Law&Crime Sidebar - What Netflix's 'The Watcher' Series Got Wrong and Left Out

Episode Date: November 1, 2022

Law&Crime Network's Jesse Weber and writer Laura Hanrahan discuss how accurate Netflix's The Watcher series is to the real life events that inspired the show.GUEST:Laura Hanrahan: www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Logan HarrisGuest Booking - Alyssa FisherSocial Media Management - Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieObjectionsThey Walk Among AmericaCoptales and CocktailsThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. I don't know many people with a dumb waiter, but I don't know anybody who'd be okay with some stranger breaking into the house and riding on it. That's what's wrong with the world these days. You know, the word neighbor just doesn't mean what it used to. Okay. Okay. The Watcher. It's another Netflix hit, but what did it get right and what did it get wrong about what actually happened in real life? Writer, Laura Hanrahan breaks it down. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Long Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Time to talk Netflix's The Watcher. Honestly, I think Sidebar should become like a Netflix review channel.

We've been talking so much about their series lately. We did Dahmer. Now we're doing this. Well, The Watcher is another hit show on the streaming service and it tells the story. of a family that moves into a house when they're sent these series of chilling and threatening letters by this unknown person. And it was actually inspired by a 2018 New York magazine article, which recounted the true life story of this. But the question is, did the watcher series get it right about true life events? What did it get right? What did it get wrong? Well, join me right now is Toronto-based freelance writer Laura Hanrahan, who wrote a great piece on this and Cosmopolitan entitled The Real Life Story Behind the Watcher is just as creepy as you think. Laura, welcome to Sidebar.

Thank you. Happy to be here. Well, I mean, I should first tell you I haven't watched the show. I deal with true crime stuff all day. I guess on my free time, I try not to watch so much of it. Can you just briefly, briefly summarize for us what this story is about and then we'll get into the similarities and differences between real life and the series? Yeah, absolutely.

So the series is about a family who buys a home in Westfield, New Jersey. And they very quickly realize that there is someone who is sending them letters that are not your friendly neighborhood letter that you would hope to get. They're threatening and there's a lot of twists and turns. You're not quite sure who's sending it. That's kind of what keeps you watching. It really does. I mean, I read about it. And now I'm kind of tempted to watch the whole thing.

Talking about how accurate it is. First, let's talk about the level of harassment. Are the letters the same that the family received? Were there more letters that were sent in the show? Were there certain things that were done by this unknown person that are fictionalized? Let's talk about the level of threats and harassment. Yeah, so the show definitely takes some creative liberties there. In real life, there were only ever four letters sent.

The biggest difference with the show is that the family moves into the house, which didn't happen in real life. So the letters themselves are definitely different as far as the harassment goes. In real life, there was never anyone trespassing into their house. There was never any pets that were harmed, as we see in the show. So it's definitely ramped up. As I say in my article, the real life story is plenty creepy when it comes to real life. The real life people didn't move into the house. They had bought it, but they hadn't moved in yet.

They were thinking about, I mean, why hadn't they moved in yet? And it's also my understanding that the names on the show are different than the real life people, right? That's right. Yeah, the real life couple that moved in did ask that their names be changed for the show. But in real life, they didn't move in because I think it was three days after they closed on in the house. The first letter arrived. The husband found it when he.

was there doing some renovation work on the house. And it specifically threatened their children. It talked about wanting to learn more about them, learn their names. When the second one letter arrived, it said that they were going to call to the kids. So as a parent, you obviously wouldn't want to put your kids in that situation. So understandably, they never actually moved into the house. And I'll get this out of the way because I know people who are probably wondering this. Did they ever find out who did it, right?

And I guess you tell me, I guess the similarities are we still don't know who did it in real life and we still don't know who did it in the show. Sorry if it's spoiled everybody. Spoilers. Spoilers. I should have probably put this before. Spoilers. They don't figure it out in the show either, right? Right. Yeah. You still don't know who did it. And that is the case in real life. There were some suspects that they went through. There is, at least in my opinion, there's one person who seems to be the most likely candidate. It was someone that when the police were sitting doing a stakeout, they found a woman sitting at her car outside the house for an uncomfortably long amount of time.

And this is in real life, right? In real life, right. Yeah, they traced her car, found out she was dating a man who lived on the block, and he just so happened to be into playing dark video games and like to play as a character called The Watcher. They tried to interview him twice, but he never showed up, and they didn't have enough evidence to bring him in. So that was that, and there's been no more progress on figuring out who it is.

