Murder Comes to Town (2014–2018) User Reviews

Background music is overbearing.

[andreaweibley · 6/10 · 2 March 2023]

The show is great. It tells the stories which are very interesting, but man! That "background" music is overbearing. It's definitely not in the background, it's front and center stage. The people being interviewed and the music plays loudly over the voices. It has loud dramatic points where it's absolutely jarring.

I love putting crime shows on when I'm trying to relax or sleep. This is the only show I can't sleep to because of the music.

I doubt anyone from the show checks out these reviews, but I hope they get enough complaints and see it and tone the music down until it really is background.

Good Series Except for the Narrator's Mispronounced Words

[fitwrite · 8/10 · 4 November 2018]

This is a good crime docudrama, but it's hard to tune out the narrator when you have to listen to him. The series has had more than one narrator, but the one I'm referring to is Joe Alaskey. He doesn't get that the "H," when it comes after "W," is silent.

So all throughout the show you will constantly hear "H'what," "H'where," "H'why" etc., though strangely, he doesn't do this with "who" or "whoever."

And he's very obvious about transposing the "W" with the "H." I don't understand why the director allows this. It truly is annoying and sounds unprofessional. I hope Joe Alaskey reads this. The "H" when it comes after "W" is SILENT!

Alaskey gets so carried away with this gimmick that sometimes he actually says "Ha-where," "Ha-while," "Ha-whenever," etc. Just stop this!

The Creepy Narrator

[jw-09051 · 7/10 · 11 March 2021]

I can't stand the man The narrator with the Creepy voice

Glosses over the evidence and awful narrator

[jschafer00 · 6/10 · 1 March 2023]

This is a well produced show (I personally think the re-enactments are fine) but it falls short for two reasons: neglecting the evidence and the narrator.

For example, in the last episode I watched, S3 E9, a woman is found raped and stabbed to death in her home. They point out that a strange stain is found on her shirt and they show them in the reenactment meticulously cutting it out of her shirt and bagging it. Fast forward to the end of the show, they find the culprit and he actually eventually confesses, but they NEVER addressed the stain! In an earlier episode where someone was shot to death, they never once talked about the murder weapon other than it being a rifle. Was it found, etc? Instead of spending more time on the evidence and forensics, they focus more on interviewing people saying things like "I never thought this could happen in OUR little town!".

And, the narration is just terrible. The writing and the narrator's voice is infuriatingly over the top melodramatic. It's insulting to the audience.

Addicting!

[DeniseSwin · 10/10 · 12 April 2021]

This has a City Confidential Vibe to it... Love it!!

Crushing Stories Not Covered Before

[AudioFileZ · 7/10 · 24 July 2022]

With what is approaching a glut of true crime shows it pays to be different. Different in focusing on small town crimes that other shows have passed by is a start. The other difference is in the telling, particularly the narration. Sounding very much like the late Paul Winfield the narrator adds a heaviness matching the horrific crimes. It may, or may not, be one's cup of tea as such. It mostly works to make the dark atmosphere however. What works the most is the way we our introduced to the persons of interest keeping one wondering into the final act without falsely creating "red herrings". The reenactments using actors is a mixed bag, but the stories are sadly compelling using some of the victims friends and family to add a element of real unease and loss.

Well Crafted Murder Mystery Show

[rmgilman · 8/10 · 2 January 2021]

The show paints a vivid picture of the events without revealing too much. It allows the viewer to create a hypothesis as to the why, what, and who done it. The actors are believable and you really feel the pain and sadness for the victims family. Your caught feeling a sense of rage towards the murderer for the often senseless act of taking another persons life. I love the voice of Joe Alaskey the narrator in the first twenty shows. Reminds me alot of Orson Welles voice and was very sorry to hear that he passed away. RIP

Bad Punctuation

[kersher-64951 · 7/10 · 4 August 2022]

3 episodes in, they make the same error .... "September, 22 1993" for example. The comma is in the wrong place. How do they make such a ridiculous mistake? How many editors do they NOT have?

Good show, but the narrator is distracting.

[christarose-93694 · 8/10 · 9 March 2024]

If you are a fan of the true crime genre then you will enjoy the show itself. However, the narrator is... odd. The voice reminds me of Brain from Pinky and the Brain. I actually had to look it up by the second episode because I was convinced that the narrator had to be the voice of Brain. Apparently, he is not. I don't know, the voice just isn't a good fit in my opinion. If you can get past the voice of the narrator then you should be able to enjoy the show. I watched this after watching Murder Comes Home, same style of show but different narrator. I'm honestly having a very difficult time because of the narrator and I may not finish the series.

Terrible Acting

[sarah-zamenski · 7/10 · 19 February 2023]

The stories are interesting, but the acting is terrible.

Granted, the actors are given some pretty cheesy dialogue to work with, so they're probably doing their best. It's like a bunch of 5th graders wrote a play. It takes away from the story, unfortunately, and can make it unbearable at times.

Other than the ridiculous acting, the show covers a lot of ground. I do think it's hilarious when they talk like a town is in the middle of nowhere, even though it's maybe 15 minutes from a major city. I understand it's for dramatic effect, so I give that a pass. I do enjoy learning a bit about small towns I haven't heard of before.

Well done as these shows go.

[SpacemanBob · 7/10 · 8 April 2024]

I liked this for the most part. The cases are interesting and the vast majority of them were new to me.

The re-enactment's can be a little cheezie, but aren't they always? They mostly didn't bother me, and don't dominate the show. Those are offset by interviews with people who were there at the time; primarily family members of the victims, and of course, the law enforcement who worked on the cases.

A lot of reviewers seem to have a problem with the narrator. I didn't. His voice seems to fit the subject matter, and he sounds similar to the original City Confidential narrator, Paul Winfield. I've heard much worse.

For myself, these shows are all about the cases and how they were solved, and this series brings that. Overall, I think it's a solid who-done-it? Most of the cases are quite intriguing with plenty of twists to keep you guessing till the end.

Annoying Narrator

[gaildobbs · 5/10 · 17 April 2020]

The format of the show is excellent. But I watch a lot of true crime shows and know how important narration is. The narrator of this show is so annoying I skipped all 20 episodes he narrated. He sounded like Vincent Price in some horror film.

True crime with horrible actors

[po-344 · 4/10 · 22 January 2022]

I love true crime, but the acting in this is just awful. It takes away from the show and the seriousness of it.

I understand they may have a low budget, but I have no idea where they find these people. Well, I know it is in the south because everyone has a southern accent.

They can do better than this with even free actors.