TV shows we love: The Menendez Brothers

Do you watch a docudrama and spend half your time Googling to see how much of it was true? Perhaps with this in mind, a couple of weeks after Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story landed on Netflix, The Menendez Brothers followed.

The basis of the two is, of course, the infamous trial of the two brothers who admitted to killing their parents in a bouji and secure neighbourhood of California. Kitty and Jose were murdered at close range in the comfort of their den by the two brothers, who claimed they felt their lives had been put at risk by their parents’ behaviour.

If that is true is not clear from watching the docudrama or the documentary that followed. Just as it wasn’t for those following the initial trial live on TV (one of the first) or in the likes of the National Enquirer. It’s a bit harsh, but all the documentary – featuring Lyle and Erik speaking from prison in addition to interviews with the prosecution and jurors – brings to the party is the knowledge of what those involved looked like.

Erik’s defence lawyer Leslie Abramson – who has a starring role in the docudrama – declined to be interviewed for the documentary. She wrote in an email to producers, “I’d like to leave the past in the past.”

For a newcomer, the case is fascinating. How could the brothers initially think they could get away with killing their parents? They seem to have done so for about seven months. Inevitably, one of them could not take the mental strain. Having watched the docudrama and then the documentary, my thirst for knowledge on the case and possibly true crime is satisfied.

The latter show underscores the same points as the former, and it is clear how closely the docudrama followed the trial, or at least the parts of it the documentary brought back to light.

And while the public initially seemed to believe the brothers’ story, support seemed to be lost at the time of the second trial (the loss of which was blamed in the documentary on OJ Simpson being found innocent). History though seems to be coming a full circle with the public (and Kim Kardashian) renewing calls for the brothers to be released and the District Attorney’s Office of Los Angeles recommending this week the brothers be resentenced. This is down to the brothers’ lawyers filing new evidence that allows them a new court hearing. Will there be a season/part 2?