Truer Crime: “From Court TV to TikTok – The Menendez Effect”

Host: Celisia Stanton
Co-Producer: Olivia Heusingfeld
Date: October 27, 2025
Podcast: Truer Crime (Season 3, Post-Menendez Menendez Brothers Wrap-Up – Off the Record Conversation)

Episode Overview

This episode of Truer Crime serves as a reflective, behind-the-scenes “off the record” discussion between host Celisia Stanton and co-producer Olivia Heusingfeld following their comprehensive three-part series on the Menendez Brothers. The pair dig into why they returned to such a heavily covered case, how their approach evolved during production, what the Menendez case reveals about the media, true crime culture, and ourselves—and crucial recent legal updates. They also examine the ethics of true crime storytelling, what makes a story worth repeating, and how platforms like Court TV and TikTok have reshaped public engagement with crime stories.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Why Cover the Menendez Brothers—Again?

(04:01–09:44)

• Olivia: She and the show are “always wanting to tell stories that are both well known and stories that are undercovered … through this more human lens.” (04:50)
• Picking the Menendez Brothers wasn’t just about sensationalism, but to ask: “What does it say about our current moment that this case is kind of back in the limelight?” (05:44)
• Olivia references James Baldwin:

  “A society must assume it is stable, but the artist must know and let us know that there is nothing stable under heaven.” (06:25)

• Lycia: The true crime stories we return to repeatedly say as much about our culture as they do about the cases themselves: “Why are we telling these stories over and over, and what can we learn from that?” (07:22)

Key Quote

• Olivia:

  “Nothing is original in 2025, so it's kind of a hard thing to do. But … how can we make this new and fresh and different and, like, impactful for people?” (08:32)

2. How Truer Crime’s Approach Has Changed

(09:44–15:35)

• Format Shifting:
  • Season 3 saw Truer Crime move to multi-part, month-long case studies.
  • The Menendez series started as a planned two-parter but expanded mid-way to three episodes due to the complexity uncovered during trial research.
• Process Behind the Expansion:
  • Olivia highlights the importance of a “theme statement”—the mission of the episode anchored by central questions, not prescriptive answers.
  • The team’s approach: Build out the narrative to provoke thought, not dictate conclusions.

Key Insight

• Olivia:

  “I realized, like, I needed to take the opposite approach. I really needed to build this story around the archival first—find the pieces of audio from their testimonies that were really impactful, that needed to be shared, and then figure out how do I make my narration in between those pieces kind of flow together …” (16:52)

3. The Televised Trial & Media’s Role in Storytelling

(15:36–24:17)

• The Menendez trial was the first to be televised on Court TV—making an overwhelming amount of material publicly accessible and forever altering how such cases were covered.
• Olivia describes being “immediately overwhelmed” by the intense emotional testimony available in full on YouTube, compared to the condensed highlights in documentaries.
• The uniqueness of focusing an entire installment solely on courtroom proceedings, allowing the archival material to take the lead, was a narrative and ethical imperative.

Key Quote

• Olivia:

  “It can be so easily sensationalized and, like, really voyeuristic. And I just wanted to be a little bit careful about how we were talking about those really sensitive details.” (16:52)

4. From Court TV to TikTok – True Crime Then and Now

(21:43–28:42)

• Media fascination with true crime is not new, but the Menendez trial and other 90s cases turbocharged the genre via 24-hour news and televised trials.
• Olivia observes:

  “With the Menendez brothers and the 90s in general, it really introduced something new … which is the 24 hour news cycle and things like the Menendez trial being televised … Now any person can be involved in a case.” (21:43)

• This was a precursor to today’s environment, where TikTok and YouTube allow ordinary people to shape true crime stories, for better or worse.

5. Satire, Sensationalism, and Shifting Sensibilities

(25:49–32:12)

• They revisit an SNL parody of the Menendez trial, plus other satirical media (Kathy Griffin, comedians, etc.), and how such portrayals often “turned trauma into punchlines.”
• Lycia: “This SNL sketch has received renewed attention … the comments are actually full of people criticizing it … calling it deeply insensitive.” (28:07)
• Olivia: The collective insensitivity was the norm:

  “It was the cultural norm. … I cannot imagine anybody saying something like this today.” (29:42–30:06)

• Satire functioned as both an indictment of media spectacle and a cultural mechanism to deflect from disturbing facts, particularly the concept of young men being victims of abuse.