Is there a character in the series that this watcher, gamer person? is based off of? Yeah, there is someone in the series called The Gamer. They make him a younger guy who, not to give him too much away, has a relationship with one of the children in the show. It's obviously not exactly the same as real life, but that's what he was inspired by. Hmm. All right.

Well, let's talk about the actual house. Does the house the same? I mean, did they take the actual house where this was really happened or did they create a whole new set and a whole new state or a new place? Yeah, it's a whole new place. I believe the house in the show is actually in New York, so not quite the same. It's also a bit bigger than it is in real life, which understandably, when you're trying to film a TV show, you want it to look a little nicer. It's definitely different than it was in real life.

There was not surprised, right? It's a little bit of a dramatization. Everything comes bigger and louder. What about the real life and the show's interpretation of the police involvement? You know, I understood that I think in real life they had contacted some sense of authorities or investigating. And in the show, there's one central figure, a private investigator named Theodora Birch. How similar is that to real life? So it's similar in the sense that, yes, they did contact a private investigator, but that's

kind of where the similarities end. In real life, who they hired, it was two ex-FBI agents that they hired. And what they found didn't really go all that far. The show, obviously, Theodora is a much more central character. You kind of get into her backstory and how that plays into her investigation. So again, a lot of creative liberties taken there. Yeah, and I kind of get that. I think there's a part of the show where there's a lot of drama to it, right?

There's scandal. There's accusations of racism. There's accusations of infidelity. I mean, the family dynamics, how similar is that? How involved were the children, the patriarch of the family who's played by Bobby Conavalli in the show? He's accused of wrongdoing at one point. Is all of that fake?

Mostly, yes. There were some people who thought the family was. involved. And so in that sense, there was a bit of scandal around them. But other than that, it is all fake. In the show, we see the issues of racism come up when the daughter posts a TikTok accusing the dad of racism that TikTok didn't exist in 2014. So obviously, that is fake. It was a better time. Yeah. They seem to be a family unit. So to this day, they took on everything as a team. In the show, there's issues of, are they going to get a divorce? Their marriage doesn't seem to be going well. That's obviously fictionalized. And the kids, I believe, didn't actually

know anything about the watcher while it was happening, whereas in the show that is different. It would have been different, right? It would have been a different kind of show if they didn't even move to the house. The children are not involved. There's not these kind of intense family dynamics. I was so curious about the other neighbors and the other players in this case, because in the show, this is almost like a haunted house in the sense that everybody who's moved in or moves in after the central family, they get harassed by the watcher. And there was even one character who, again, I think he kills his whole family as a result of what happened of him being in the house. Is all that fake, too? It is. Yes. And in the, in real life, there was only one other person who

ever got a letter. And it was the person who sold the house. And they got the letter immediately before the new family moved in. There's no evidence that anyone else ever had letters. There's no evidence that anyone that lived in the house was a murderer. I believe for the show, they actually based that character on John List. So that is, again, something that's a little different, but it adds to the drama of the show. So again, I think the character is John Graff in the series. Who's John List? Why did they do that? John List was a real-life murderer who killed his wife, mother, and children. He lived in, I believe, the same town also in Westfield, but not necessarily on that street or in that house.

So playing with creative liberties a little bit. Can you tell us what's going on with the house right now, if you know? As far as I know, they sold it in 2019, I believe, for $400,000 less than they paid for it five years before, which is very unusual, especially for a house where it's been five years. They renovated it. But no one shockingly wanted to buy it after all of this happened. The buyers remained anonymous, so no one, or publicly anyway, knows who they are. So that's kind of where it's his today. And no more watcher letters or anything like that.

No, as far as we know. I guess, you know, it makes me wonder. It kind of happened with the Dahmer show. As soon as Dahmer came out, then everybody was like trying to find his house and try to find his father. Maybe people are going to stay away with respect to this one. Laura, thank you so much for taking the time. I think this is like really interesting because especially when they take these true crime shows

and how true is it. But it's a fascinating read. You can read Laura's article at Cosmopolitan. called the real life story behind the watcher is just as creepy as you think. Laura Hanrahan, thank you so much. Thank you. And thanks so much, everybody, for joining us here on Sidebar. Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this long crime series, ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.