Meet, Marry, Murder Hosted by Michelle Trachtenberg (2021– ) User Reviews

Blink twice if you're being held at gunpoint Michelle.

[JanWasHere · 6/10 · 29 December 2021]

As far as true crime goes, this is pretty middling, but what makes it incredibly strange is the host herself.

Michelle Trachtenberg's performance is incredibly distracting, the way she reads her lines is truly bizarre. She seems a bit spaced out, her facial expressions and body language are odd, and she appears to be struggling to form basic sentences. The copy she has to read is also atrociously written, for example "She then popped out two more kids" is a line spoken about a dead woman.

I'm not sure if Michelle is just uncomfortable, heavily medicated, or was directed to be like this, but its kind of more fascinating than the actual cases in the show.

I'm conflicted

[bardattack-06656 · 5/10 · 6 November 2021]

The stories are interesting and well documented; however, I'm not sure which is worse 1) Michelle's narration as if she were given a valium or 2) the cringe writing that Michelle reads off the teleprompter. Off the top of my head A) They moved next to a lake, which I find fishy B) In the end, it was all about the Benjamins C) The investigator didn't think that was Kosher. I started my score with 10 because I love crime documentaries, but - 5 for Michelle's strange demeanor and the bad writing. They would do well if their narration followed in the footsteps of Forensic Files.

The Buffy Money Ran Out

[jtb44 · 5/10 · 7 November 2021]

As true crime goes it's fine, interesting enough to watch if there's nothing else on. But the host? Oh dear. What were they thinking? What was she thinking?

Strange and stilted

[mrscumbag · 3 November 2021]

I'm a fan of Michelle Trachtenberg, and of true crime which is why I had this on my watchlist.

That's why it sucks that the show is a total letdown. Trachtenberg, while being a good actress, is so thoroughly out of her element here. Her cadence is bizarre and it seems as though she's having trouble reading her lines fluidly or in a way that sounds natural. If the show manages to get a renewal for a second season, I hope she can improve.

It's also weird that the narrator of a crime documentary series refers to herself in the first person and states personal opinions (even though they're obviously pre-written) regularly. It's also strange to show the host. It's just completely unnecessary and feels crass that they are leaning into a celebrity personality so hard. It all just feels so wrong and a tad disrespectful to the victims of these crimes.

The crimes themselves are interesting enough, I guess. But they aren't presented in an overly compelling way and often feel padded out and repetitive to fill the runtime. It seems very by-the-numbers, and there are plenty of other shows that not only present true crime better, but have presented some of the very same crimes featured in this show better, and without the stilted narration and repetition.

I really can't understand why this made it past the pilot/pitch, to be honest. If it didn't have the star power of Michelle Trachtenberg, it would have died immediately, of that I have no doubt.

Great True Crime Documentary Series

[againstallodds-31981 · 10/10 · 29 November 2021]

This show is one of the most interestingly detailed true crime documentary shows. The stories are ones I had not seen or heard before as I watch quite a bit of true crime so that kept me watching. You hear from people very close to the story so you are very emotionally pulled in and get a large amount of detail to what led up to the sad event. The host is rough around the edges hosting wise. She just sometimes has oddly placed inflection in her narration and makes facial expressions that just add to the oddity of her role as a host, but that does not take away from the quality work of the show at all. The show as a whole is a great true crime documentary series.

Could be better

[elliemayes-91607 · 1/10 · 1 November 2021]

The stories are interesting. But having to watch the host is painful. It's like she's trying to be Joe Kenda and failing. The way she executes the lines are like she's reading off que cards for the first take. Like, the card cuts off and she picks it up on the next card but starts a new expression. It's awful. And it's like she is trying REALLY hard in a very bad audition.

Great Show! Michelle needs to get it together tho.

[Novacain2006 · 8/10 · 24 October 2021]

While I love shows like this one and have most of them on my queue this one has grabbed my attention for several reasons. The layout is a bit more fun, the approach to material that has already appeared on every other true crime show is a little more fresh and Michelle Trachtenburg, who I've loved since Harriet the Spy and then her time on Buffy as Dawn. Unfortunately that's where my admiration for MT has recently stopped. It's painfully obvious that she's got either a substance abuse issue or alcoholism has stepped in. Watching her desperately trying to get through each narrative is painful. The slurred speech, glazed over eyes and constant straining to read one sentence clearly just hurts to observe. She looks painfully thin and just moments from collapse. I love her work and hope she gets this all worked out before it's too late.

It's redundant, It's It's redundant and Fake.

[johnanthonymazzei · 3/10 · 24 October 2021]

I agree with a lot of what: These two reviewers had to say.

Cdeanroane 17 October 2021 Elvira meets true life crime!

Novacain2006 24 October 2021 Great Show! Michelle needs to get it together tho.

What I find fault with is that the show is passing as a documentary when it is actually a reality show. And a scripted one at that. The details don't match and the story line is repeated at least twice. Is this done give the host something to say or to stretch out the length of the show ?

