CBS is near a series order for an unscripted true-crime anthology series, with the first season set to focus on the JonBenét Ramsey murder case, Variety has learned.
The series, produced by Tom Forman (“48 Hours”) and Critical Content, could be broadcast as early as fall 2016 — ahead of the 20th anniversary of Ramsey’s death. The series will reunite the case’s original investigators along with new experts to study the case, which dominated tabloid headlines for years.
Ramsey, a 6-year-old frequent beauty pageant contestant, was found dead in her family’s home in Boulder, Colo., in 1996. Her parents and older brother were originally linked to her murder, but were later exonerated. The case was reopened, however, in 2009 and is still unsolved.
True crime has become an emerging programming trend following the success of HBO’s “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” Netflix’s “Making a Murderer” and FX’s “The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.” NBC revealed on Wednesday that it is developing a scripted event series about the Menendez brothers case with “Law & Order” creator Dick Wolf.
