TV Talk: ‘American Sports Story’ recounts Hernandez case; Cam Heyward on ‘Hot Ones’

PASADENA, Calif. – Producer Ryan Murphy understands one of the few truisms in current pop culture: Crime pays. Or at least true crime stories do because American viewers lap them up.

Next week Murphy embarks on a true crime story spree with his latest Netflix series, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” (Sept. 19), and two days earlier FX debuts the first two episodes of Murphy’s “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez” (10 p.m. Sept. 17, FX; next day on Hulu).

Based on The Boston Globe/Wondery podcast “Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.,” the 10-episode first installment in the new “American Sports Story” anthology franchise chronicles Hernandez’s rise to join the NFL’s New England Patriots, his early childhood trauma, the impact of CTE, his sexual identity and the murders he committed.

In an interview during FX’s portion of the Television Critics Association summer 2024 press tour, series writer/executive producer Stuart Zicherman said originally Hernandez’s story was going to premiere under the “American Crime Story” banner but since the “American Sports Story” anthology had already been announced, that decision was rethought.

“From the moment I read the Globe piece, it was so much about sport in America, but still got into all the big issues of culture in America,” Zicherman said. “I think that’s why the decision was made to make it the first ‘Sports Story,’ because it’s not just sports. It’s an event in the sports world which speaks to the larger social issues in America but relates to sport.”

Series consultant and Boston Globe writer/former Spotlight editor Patricia Wen said she and the other reporters who worked on the original Globe print series were available to Zicherman to answer questions, but they had no veto power over the TV series.

“All the reporters, including myself, recognize that when you’re going to create a dramatization of our work, even if they have a state police report and it talks about what was said, [the TV series writers still] have to create the dialog for it,” she said.

Wen said she’d seen the first five episodes and felt like “the Aaron Hernandez character projects all the complexity that I think we all saw when we were reporting it out.”

Zicherman said while much has been written about Hernandez, a dramatic series allows filmmakers to “fill in the blanks.”

“They speculated that Aaron Hernandez went to Indianapolis to meet with [New England Patriots coach Bill] Belichick and request a trade,” Zicherman said. “I’m just like, I want to be in that room where that happened. No one else could be. So I get to write that scene. Using all the information that we gain from what they were reporting, I know I can then write that scene, shoot that scene, and then for the first time, someone’s in the room where it happened. And that’s why you make a show like this.”

Wen said one of the reporting breakthroughs by the Globe team was gaining access to jailhouse tapes after Hernandez died by suicide in prison.

“Being able to get hundreds of hours of jail tapes was one of those things that really informed our reporting in terms of his vulnerability, things he would say very openly about, ‘I was surrounded by millions of dollars in fame, and I was miserable inside,’” Wen said. “It was like Aaron Hernandez speaking from the dead. And that was so powerful. We can try to integrate it (in our reporting) and then that’s why a TV series has the ability to project the soul and psyche of Aaron Hernandez in a way that we can’t in print.”

‘How to Die Alone’

Natasha Rothwell was the heart of season one of “The White Lotus” where she played spa manager Belinda (she’s returning to the role in season three) so she earned the opportunity to create and star in her own series, “How to Die Alone,” streaming Sept. 13 on Hulu.

As talented a performer as Rothwell is, this serialized comedy series is a mixed bag with a tone that veers wildly from broad comedy to heartbreaking drama in just about every episode. It’s an odd mix.

Rothwell stars as Mel, a JFK airport employee whose brush with death emboldens her to take risks even as she remains freaks out when her ex-boyfriend (Jocko Sims) invites Mel and her gay best friend (Conrad Ricamora) to the ex’s destination wedding in Hawaii.

Mel is a great friend. She’s smart, funny and has a great personality but her insecurities lead to bad choices that make “How to Die Alone” less fun an enjoyable than it could be.

Channel surfing

Steelers defensive tackle Cam Heyward appeared on streaming series “Hot Ones” last week discussing his favorite bits of Pittsburghese (“nebby” and “dahntahn” were both mentioned) while eating chicken wings with increasingly spicy hot sauces on them. … Pittsburgh native Joe Manganiello will host Netflix’s in-person “Geeked Week 2024 Live” from Atlanta, airing at 8 p.m. Sept. 19 on YouTube, Twitch and X. … Denzel Washington, executive producer of Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of August Wilson’s Pittsburgh-set-but-Atlanta-filmed “The Piano Lesson,” told Variety this week that the next Wilson play to be adapted will be Wilson’s Pittsburgh-set “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.” … Chloe Troast exits NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” after one season as the show adds three new performers, Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline. … The “76th Annual Emmy Awards” air at 8 p.m. Sunday on ABC and will be preceded by “On the Red Carpet: Live at the Emmys” (7 p.m. Sunday, ABC) and coverage on E!, 5-7 p.m. … On Sept. 23 streaming service BroadwayHD will debut a stage capture of the 2022 Off-Broadway musical “Between the Lines” based on the novel by Jodi Picoult and her daughter, Samantha van Leer, about an outsider in a new town trying to find her place in a new school. … Tuesday night’s debate between U.S. presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump drew 67.14 million viewers across multiple linear TV networks, a 31% increase in tune-in compared to the debate between Trump and President Joe Biden in June. Tuesday’s debate rated well in the swing state of Pennsylvania with the debate getting its highest ratings nationally in Pittsburgh where it drew a 44.2 rating. Philadelphia was No. 2 with a 43.4 rating.