These shows certainly are interesting, even though the writers and narrator are extremely biased and make no attempt at hiding it. The sarcasm and wondering description of people and towns they like and don't like are fun to hear. That's the case even if we have to hear them absolutely fawn all over an extremely liberal place or totally trash some conservative area. That's the bias, and if you lean right instead of left, as they do, you just have to put up with to. One sentence in this show really demonstrates what I just wrote. In describing Athens, Ga., narrator Paul Winfield says "it is an oasis of liberalism in a desert of conservatism." Ah, what relief! All these "thinkers" among the "hard-line" nasty conservatives. Oh, this place is paradise to Winfield and his writers.
The trouble was even left-leading college "paradises" like Athens have some murderers among them. Here, one of them turns out to be a guy who just wants to make a go as a pizza-and-beer restaurant owner. He succeeds, thanks to extremely low beer prices, and the club owner nearby - the man with the most successful place - isn't happy. Hey, this new guy is taking away some of my customers! Through legal means, Harty gets custody of "The Station" and tosses the pizza guy out. The pizza dude then hires a hit - whoops, "allegedly" hires the hit man - and kills Harty, the owner of "T.K.'s - the most popular spot in this crowded-but-hip reconverted railroad station.
The story really gets fascinating when the man who allegedly set up the hit, skips the country and get this - when he comes back and is sentenced to prison - escapes and isn't found for another 10 years! He had been in Arizona with a new name, a new wife and a new family! All during the show, we get both accounts of John Mooney. The man can't stay still tells us as sincerely as possible, he is an innocent victim in all this. He looks and sounds believable, too. A more straight-laced-looking and meek-sounding guy you could never find. He's fascinating to listen to, but I didn't believe him for a minute....but I could see where others could. Meanwhile, we get the prosecutor's opinions, too, along with a friend or two of the victim.
Much of this program extols the glories of Athens, the birthplace and home for three decades of alternative rock music, the "ideal college town," according to City Confidential. Green-haired professors (the University of Georgia's town), tattooed college kids, bars and rock bands everywhere you look - it's Eden!! There are more clubs here per capita than anywhere else in the south. Half of the people interviewed had northern accents. Wow - what an ideal spot for elitist Hollywood writers. Not many rednecks down in this town; a town made famous by rock legends like the B-52s, REM and The Black Crows. It's the ideal mix of "bohemia and Dixieland," boasts Winfield.
Just don't get into a price-war over draft beer, and you may enjoy the town without being shot.