Paramount+Predators made its streaming debut on Paramount+ this week, delving into the cultural impact and ethical complexities of the NBC reality series To Catch a Predator, including the death of Bill Conradt. Warning: some may find this content distressing.
While there are many new true crime documentaries to watch this month, Predators should be top of the list. The feature-length film created by David Osit doesn’t simply rehash the Dateline show’s most sensational moments.
By speaking with former decoys, host Chris Hansen, and YouTubers attempting to continue To Catch a Predator’s shaky legacy, the documentary seeks to answer the question Hansen would always ask the offenders: “Help me understand.”
There might not be any clearcut resolutions, but it at least observes the implications of turning crime into entertainment in the wake of To Catch a Predator’s legacy.
Why was To Catch a Predator canceled?
Paramount+To Catch a Predator was ultimately canceled due to mounting legal and ethical controversies, the most significant being the suicide of prosecutor Louis “Bill” Conradt Jr. during a 2006 sting operation.
These issues led to the collapse of NBC’s partnership with Perverted-Justice, a vigilante group that investigated, identified, and publicized the conduct of adults who use online platforms to solicit sexual conversations and in-person meetings with minors.
Although To Catch a Predator’s last episode aired on December 28, 2007, the series was officially canceled in early 2008. In 2015, Chris Hansen told Time that the show ended because it had run its course.
But while it’s not been explicitly stated by the show’s creators, many link the death of Conradt as the breaking point, especially as the brand was facing mounting criticism for blurring the line between journalism and law enforcement.
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Conradt was a chief felony assistant district attorney for Rockwall County, Texas, when he was targeted in a joint sting run by Dateline NBC, Perverted-Justice, and local police in 2006.
He was one of more than two dozen men lured to a house in Murphy, Texas, by Dan Schrack, a decoy posing as a 13-year-old boy, who appears in Predators.
As is revealed in the true crime documentary, after Conradt exchanged messages and photos with the decoy, the Dateline crew waited at the sting house for him to arrive.
When he didn’t show up, the team broke the formula of the show and travelled to his house alongside law enforcement. As officers attempted to arrest him, Conradt fatally shot himself.
NBC aired the footage surrounding the raid, intensifying broader concerns already surrounding the series, and the network quietly ended the franchise after the Conradt episode.
The Bill Conradt lawsuit
NBCFollowing Conradt’s death, his sister, Patricia Conradt, filed a $105 million wrongful death lawsuit against NBC Universal, arguing that the network’s involvement directly contributed to the escalation that led to her brother’s suicide.
The suit alleged that Dateline producers pressured police to execute a dramatic, highly publicized raid and that the presence of TV cameras created an environment designed for entertainment.
“Having trespassed and invaded upon Bill’s property to broadcast a spectacle to millions, the defendant took no more steps toward protecting him than are received by a gladiator or bull,” it said (via the Guardian).
Paramount+It further claimed NBC acted with “reckless disregard” for Conradt’s rights, and accused a police officer at the scene of saying, “That’ll make good TV,” after Conradt shot himself.
NBC initially defended its actions, insisting the claims were “completely without merit.” A judge later dismissed some of the lawsuit’s claims, but stated that a jury “could find that NBC crossed the line from responsible journalism to irresponsible and reckless intrusion into law enforcement.”
In 2008, the network settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount, avoiding a trial. NBC spokeswoman, Jenny Tartikoff, said at the time (via the New York Times), “The matter has been amicably resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.”
What does Chris Hansen do now?
Paramount+Chris Hansen, who gives an interview in Predators, is currently the co-founder of the true crime streaming network TruBlu and the host and executive producer of his new investigative series, Takedown with Chris Hansen.
After To Catch a Predator was canceled, Hansen did not step away from the genre. In 2015, he launched a Kickstarter campaign to independently relaunch the series, raising more than $89,000 from supporters who wanted the stings to return.
He reportedly shopped the project to several broadcasters before partnering with Crime Watch Daily in 2016, where a spiritual successor titled Hansen vs. Predator became a recurring segment.
The series followed a similar format to the original Dateline investigations, complete with online decoys, hidden cameras, and on-site confrontations. It ran into its own controversies, with crowdfunders alleging they never received their rewards despite getting the project to target.
Paramount+Hansen continued producing predator-sting content online throughout the late 2010s, often collaborating with independent creators on YouTube. His most recent evolution of the format is Takedown with Chris Hansen, which premiered in 2022 and now airs exclusively on TruBlu.
In Predators, David Osit puts the following statement to Hansen: “Some people watching this may feel like you have something to answer for that this genre of TV you’ve helped make doesn’t deter criminals or get to the bottom of their crimes, it just helps us enjoy it.”
He points out that he’s not just coming at him, as documentaries can be seen in a similar way, before asking, “What do you say to that?”
Hansen responds, “I understand your point, and it’s a valid point. But you don’t know how many times someone has come up to me at a store, at a restaurant, on the street, and said to me, ‘Thank you for what you do. I was victimized by an adult as a child… and every time you confront a predator, it makes me feel better.”
Paramount+Osit then reveals that he is a survivor, and that it took him a long time to realize what he wanted from To Catch a Predator: to understand why predators do what they do. Even though the show never answered this question, Hansen stands by his legacy.
“I had no idea, getting into this, what it would become, the impact it would have,” he says. “And it sends a message that we will stand up for the survivor. And that is a big part of what we do in this particular series of investigations.”
Predators is streaming on Paramount+ now. For more true crime news, find out if Sean Combs: The Reckoning Season 2 is happening, the truth behind Kendra Licari’s motives, and where Susan Lorincz is now.