a comedy thriller series created by Craig Rosenberg and Jason Bateman. [2] In August, it was announced that Kaley Cuoco had joined the main cast as a realtor, Ava Bartlett. [3] In October, it was announced that Chris Messina had been cast as Nathan, the husband of Ava, [5] with additional casting including Tom Bateman, Liana Liberato, Priscilla Quintana, Natalia Dyer, and Li Jun Li announced the following month. [6] [7] In October 2023, Peacock renewed the series for a second season. [4] In March 2024, Rosenberg had been replaced by Annie Weisman as showrunner for the second season as he still remains as an executive producer, but wanted to pursue other projects. [8]
The series will be executive produced by Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan through Aggregate Films, and Craig Rosenberg. Roxie Rodriguez will serves as co-executive producer for Aggregate Films. [2] Production companies for the series include Aggregate Films and Universal Content Productions. [2]
All eight episodes were released to stream on Peacock on June 8, 2023. [9]
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 74% based on 42 critic reviews, with an average rating of 6.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "True crime enthusiasts have been satirized more sharply, but engaging leads and a lightly humorous touch make Based on a True Story worth investigating." [10] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 60 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [11]
Amanda Walsh is a Canadian actress, writer, and former VJ for the Canadian television station MuchMusic.
Kaley Christine Cuoco is an American actress. She is known for starring as Penny on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019) and as the title character in the HBO Max comedic thriller The Flight Attendant (2020–2022). The latter earned her nominations for Primetime Emmy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.
Thomas J. Pelphrey is an American actor. He is known for playing the roles of Jonathan Randall on the CBS television series Guiding Light, Mick Dante on the CBS television series As the World Turns, Kurt Bunker on the Cinemax television series Banshee, Ward Meachum on the Netflix series Iron Fist, Ben Davis on the Netflix series Ozark, Perry Abbott on the Prime Video series Outer Range, Don Crowder on the Max limited series Love & Death, Joe Mankiewicz in David Fincher's film Mank, and Jason Derek Brown in the true crime film American Murderer.
Liana Daine Liberato is an American actress. She played the younger version of the female lead in the 2014 film The Best of Me and starred in the drama films The Last Sin Eater (2007) and Trust (2010), the thriller films Trespass (2011) and Erased (2012), and the horrors Haunt (2013) and The Beach House (2019). In 2017, she was part of the ensemble cast of the drama Novitiate and in 2018 she starred in the comedy Banana Split.
Universal Content Productions (UCP) is an American television production company operating within the Universal Studio Group division of NBCUniversal, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast.
Elizabeth Folan Gilpin is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Debbie "Liberty Belle" Eagan in the Netflix comedy series GLOW (2017–2019), for which she was nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She also starred as Dr. Carrie Roman in the Showtime comedy-drama series Nurse Jackie (2013–2015). In 2023, she starred in the lead role as a nun who battles A.I. in the Peacock science fiction series Mrs. Davis.
Yes, Norman Productions is an American film and television production company founded on October 27, 2017 by actress and producer Kaley Cuoco. It is known for producing the television series Harley Quinn (2019–present) and The Flight Attendant (2020–2022).
Paper Kite Productions is an American film and television production company founded by actress and producer Amy Poehler. It is known for producing the series The Mighty B!, Broad City,Difficult People, Making It, Russian Doll, and Duncanville.
The Flight Attendant is an American dark comedy drama mystery thriller television series developed by Steve Yockey based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Chris Bohjalian. It stars Kaley Cuoco in the title role and premiered on HBO Max on November 26, 2020. In December 2020, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on April 21, 2022. In January 2024, the series was canceled after two seasons.
Colin Todd Gerard Woodell is an American actor. He is known for playing Winston Scott on the Peacock miniseries The Continental (2023). He also played Buckley on the HBO Max series The Flight Attendant (2020) and Matias in the 2018 film Unfriended: Dark Web. Other television roles include Rick Betancourt on The Purge on USA Network and Aidan on The CWs The Originals, and Other film credits include Unsane, Searching, and The Call of the Wild.
Dr. Death is an American true crime drama anthology television series created by Patrick Macmanus, based on the podcast of the same name. It premiered on Peacock on July 15, 2021. In July 2022, the series was renewed for a second season that premiered on December 21, 2023.
Dig is an American thriller film directed by K. Asher Levin from a screenplay by Banipal and Benhur Ablakhad. The film stars Thomas Jane, his daughter Harlow Jane, Emile Hirsch and Liana Liberato.
Role Play is a 2024 action comedy film directed by Thomas Vincent, written by Seth Owen, produced by Andrew Rona and Kaley Cuoco. The film stars Cuoco, David Oyelowo, Rudi Dharmalingam, Connie Nielsen, and Bill Nighy.
Meet Cute is a 2022 American romantic comedy film directed by Alex Lehmann, starring Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson. It was digitally released on September 21, 2022, on Peacock, and received mixed reviews from critics.
Killing It is an American comedy television series starring Craig Robinson. The pilot episode premiered on Peacock on March 31, 2022, while the rest of the season premiered on April 14. In June 2022, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on August 17, 2023.
Bupkis is an American comedy drama television series created by and starring Pete Davidson. It premiered on Peacock on May 4, 2023.
Briana Justine Cuoco is an American actress, singer, and choreographer.