Investigation Discovery Channel

When I’m on vacation, time seems to stand still. Then I get back and reality sets in and I realize I have a blog post to write with no idea what to talk about. I figured I’d think about a topic when I was on vacation but did I? Noooo!

I could talk about my trip up the West coast of the U.S. Not much to say there other than it was hot everywhere and California, Oregon and Washington all seem to be on fire.

Or I could talk about the phantom that has suddenly taken up residence in my car. I lock the car and everything seems to be hunky dory, windows rolled up, etc. Then I go back to it later and find the doors still locked, but the windows rolled down. Kinda creepy.

Instead, I think I’ll talk about my recent obsession with the Investigation Discovery Channel. Have you all seen this channel? It’s a gold mine for mystery writers. Just full of reality crime shows. Some of them are a bit cheesy, but I’ve found several of them worth watching.

I had never heard of this channel, and didn’t realize I received it as part of my cable package, until a friend told me she was appearing in one of the episodes of Nightmare Next Door as a crime commentator. That’s when I discovered I received the channel and the obsession began.

I don’t watch all of the shows just some here and there, but I’m still rather obsessed with ID. Some of the show names are a little too much for me: Fatal Vows, Evil Lives Here, Evil Kin, Deadly Dentists... I mean, how many dentists are there involved in crimes that they can create an entire series about it? I did watch an episode of Evil Kin, though, since it talked about a Kansas case that Charlotte has discussed in some of her blog posts – the Bloody Benders. It was quite interesting.

The shows I particularly like on ID are People Magazine Investigates and Breaking Homicide. The former covers fairly recent high profile crimes and the latter pairs a former police sergeant with a forensic psychologist to re-examine cold cases.

The most recent show I’ve started watching is The Coroner: I Speak For The Dead. I probably wouldn’t have watched it except one of the actors who appears in the reenactments in the shows lives in the same apartment building as a friend of mine so I became curious. The crimes all come from the files of Dauphin County, PA coroner Graham Hetrick.

Sometimes watching these shows triggers an idea in my head that helps me solve a plot problem or come up with a new character. Plus I do find the cases interesting.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who is obsessed with this channel. There’s a contest currently going on for a chance to win a walk-on role called ID Addict of the Month. I think I’ll skip it though it would be fun to appear in one of their shows.

Have any of you watched this channel? Any favorite shows?