Interesting ... KindOf

[imhotep-09313 · 8/10 · 20 February 2022]

The Show itself, is VERY Good, However, the Host Michelle Trachtenberg is annoying, other Reviewers State she is a Young Elvira ... not even Close, her Humor is Lacking, at Times She tries to be Mysterious, which FAILS, each & every time & the Repeating of "I'm Michelle Trachtenberg..." etc, gets Old Fast!!! Other than the Host, a Good Show to Binge Watch Overall ... Hope there's more Episodes & Less of the Host, coming Soon. Regards..

Extremely repetitive

[angelolerni · 1/10 · 28 May 2022]

Extremely repetitive from the experts who are clearly force to over dramatise what they say over and over becoming very uninteresting. Showing only 3-4 footage over and over for all epidode. Extremely badly made!!

Elvira meets true life crime!

[cdeanroane · 9/10 · 17 October 2021]

Interesting new show and somewhat different then most true life crime shows. Michelle Trachtenberg who host this show in many ways is like Elvira Mistress of the Dark, Michelle, commentary on the case being viewed is very much same as Elvira's remarks during the movie she is doing, Both women are very Goth in the manner of dress and make up! While all the cases that Michelle does in season 1 are ones I have already seen on other true life crime shows. That said Michelle color commentary is unique to this show.

Dreadful

[luluflannery · 1/10 · 27 June 2022]

The real life stories might make good telling, but that doesn't happen here.

The stories seem disjointed, and poorly told.

They play music rather loudly over the narration, in a most irritating manner.

I was really hoping to like this series but it reminded me of something made by inexperienced high school students. After a few episodes, I just couldn't make myself watch any more.

So badly put together.

Well paced and intriguing

[samwll · 10/10 · 8 July 2023]

I love Michelle Trachtenberg but my only thought it sometimes she rushes the narration and doesn't seem 100% into what she is reading, but I love how detailed and put together the show is for a low budget show. I would like to see this show continue but maybe with a different narrator. Did enjoy binge watching this though and the stories they made episodes on. Still love Michelle, just think maybe something else is for her in terms of hosting. Otherwise I enjoyed the performances and.the way they build up certain twists in some of the stories. This kind of show is different because it's not strangers, it's people in marriages that spiral downwards.

STOP.

[TokyoGyaru · 2/10 · 2 August 2022]

This modern true crime style of using sarcasm and gossipy, jokey conversational voiceover is TRASH! I'm not someone who's overly sensitive, but they act like they're not telling the story of someone who died, sometimes quite brutally. It's so disrespectful.

"As she popped out two more kids..." -- Michelle actually narrated that.

NO.

Comment

[suziecello-38917 · 10/10 · 8 August 2022]

I really love your show and everyone, eg. Criminologist, newscaster, etc. But Judo Ho needs to go. It's so obvious she is reading her lines off to the right. No one else on your show looks like they are reading their lines. I really do love your show!!

Unbalanced and puerile

[sc-77413 · 3/10 · 24 May 2022]

The episodes had a roughly equal number of male and female perpetrators. Far more women are killed by their male partners than vice versa. So they should have made the numbers proportional to real life, not implied they happened just as often as each other by the format.

Many of the "experts" clearly had no personal knowledge of the case, and either just stated the obvious, or used pop psychology interpretations.

And nobody ever said what happened to the (non-adult) children! Many of the couples had children under 18, so what happened to them after one parent was murdered and the other went to prison?

Please replace the host

[loredanablasenak · 8/10 · 7 October 2023]

I love this show. I watch and listen to true crime episodes all the time. I started binge watching this one and I'm appalled at the host. I barely know much about Michelle so I had to look her up. She stopped acting for a reason. The way she speaks, the faces she makes, and the way she tries to add the thrilling mystery by doing her one-liners at the beginning and end of the show is so painful to watch. I feel awful putting her down, but the panel of experts on the show tell the stories so much better than she does. I hope she finds a new hobby. She's a beautiful girl and she'll figure out her true talent soon enough. She should stick to writing true crime screenplays.

You'll find better on Youtube...

[ayearinthelife · 2/10 · 13 November 2022]

As a forensic scientist I have always found myself drawn to true-crime stories and the investigation around them. Most are done ok, some are done quite well and others are woeful.

This unfortunately, is the latter.

It's like one of those 'clickbait' links that say 'you'll never believe what they found under their floorboards' only to find that you've clicked next 40 times, still have no idea what they found under the floorboards but have had the same generic information told to you in a dozen different ways already.

The same information is repeated again and again and again, often by the same speaker. The experts make claims that, as an expert witness myself, I can tell you would not hold water in a British court. They constantly tell us what the person was thinking, how they felt etc etc.

In multiple episodes they play footage from interviews, but the same clip appears in various contexts. The narrator says something to the effect of "The police pried for more information as to what had happened the night before" and a clip where the suspect states her husband tripped and fell over is played.

"The abuse was historic and they tried to understand an earlier incident when he'd fallen down the stairs" the same clip as above, except now its being framed as a historic incident. But only minutes before we were led to believe that it had actually occurred within 24 hours.

This is fairly constant throughout and as a result at the end of every episode you're still left with only 70% of a story and you try and fit things together as best you can..

Very poor given the budget available for these things. There are Youtube channels that do it better and have nowhere near the same amount of money to spend. Check out ThatChapter or Coffehouse Crime for better.