You Cant Make This Up

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “MH370: The Plane that Disappeared" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Louise Malkinson. Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 was supposed to be a routine trip: a redeye to Beijing, with 239 people on board. But shortly after takeoff, the jet vanished from radar screens for good. “MH370: The Plane that Disappeared” explores three of the most contentious theories about the plane’s disappearance. Did the pilot intentionally veer from his course, sailing over the Indian Ocean until he ran out of fuel? Did hijackers commandeer the aircraft as part of a Russian propaganda campaign? Or did the plane carry sensitive cargo that forced the US military to shoot it down? Journalists, family members, and ordinary people hope to answer the question: what happened to MH370, the plane that disappeared? SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “MH370: The Plane that Disappeared" yet, make sure to add it to your watc

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Full Swing" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews executive producer Paul Martin. Money! Fame! Legacy! All are constantly on the line for the professional golfers on the PGA tour. But navigating the personal and professional hazards off the course are just as challenging. “Full Swing” gives fans a chance to get to know the players through their wins and losses and witness what it takes to compete at the highest level in men’s professional golf. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Full Swing" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal," out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews directors Julia Willoughby Nason & Jenner Furst. Alex Murdaugh was a third-generation lawyer in a powerful South Carolina family. But their reputation began to crack when his son Paul was behind the wheel during a fatal boating accident. The controversy rekindled interest in other deaths the Murdaughs were connected to - such as the unsolved murder of a high school classmate and the fatal fall of their housekeeper. Then the community was shocked when Murdaugh’s wife and son were murdered on their property. While under suspicion, Alex Murdaugh was wounded from a gunshot in what authorities say was a set-up.  SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Murdaugh Murders" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on. (Listener note: This episode was recorded before the conclusion of Alex Murdaugh's murder trial.)

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Bill Russell: Legend" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Sam Pollard. With his revolutionary defense, Bill Russell changed the game of basketball, winning a record eleven NBA championships and cementing the Boston Celtics as a dynasty. But throughout the 1960s, Russell grappled with his place in sports and in society, being among the first athletes to demonstrate in the civil rights movement and against the Vietnam War. His contributions to the game and to equality made him more than a superstar; they made Bill Russell a legend.  SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Bill Russell: Legend" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Gunther's Millions," out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Aurelien Leturgie and executive producer Emilie Dumay. When a German countess died in 1992, she left her fortune to the only family she had: her dog Gunther. At the direction of Gunther’s caretaker, the world’s richest dog enjoyed yachts, private jets and started a pop group that was maybe a sex cult? The series “Gunther’s Millions” asks was there ever really a countess? Was it just a tax dodge? Or was it all an elaborate scheme by one clinically depressed man to see if he could - literally - buy happiness. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Gunther's Millions" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary film “Pamela, a love story" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews Director Ryan White and Producer Jessica Hargrave. From Playboy centerfold to sun-soaked TV lifeguard to that stolen sex tape, Pamela Anderson was always associated with beauty and sensuality. But she was objectified and easily dismissed by a lascivious press core, more interested in her physique than her talent.  “Pamela, a love story” is an intimate portrait of one of the world’s most famous blonde bombshells, revealing a doting mother, a passionate activist, and a hopeless romantic. And just as she settles into the quiet life of her old hometown, she’s offered the opportunity for a comeback. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Pamela, a love story" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Break Point" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews showrunner Kari Lia. After decades of dominance, tennis’s legendary names are leaving the game. Now a new generation of men and women athletes are ready for their place at the top. But who has the makings to be tennis’s next champion? “Break Point” is an intimate, globe-trotting look on the court and behind the scenes with the up-and-coming stars grinding it out on the Grand Slam circuit SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Break Point" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary film “The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Colette Camden. A driver’s assault on pedestrians is foiled by the man he picked up hitchhiking, striking him in the head with a hatchet from his backpack. The story of the rescue by a colorful, carefree drifter goes viral. Soon there are memes, TV appearances, and talk of a reality show for the man simply known as “Kai.” But those taken with Kai’s whirlwind, feel-good story overlook the obvious warning signs. Is the Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker just a quirky vagabond, or does a violent person linger beneath the surface? SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “The Hatchet Wielding Hitchhiker" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street," out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Joe Berlinger. Bernie Madoff was considered an elder statesman of the stock market, but hidden away from his legitimate securities firm, he was running an unregulated hedge fund. But it was all a Ponzi scheme swindling investors out of $64 billion. “Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street” chronicles the rise and fall of a stock market giant. It also exposes the many missed opportunities to protect his victims and discover his scam.  SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

Next up on You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street."  This series reveals the truth behind Bernie Madoff’s infamous $64 billion global Ponzi scheme - the largest in history - which shattered the lives of countless individual investors who had placed their trust in the revered Wall Street statesman. In our next episode, host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Joe Berlinger. If you haven't watched “Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street,” make sure to add it to your watch-list before next week’s episode. Stay Tuned!

To finish out the year, we're replaying one of our most popular episodes of 2022. Wherever he went, Simon Leviev’s entourage would follow. A carefully curated supporting cast – his business partner, his driver, his security guard – created an air of glamour and legitimacy. But who were these people? Were they in on the scam? Or were they as much victims as the women Simon swindled? The Making of a Swindler Part 1 is a companion to the documentary, "The Tinder Swindler", only on Netflix.

