To Catch a Predator host Chris Hansen is taking a seat—and sharing his thoughts on Robert Pattinson’s new film, Primetime.
Released Sept. 25, the movie offers a dramatized version of the NBC hit, which featured Hansen confronting alleged child predators during controversial sting operations. The targets believed they were meeting an underage boy or girl.
Instead, they encountered Hansen and his television crew inside suburban homes, where police officers were waiting to move in and make arrests.
The series aired from 2004 to 2007 and came under intense scrutiny in November 2006 after one confrontation ended in a death. As police arrived to arrest Texas prosecutor Bill Conradt—with the television crew positioned outside his home—Conradt shot himself in the head.
The film follows Hansen’s mission to “make television history,” as its tagline declares. Hansen, however, has reservations about the fictionalized story. In an interview with USA Today, he said that although he has not watched the movie, he believes it does not “represent what the investigative series was then or continues to be today.”
Here’s what to know about the controversial series, Hansen’s response to the film and what the journalist is doing now:
What Was To Catch a Predator?
An offshoot of NBC’s Dateline, To Catch a Predator worked with local police departments and the online watchdog group Perverted Justice to organize its stings. According to Vanity Fair, the program used decoys posing as minors to persuade targets in online chats to arrange sexual meetings.
After the alleged predators entered homes equipped with hidden cameras to meet the decoy, Hansen would emerge and confront them—often with his now-famous invitation to “have a seat.”
The program became a ratings success, averaging slightly more than 7 million viewers, according to Forbes, while presenting itself as an effort to remove child predators from the streets.
“I think we raised awareness and created a dialogue that didn’t exist before,” Hansen told Time in 2015. “We created compelling television, and I think we exposed a lot of bad people who were preying on children.”
Even so, the series has faced significant criticism.
“This was a film set that you walk onto and it ends your life as you know it,” David Osit, director of Predators, a documentary about the show’s legacy, told Vanity Fair. “The actual television episodes are edited as a comedy, even though some of the material—like with a lot of reality television—is quite tragic and horrifying.”
What Happened to Bill Conradt During the To Catch a Predator Investigation?
That tension came into sharp focus on Nov. 5, 2006, when Conradt, an assistant district attorney for Rockwall County, died by suicide.
Conradt had allegedly exchanged messages with a decoy posing as a 13-year-old boy. The communications provided authorities with enough evidence to obtain an arrest warrant charging him with soliciting sex over the internet, according to reports from NBC News and The New York Times.
Conradt never traveled to the planned meeting with the boy, but Sgt. Snow Robertson said he had intended to do so, according to The New York Times.
Police instead went to Conradt’s home in Terrell, Texas, accompanied by the Dateline crew. When Conradt refused to answer the door, officers heard a gunshot and forced their way inside while the crew remained outside. Conradt was later pronounced dead at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, the outlet reported.
NBC News spokesperson Allison Gollust told The New York Times that the crew had been there to record the arrest but that no one from Dateline had contacted Conradt before the shooting. “There’s absolutely no evidence that would suggest that he was aware of us,” she said.
Conradt’s sister, Patricia Conradt, nonetheless told the city council that police had acted as “a judge, jury and executioner that was encouraged by an out-of control reality show.” She later filed a $105 million lawsuit against NBC.
The case was eventually settled for an undisclosed amount, attorney Bruce Baron told ABC News, adding that “the matter has been amicably resolved to the satisfaction of both parties.”
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Although the sting led to 24 other arrests, which were featured on To Catch a Predator in February 2007, the district attorney later decided not to prosecute any of the men, according to The Associated Press.
When Did To Catch a Predator End?
The series ended in December 2007. While some pointed to Conradt’s death as the impetus behind the cancelation, Hansen has disputed that contention, telling Time the series just hit the end of its run.
“At the end of the day,” he said, “we had proved our point.”
How Does Chris Hansen Feel About Primetime?
The series is once again being thrust into the spotlight in Primetime, in which Pattinson plays a dramatized version of Hansen intent on driving up ratings.
Hansen is not a part of the production and has yet to see the movie directed by Lance Oppenheim. He walked out of a screening in August at the A24 office after being asked to sign a nondisclosure agreement.
However, he told USA Today he does plan to see the movie in the theater alongside a camera crew so that he can capture audience reactions for his podcast, Have A Seat with Chris Hansen.
The journalist has publicly taken issue with the fact that the film uses his name and likeness, even though it has been fictionalized, calling it “a little exploitative” and akin to “identity theft.”
“It crosses the line when they use your name, image and likeness,” he told USA Today. “I have no problem with Robert Pattinson; he’s a very talented actor and he does a great job. He’s been very kind in his words toward me and I have been back toward him. It’s not his fault. He was hired to do a job and to pretend to be me.”
He added to The Hollywood Reporter, that he believed it to be a “complete work of fiction.”
“Based upon what I’ve seen in the trailer and my understanding of what has been written about the film, they wanted to create something much darker and way more dramatic,” he said. “I think it’s an insult to the thousands of men and women who work hard every day to protect children from predators. They turn something that is very positive, very challenging and not without risk into what is essentially a horror film.”
He added that To Catch a Predator was always “painstakingly transparent” about its methodology and refuted any claims that he was a power-hungry journalist.
Hansen hasn’t ruled out legal action.
“I’m not looking to create a prolonged legal battle. It’s a full-time job being Chris Hansen,” he told USA Today. “Lawyers who are more schooled in these issues than I am are watching it. I guess you can’t rule it out, but that’s really not where my head’s at.”
He did admit, however, that the movie could bring about some good by highlighting the work the series did over the years. He’s chosen to advertise his documentaries and projects with the streaming network TruBlu before the movie.
What is Chris Hansen Doing Now?
Nearly two decades after To Catch a Predator’s run, Hansen—a 10-time Emmy winner— remains in the true crime space and continues his work to bring down predators through his series Takedown on his streaming network TruBlu.
Hansen also has several documentaries in the works, including I’m Chris Hansen, and hosts the podcast Have a Seat With Chris Hansen.
He remains proud of his work and the legacy he’s left behind.
“Critics can say what they want, but I’m very comfortable with my work in the ‘Predator’ realm,” he told USA Today. “It’s a public forum. People are allowed to weigh in and say what they think.”
