The Thing About Pam: Blumhouse's Six-Episode True-Crime Drama

As true crime moved beyond documentaries, NBC teamed with Blumhouse Television in 2022 to turn one of the strangest modern cases into a scripted limited series. The Thing About Pam chose not to play an out-and-out procedural; instead it leaned into the bizarre facts of the case and a darkly comic, almost Coen Brothers–style absurdity.

The show dramatizes the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria (Katy Mixon) in Troy, Missouri. Despite a strong alibi and little convincing evidence, her husband Russ Faria (Glenn Fleshler) was convicted amid a deeply flawed investigation. Renée Zellweger’s Pam Hupp, a friendly acquaintance who becomes increasingly entangled in the case, emerges as a central, suspicious figure as prosecutors uncover a web of lies.

Judy Greer plays prosecutor Leah Askey and Josh Duhamel plays defense attorney Joel Schwartz.

United States, Troy, Missouri

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