PAM HUPP IS a wife and mother of two, a neighbor, a "nice lady"...and a suspected murderer in mom jeans. Played by an unrecognizable Renée Zellweger in the six-part limited series The Thing About Pam, she's already been the subject of five Dateline NBC episodes and a hit podcast. The homicide in a small Midwestern town that unfolds is about as twisty as they come. The location: Troy, Missouri, the "sort of place that didn't make a fuss," notes wry narrator Keith Morrison of Dateline fame (see sidebar). But on December 27, 2011, "there'd be a fuss tonight." Pam's friend Betsy Faria (Katy Mixon) is killed, stabbed 55 times, the blame pinned on Betsy's husband, Russ (Glenn Fleshler). Something is off, though, and the trail leads back to Hupp. Eventually. Here's more on what makes Pam tick.
THE THING ABOUT...BECOMING A SERIES
“I binged [the podcast The Thing About Pam] on a road trip in one go," recalls Zellweger. "It's about a series of escalating absurdities that make you keep questioning how. How? How's that possible?"
The actress' enthusiasm to adapt Hupp's story for TV opened doors quickly. Says executive producer Chris McCumber: "When a two-time Oscar winner calls and says, I'm obsessed with this story, and I want to play Pam, and I want to produce, you say, 'Yes, yes, yes and yes.''
THE THING ABOUT...THE TITLE CHARACTER
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BLITZ FRIDAY, NOV. 22
It is clearly \"the worst of times\" in this stirring Dickensian nail-biter of a movie, set during WWII's early days, when the German Luftwaffe bombed London nightly for months.
INTERIOR CHINATOWN TUESDAY, NOV. 19
Willis Wu (Silicon Valley's Jimmy O. Yang) is stuck.
BEATLES '64 FRIDAY, NOV. 29
In February 1964, the Beatles made their first flight to an America still reeling from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
MUSIC BY JOHN WILLIAMS
\"There's no one else like John Williams,\" says Laurent Bouzereau, director of this documentary.
Spellbound FRIDAY, NOV. 22
Three years after earning Oscar nods for Being the Ricardos, Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman are playing a much different celebrated couple with issues.
Our Little Secret WEDNESDAY, NOV. 27
The Lindsay Lohan (below) renaissance continues with this sassy anti-rom-com about a woman miserably stuck spending the holidays with her bitter ex (Pretty Little Liars' lan Harding) after they realize their new significant others are siblings.
The Merry Gentlemen WEDNESDAY, NOV. 20
If you've seen Chad Michael Murray in the closing number of Netflix's Mother of the Bride, you know he has the moves (and the abs) for his gig in this Magic Mike meets balls, er, boughs of holly.
BLACK DOVES THURSDAY, DEC. 5
Oh, bullet hole-y night!
Emilia Pérez WEDNESDAY, NOV. 13
A gritty crime drama about a Mexican cartel boss that's also a pulsating musical?
Our Oceans WEDNESDAY, NOV. 20
Nature docs always aim to top what has come before, and this five-parter delivers with glorious footage and facts that will make your jaw drop to the sea floor.
