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
This story is from the FEB. 28–MARCH 13, 2022 edition of TV Guide Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the FEB. 28–MARCH 13, 2022 edition of TV Guide Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
THE MASKED SINGER
It’s no shock that the over-the-top competition featuring mystery celebrities in masks and elaborate costumes would go all out for Halloween.
The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial
FIRST SHOWN LIVE on TV as part of Ford Star Jubilee in 1955, then filmed by Robert Altman in 1988, Herman Wouk’s courtroom classic (adapted from his 1951 novel) is of special interest in its latest version as the final film directed by Oscar winner William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist).
Lessons in Chemistry
PART JULIA CHILD, part Marie Curie, with the movie-star glow of a Kim Novak, brilliant chemist Elizabeth Zott (the luminous Brie Larson) is ahead of her 1950s times.
POST-STRIKE UPDATE
THE JOKES FLEW fast and furious on Monday, October 2, from late-night hosts back at work after the 148-day writers’ strike had come to an end.
QUIZ MASTER! THE REAL AMY SCHNEIDER STORY
AFTER HER APPEARANCES in 40 Jeopardy! episodes, Tournament of Champions and Jeopardy! Masters, fans may think they know Amy Schneider.
FRASIER IS IN THE BUILDING!
Kelsey Grammer's famous psychiatrist moves back to Boston to hang out with a whole new TV family. (But there's still a bar!)
DAVID MCCALLUM
WHEN MARK HARMON first met David McCallum in 2003 while filming the backdoor pilot for NCIS (which aired on JAG), he gushed, “I can’t imagine I’m shaking the hand of Illya Kuryakin.”
Harry Wild
We're just wild about Harry...and so are viewers. They've turned this Dublin-set series-about a rambunctious retired literature professor (Jane Seymour) who solves mysteries-into a success, and its star couldn't be happier.
Bosch: Legacy
In Bosch: Legacy’s first season finale, private eye Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) was enjoying success after saving a mogul’s young heir from an assassin and solving a murder.
Upload
The sly sci-fi comedy about murdered tech bro Nathan Brown (Robbie Amell), whose consciousness was uploaded to a luxurious virtual-afterlife resort called Lakeview, is back after a year and a half for Season 3, and things are getting trickier than remembering your passwords!