At the top of Rebecca's Best Of list, we're replaying her interview with “Descendant" director and producer, Margaret Brown. The Clotilda was the last known ship to arrive in the United States carrying enslaved Africans, decades after slave importation was outlawed. The ship was burned and sank somewhere in the Mobile River, while its passengers would later settle in the community of Africatown. In the century that followed, the descendants of The Clotilda struggled to preserve their heritage in an Alabama town encircled by industrial property owned by the descendants of the slave owners. As a renewed effort to find the missing wreck gets underway, the community grapples with the implications of its discovery.

One of Rebecca's favorites of 2022, we're replaying her interview with "Trainwreck: Woodstock '99" director Jamie Crawford and producer Cassie Thornton.   Organizers from the original Woodstock tried to recreate the music and magic at a new three-day festival in 1999. But concert-goers expecting another groovy weekend were met with high food prices, dirty water, and mountains of litter. And promoters learned too late their audience wasn’t filled with 60s flower children; they’d drawn an army of rowdy thrash-rock fans who showed their displeasure by - literally - burning it all down.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, host  Rebecca Lavoie talks with Amanda Richards, the docs and docuseries writer for Tudum, Netflix's editorial companion site, about their favorite Netflix titles from 2022. This year there were intriguing cold cases, historical crimes, and cunning con men. There were meltdowns at power plants and meltdowns at rock concerts. There was also plenty of drama on reality shows. We cheered for cooking, baking, catfights, and matchmaking. There were game shows that asked whether true love is blind…and asked “Is It Cake”? Rebecca and Amanda give their top five favorite things from 2022.   

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Jessica Dimmock. Between 1986 and 1991, the remains of four missing women were discovered in the same field in League City, Texas. Authorities couldn’t rule out the deaths were connected to a string of 30 murders outside of Houston since the 1970s. Then another string of disappearances began in the 1990s. Were all of these crimes linked in some way? And what is their connection to that secluded plot of land on Calder Road? SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Crime Scene: The Texas Killing Fields" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.        

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Pepsi, Where's My Jet?" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews documentary subjects John Leonard and Todd Hoffman. In a 1996 ad campaign, Pepsi claimed if you earned enough points people could get free sunglasses, leather jackets…or a Harrier jump jet. When a 20-year-old college student found a loophole that would let him obtain a $32 million plane for just $700,000, he and his friend began a campaign to claim the jet. “Pepsi Where’s My Jet?” recounts the landmark case of a kid who launched his own cola war and became the hero of a new generation. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Pepsi, Where's My Jet?" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary “Capturing the Killer Nurse" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Tim Travers Hawkins and author Charles Graeber. Charlie Cullen was an experienced registered nurse, trusted and beloved by his colleagues at Somerset Medical Center in New Jersey. He was also one of history’s most prolific serial killers, with a body count potentially numbering in the hundreds across multiple medical facilities in the Northeast.  Based on the best-selling book The Good Nurse  and dramatized in the Netflix feature film starring Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne  – “Capturing the Killer Nurse” reveals the twisted story behind Cullen’s hidden spree of murders and how Cullen’s horrific actions underscore an even bigger danger still lurking in our healthcare system. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Capturing the Killer Nurse" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary “Descendant" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director and producer Margaret Brown. The Clotilda was the last known ship to arrive in the United States carrying enslaved Africans, decades after slave importation was outlawed. The ship was burned and sank somewhere in the Mobile River, while its passengers would later settle in the community of Africatown.  In the century that followed, the descendants of The Clotilda struggled to preserve their heritage in an Alabama town encircled by industrial property owned by the descendants of the slave owners. As a renewed effort to find the missing wreck gets underway, the community grapples with the implications of its discovery. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Descendant" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we conclude our look at volume three of the Netflix series "Unsolved Mysteries" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Robert M. Wise about his episode "Body in the Bay" After Patrick Lee Mullins's small boat never returned from a ride on the river, search crews scoured the waters in and around Tampa Bay. Days later, his body was discovered in a shallow part of the bay, carefully tied to his own anchor…but his empty boat was recovered far out to sea.  At first investigators assumed this was a straight-forward suicide, but the cause of Patrick’s death was not drowning. It was a shotgun blast to the head. “Body in the Bay” explores whether Patrick set off to take his life or whether he encountered something he shouldn’t have seen.  Note: We talk in detail about suicide in this episode. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, you can call 988 anywhere in the US to talk with someone who can help.  SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watch

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we continue our look at volume three of the Netflix series "Unsolved Mysteries" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Gabe Torres about his episode "What Happened to Josh?" In 2002, Josh Guimond left a party at St John’s University in Minnesota and was last seen walking back to his apartment. When his friends realized he never made it home it kicked off a massive search of the area’s woods and waterways. What could have contributed to Josh’s disappearance? The investigation would have authorities explore a romantic rivalry, a church abuse scandal, a killer targeting students in the area, and online secrets someone wanted erased from Josh's computer. Could any of these things answer the question: what happened to Josh? SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Unsolved Mysteries: What Happened to Josh?" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.