Murder Live!

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Murder Live!
Murder Live.jpg
DVD cover for film
Written by Peter Horton
Chris Bertolet
Directed by Roger Spottiswoode
Starring Marg Helgenberger
David Morse
Teri Garr
Peter Horton
Music by Gary Chang
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducersKaren Moore
Randy Sutter
CinematographyJeffrey Jur
Editor Dominique Fortin
Running time96 minutes
Original release
Release9 March 1997 (1997-03-09)

Murder Live! is an American made-for-television film that first aired on NBC on March 9, 1997. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode, the film stars Marg Helgenberger, David Morse and Peter Horton, who also co-write the film.

Contents

Plot

Pia Postman (Helgenberger) hosts a self-titled tabloid talk show, a program grieving father Frank McGrath (Morse) takes offense to after his daughter commits suicide as a direct result of being humiliated on the show. He then disguises himself as a member of the audience during a live episode of the show, and takes Postman hostage wearing a bomb jacket, threatening to kill himself, Postman, and the audience if the police intervene. [1]

Cast

Production

The film was inspired by the murder of Scott Amedure, a guest who was killed three days after he appeared on an episode of The Jenny Jones Show . [2]

Critical reception

Ray Richmond of Variety believed the film was "a roundly entertaining, smartly constructed piece of filmmaking", although he also claimed it was "over-the-top for its own good". [3] Tom Shales of The Washington Post criticized the film as "preachy and ponderous". [4] Howard Rosenberg of the Los Angeles Times claimed the film was just as exploitative as the tabloid talk shows it intended to criticize. [5] John J. O'Connor of The New York Times believed the film had a strong message against the tabloid talk show genre, and he praised Marg Helgenberger's leading performance. [6]

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References

  1. Scanner – A Weekly Guide to TV. page 4.{{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. Hevrdejs, Judy; Conklin, Mike (October 24, 1996). "TV Newsroom Post Brings Chicago Native Home". Chicago Tribune . Archived from the original on March 31, 2024. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  3. Richmond, Ray (March 5, 1997). "Murder Live!". Variety . Archived from the original on March 31, 2024. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  4. Shales, Tom (March 8, 1997). "'Murder': Killing Time". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on March 31, 2024. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  5. Rosenberg, Howard (March 8, 1997). "'Murder Live!' Takes on Tabloid Television Vices". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on March 31, 2024. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  6. O'Connor, John J. (March 7, 1997). "This Talk Show Guest Is Murder". The New York Times . Archived from the original on December 29, 2017. Retrieved March 31, 2024.