THE controversy over Court TV’s “Confessions” ended yesterday with the show’s cancellation after just two weeks on the air.
The decision to yank “Confessions,” Court TV’s weekly showcase of real suspects confessing their crimes on videotape, came as a surprise, given the conviction with which Court TV had supported the half-hour show over the last several weeks.
Even before its premiere, the show emerged as a lightning rod in the ongoing debate over violent TV programming and the limits of so-called “reality” television.
Court TV Chairman Henry Schleiff had vigorously defended it in several high-profile forums, including CNN’s “Talkback Live” and the New York Times Op-Ed page.
But over the weekend, he made the decision to pull the plug, citing the sensitivities of crime victims families as the most compelling of several reasons to do away with the show.
“I think the press attention to some extent was dissipating and I think the complaints, the arguments, the debate back and forth was clearly dying down,” Schleiff said in a phone interview yesterday. “What was not dying down, though, was the feeling on the part of crime-victim family members who felt this brought back tough memories.”
“Confessions” was dogged by criticism ever since it was first announced late last month. Each show featured three videotaped confessions from notorious convicted criminals who described their crimes in graphic terms.
Those showcased on “Confessions” included Daniel Rakowitz, the Tompkins Square pot dealer who killed his Swedish girlfriend and cooked parts of her body.
The criticism became so heated before the show’s premiere Sept. 10 that Court TV agreed to air a half-hour live discussion show immediately following the debut episode.
But in the end, according to a prepared statement released by Court TV yesterday, Schleiff felt the controversy surrounding “Confessions” was reflecting negatively on the rest of Court TV’s program lineup.
“As a practical matter, I am concerned that the attention surrounding this once-a-week, half-hour show, representing 2 percent of the network’s prime-time schedule, might overshadow some of the other fine programming on our network,” Schleiff said in a prepared statement.