Memorable Segment

• Kathy Griffin’s stand-up routine (29:43–30:06)

  “Here's the deal. You stick a toothbrush up your 6 year old kid's ass, he gets to blow you away in the family room. That's the rule.”

• They reflect on how changed public standards are, yet caution against present-day smugness, noting the Johnny Depp–Amber Heard trial as a modern equivalent of public spectacle and meme-ification.

6. Are We Really Different Now? Echoes of the 90s in Today’s Viral Trials

(32:12–36:53)

• Lycia draws a direct line between old patterns and viral reactions to contemporary trials.
• Both hosts emphasize the danger of thinking ourselves above history:

  “We're not outside of these cycles. … anybody, any human can participate or fall into these type of patterns of exploitation, of misinformation, of, like, using humor to cope in a way that … ultimately is kind of selfish and disrespectful because you're trying to make yourself comfortable at the expense of someone else's pain.” (32:12–34:20)

• Olivia on the "echo chamber" effect:

  “What are they going to be saying about us in 20, 25, 20 years, 30 years from now about how we are talking about these situations, these cases, these people?” (34:20)

7. Where the Menendez Brothers’ Case Stands Now

(39:07–46:10)

• Recent Legal Updates:
  • May: Menendez brothers re-sentenced, made eligible for parole using time served.
  • August: Separate parole hearings—both denied parole (eligible to reapply in three years).
  • September: Judge ruled against their request for a new trial, rejecting two new pieces of evidence (Eric’s letter to cousin, Roy Rosello’s abuse allegations).
• The judge found evidence insufficient to outweigh what’s seen as “premeditation.”
• Their last hope is a pending clemency request before Governor Gavin Newsom.

Key Quote

• Lycia:

  “These stories don't end when the documentary that we're watching ends. They don't end when we're done researching them. … There’s other things that happen, and I think that cultural attention can be a little fickle.” (46:10)

8. True Crime’s Ethics & Audience: Lessons, Loops, & Intentionality

(46:10–50:43)

• Lycia notes how consuming true crime (and especially covering it deeply) can create echo chambers—shaping perceptions of clear-cut “justice” that don’t bear out in court.
• Olivia reminds listeners that families’ needs often diverge from state-driven outcomes (citing Darlie Routier’s case).
• Both emphasize the responsibility to close informational loops—not just to ride the wave of viral attention, but to follow stories after the media spotlight dims.

9. Listener Q&A: Will Truer Crime Return to Lesser-Known Cases?

(50:43–57:54)

• Olivia: Absolutely, yes. Next month’s case is likely unknown to most; future seasons will continue to alternate between high-profile and under-covered stories.
• She explains that covering big, infamous cases is a strategy: major cases attract listeners, which enables coverage of hidden stories. “To shift the genre though, you need reach. … In many ways, in diving into these infamous cases, it supports our ability to tell those undercovered cases.” (50:43–52:45)
• Olivia’s transparency: “Every case … we’re easily spending a hundred plus hours … And this isn’t my full time job, this isn’t Olivia’s full time job yet, hopefully, you know, in the future.” (53:45)
• Encourages listeners to share, subscribe, and keep asking questions.

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• Olivia (on James Baldwin):

  "A society must assume it is stable, but the artist must know and let us know that there is nothing stable under heaven." – (06:25)

• Lycia:

  "Is there something that we're missing? Is there something that hasn't been told yet?" – (07:22)

• Olivia (on media cycles past and present):

  "Now any person can be involved in a case. ... This case is kind of a blueprint for what we're seeing with our modern true crime culture." – (23:05)

• Lycia:

  “These stories don’t end when the documentary that we’re watching ends.” – (46:10)

• Olivia:

  “To shift the genre though, you need reach. … In many ways, in diving into these infamous cases, it supports our ability to tell those undercovered cases.” – (52:45)

Conclusion: Big Themes and Takeaways

• Media, then and now: The Menendez case marks a turning point in public crime consumption—bridging televised trials and today’s meme-fueled, viral true crime culture.
• Responsibility in storytelling: Media makers and audiences alike must question the lenses and biases through which stories are told and retold.
• Cultural blind spots: Present-day listeners should resist complacency—mockery, oversimplification, and misinformation remain pitfalls even with more “enlightened” cultural standards.
• Active engagement: Stay engaged after the headlines fade. Real lives persist beyond the scope of documentaries and trending hashtags.
• The Truer Crime mission: Blending well-known and obscure stories to foster a more nuanced, empathetic, and honest true crime discourse.

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