“Primetime”, produced by A24 films and directed by Lance Oppenheim, was released in theatres on Sept. 25, 2026. The film is inspired by Chris Hansen’s show “To Catch a Predator” (TCAP).
TCAP aired on Dateline NBC from Nov. 11, 2004 to Dec. 28, 2007. The show’s premise was simple, Hansen and his team would rent a house and have a decoy who pretended to be underage in an online chatroom. Eventually, the decoy would be contacted by a suspect directly, the suspect would proceed to have graphic sexual conversations with the decoy. These conversations culminated in the suspect trying to meet with someone who they think is underage, and when the suspect enters the house they’re instead greeted by Chris Hansen confronting them with their chat logs and ultimately turning them over to law enforcement.
Hansen himself saw the movie and referred to it as an “insult”. In response, he’s funding pre-film ads to push back against the movie’s depiction of him. The film paints Hansen in a much darker light, showing him as someone obsessed with ratings and money. It also depicts interactions between Hansen and his staff that Hansen says never took place. The film also shows interactions between Hansen and former NBC executive Jeff Zucker that are entirely fiction. Most importantly, neither Hansen nor any former TCAP crewmembers were consulted during production.
The most significant true event that the film depicts is the suicide of Bill Conradt. Conradt was a Dallas-Fort Worth district attorney who made contact with a decoy in November of 2006. Although he did not physically go to the house, he did have explicit conversations with the decoy. Police served him a search warrant with NBC camera crews following behind. As they made entry into his home, Conradt shot himself in the head. His sister proceeded to sue Dateline for $105 million but ultimately the two parties settled out of court for an unknown amount.
Bill Conradt’s death stopped the show from running. It also proposed some questions about the intent of TCAP as a whole. Namely that Hansen was making news as opposed to reporting it. The show often blended entertainment with journalism, sometimes featuring sensational editing and witty catchphrases like, “Why don’t you take a seat right over there?”. For many viewers, this pushed the show into the realm of entertainment as opposed to meaningful journalism.
What compounded this is that the Collin County judge who signed the search warrant was unaware of Dateline NBC’s involvement. Ultimately, none of the 23 suspects arrested during the sting operation were ever prosecuted.
Hansen has said that it’s up to the viewers how much of the ‘Primetime’ story they believe, but he maintains the position that Oppenheim’s depiction of him is complete fiction. Hansen has not yet filed an official legal suit, but he has stated in interviews with SirusXM that entertainment lawyers have said he has a good case.
