Topline
A five-episode true crime series by “Law and Order” creator Dick Wolf which dives into some of New York City’s most notorious crimes shot to the top of the Netflix charts in the first five days of its release, making “Homicide: New York” the third most-popular English language series on the streamer last week.
Key Facts
“Homicide: New York,” released by Netflix on March 20, was viewed 6.6 million times in the week of March 18 to March 24.
The only two shows that racked up more views were “The Gentlemen” with 11.7 million views (earning it a third week in the No. 1 spot) and “3 Body Problem,” a new science fiction series based on the Liu Cixin novel of the same name, which was viewed 11 million times.
The list of Netflix’s top five most-watched shows was rounded out by “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” which has been near the top of the list since it premiered five weeks ago, and “Hot Wheels Let’s Race” in the No. 5 spot.
“Homicide: New York,” from Wolf, the creator of “Law and Order,” is a five-episode docuseries breaking down five of the criminal cases that captivated New Yorkers in the 1990s and 2000s.
Crucial Quote
“You can read what happened [in these cases] on Wikipedia, but you don’t get the human side of the story,” executive producer Jane Lipsitz said of “Homicide: New York.”
Key Background
Detectives, friends and families of the victims and survivors of the five crimes are used to tell the decades-old stories showcased in “Homicide: New York.” The first episode tells the story of the 2001 “Carnegie Deli Massacre” in which two men, Andre Smith and Sean Salley, were convicted of second-degree murder in the shooting deaths of three people in a robbery gone wrong. The murders of Jennifer Stahl, Charles “Trey” Helliwell and Stephen King took place in an apartment above the Carnegie Delicatessen in Manhattan. The 1997 stabbing of Michael McMorrow, who was found floating in Central Park Lake, is one of New York’s most notorious and gruesome cases. In “Homicide: New York,” NYPD detective Rob Mooney talks about the twisted confessions and motives behind the murder. It took four days for investigators to find the body of Eridania Rodriguez, a cleaner in Manhattan’s Financial District, after she seemingly disappeared into thin air after starting her shift. The third episode of “Homicide: New York” details the arrest of her assailant, Joseph Pabon, though no motive for the crime was ever revealed. He will become eligible for parole in 2034. It wasn’t until two decades after Midtown business owner Howard Pilmar was found stabbed to death in 1996 that detectives were able to make a homicide case stick against his wife and her brother, who were found guilty of second-degree murder charges in 2019. In the fourth episode of the new Netflix series, NYPD lieutenant Roger Parrino recalls his tireless work to hold Pilmar’s killers accountable. The final episode of “Homicide: New York” dives into the case of the so-called East-Harlem Rapist, a serial killer and sexual assailant who tormented the community of East Harlem for almost a decade, starting in 1991. It was later discovered that Arohn Kee, now 50, was responsible for the deaths of at least three teenage girls and four rapes in his late teens and early 20s. He is currently serving a life sentence.
What To Watch For
A similar docuseries titled “Homicide: Los Angeles,” also made by Wolf, will premiere later this year. An exact date has not been announced.
Further Reading
