Primetime (2026)

I first heard about Chris Hansen when I was 12. It was 2013, and "To Catch a Predator" had been off the air for at least 6 years. I was processing my parents' divorce, and was participating in conversations a 13 year old should not have been online with people far too old for me.

I heard about Chris Hansen again when I was 19. It was 2020, and people were treating Hansen like he was a God. He had recently involved himself in the commentary space on Youtube, which was something I frequented. I had just been sent home from my freshman year of college because of the pandemic, and pretending to be more of an adult than I actually was.

It is now 2026, and nothing really came from the internet drama that Hansen had gotten himself into except for a slop true crime documentary. I went to see Primetime when I was 25 years old. For the first time, Chris Hansen strode into my life and nothing particularly spectacular or horrible was happening, which has led me to reflect. Not just on Primetime itself-- which I found myself quite enjoying, but also the role of the internet in raising and grooming children.

The layers of "grooming" begin with our story's "protagonist" named Dan Plum (Skyler Gisondo). I say protagonist loosely here, as Plum is the closest we get to a somewhat relatable character (apart from Phoebe Bridgers, my beloved). Plum plays a decoy in the Hansen opperation, who we see being groomed into his role as a decoy by both Hansen and his producer. My notes indicate: "The way the the grooming of Daniel paired with the rhetoric around groomers was super interesting..." which is certainly a whole lot of nothing.

Moreso the way people SPEAK to Plum reflects HOW someone grooming another person might act. By pulling Plum aside, calling him special, being unprofessional and harsh but also nice and loving, Plum is groomed into his role as a decoy, and even, is groomed into repeating behaviors of those who groomed him. Plum is a victim of Hansen and crew, and his experiences mirror those of what a child might experience when being taken advantage of by and older person.

Another character who appears to be taken advantage of throughout the movie is Andie (Merritt Wever) but to a lesser extent. She is quoted in Zachary Lee's article "Enshrouded in Darkness: Lance Oppenheim, Merritt Wever, and Skyler Gisondo on 'Primetime'" as saying "With her, I tried to play into the reality of cycles of harm. Hurt people hurt people, yes, but she’s not even treated as a person at times. She’s very much like a dog that is kicked at certain times by Chris, and she turns around and kicks the nearest dog around her, whether it is the so-called predators or Xavier Von Erck."

I, personally, did not see this reading of her in the movie. I saw her as somebody who was advocating for the show to exist at all, even at times speaking down to the aforementioned Dan Plum, treating him, too, like a child. As a note, she is, as a woman, often spoken down to her because of her role, and in less abrupt ways is taken advantage of. She is the result of cycles of harm, yes, but we watch Plum go through the aforementioned cycles of harm. Irregardless of who is more or less of a victim in these contexts, because it simply does not matter, Hansen stands as a perpetuator of this violence.

Why does Hansen treat these coworkers like crap? To save the children of course! A lot more discussion about “saving the children” rather than actually saving children… imagine if the 100 thousand dollars or whatever was spent funding "Predator" actually had gone to ways to actually protect children online while there was still time to do something about it in a potentially meaningful way.

If I had more to say about it, I would go to great lengths to compare this rhetoric to that of "Pizzagate" believers... people who validate stalking a pizza place in defence of "saving the children." There is a conservative fear for children in our culture, and this argument is used as a political talking point. No matter how the adults who use this talking point feel, truly, about children, they are often not discussing a singular specific child or group of children, but rather the idea of children and their innocence in such a scary outside world.

"Primetime" makes clear that image, specifically the image of "saving the children," is a key part of Hansen’s whole schtick… he does not truly care about people as much as he cares about how he is perceived. Hanson does not care that he was cheating on his wife, he just cares if she finds out. Hanson does not care about predators unless they compete with "Lost" for views during primetime. Hanson does not care for his decoys or for the crew unless they help empower him as a star. Children are a tool he uses to empower himself and his career.

We return back to 2020, in the very early days of the pandemic, where Chris Hansen returned to my brain for a second time, this time under, unfortunately, better circumstances. I knew of him strictly as the "To Catch a Predator" Guy, and as a result, thought pretty highly of him. Because, yeah, what is there to say bad about the guy who is literally defending children from horrible people online? He is Literally saving children. I must hate children if I dislike Chris Hansen.

Slowly over the course of the pandemic, values and perspectives shifted towards Hansen in a more negative light, and we was slowly revealed to be not a God or a child savior, but instead, a man. A man who needed money, specifically, and was willing to include himself in online drama and mishandle evidence for adsense. As attitudes shifted, more information, that to some had been public knowledge, was now being spread around the internet rampantly. His affairs, his mishandling of money, his alleged COVID denial. The facade slowly faded, until 2026, with the release of "Primetime." Lance Oppenheim forces us to reflect on our perceptions of a man who can be called infallible. Oppenheim tells us that intentions do not equate impact, and that sometimes, intentions are not what they seem.

In a way, I know now, that not unlike the cast and crew of "To Catch a Predator," that I too, was groomed to see Hansen as a good man. I was groomed into thinking that predator catching was a good ethical concept. This feels like an oversimplification, but, if "To Catch a Predator" was saving the children, how come I, as a child, years later in 2013, had to learn who Chris Hansen was from someone much older than me? How many children did Chris Hansen truly "save" at all? How much longer do we have to pretend like this is a solution to the child abuse occuring on the internet?

I look at the current state of the internet, and specifically youtube, and am forced to see current day connections. I have watched the endless array of grown men, often, trying to be Chris Hansen figures, and most of the time failing. I have seen some succeed, and some organizations like SOSA really truly pull of "predator hunting." I think it would be a drastic dramaticization to indicate that there is no good coming from these attempts to catch predators... but often I find the results of these "stings" lack any restorative justice at all, and many of these individuals go back to harming adolescents online.

There has to be a better way to address how unsafe the internet is, one that does not involve grown adult men who pretend to be children on roblox. These adults, often, are Chris Hansen figures to me, men who are using "saving children" as an excuse to make money or seem morally correct. Just as I assume with his forthcoming Elizabeth Holmes doc, director Lance Oppenheim reveals to us more than we thought we knew about a controversial figure while also revealing more about humanity as a whole then expected.

• The way the the grooming of Daniel paired with the rhetoric around groomers was super interesting
• A lot more discussion about “saving the children” rather than actually saving children… imagine how if the 100 thousand dollars or whatever was spent funding ways to actually protect children online while there was still time to do something about it in a potentially meaningful way
  • reminds me of pizzagate, which was fake, but the reaction to it was very real, as it often becomes a conservative talking point to discuss saving children rather than doing anything about it
  • And often this saving children is for image, which this movie makes clear is a key part of Hansen’s whole schtick… he does not truly care about people as much as he cares about how he is perceived
    • He does not care that he was cheating on his wife, he just cares if she finds out
    • He does not care about predators unless they compete with Lost for views during primetime
    • He does not care for his actors or for the crew unless they help empower him as a star
• blue and red imagery esp towards the end
• weird cuts with the monster figure that reminded me of the donkey rabbit guy from hokum… uh physical embodiment of hansens’s demons? Who oppressed Hansen but his demons and the viewers?
• it’s hard to have ever taken Hansen seriously post pandemic

some later notes that have not been articulated upon by me:

• very inspired by 9/11 or impacted by
• THE DRACULA PARALLELS!!! - a modern vampire figure
• the way the movie is pieces together sort of through association with other ideas

status: 3. sprout