The Betty Broderick Story is the new season Dirty John

She must be married to a higher up, right?

June Diane Rapheal from Grace and Frankie looks more like Betty Broderick than Amanda Peet does.

June Diane Rapheal from Grace and Frankie looks more like Betty Broderick than Amanda Peet does.

I agree r2. This Betty is too skinny. Remember Dan's wife used to mail her articles about losing weight.

Amanda Peet is married to the showrunner of Game Of Thrones, one of the guys who gets blamed for screwing it up

Yeah I'm not feeling this gal as Betty.

Umm Betty had menopausal weight on her, that was one reason Dan dumped her. This chick looks like a model.

I remember Peet on that short lived show, "Jack & Jill," with Sarah Paulson. Has she ever had a hit? I know she has written a play or two.

Keeping the title Dirty John for different stories of marriages from hell isn't even the dumbest thing about this.

I no longer even recognize Amanda.

I like Amanda Peet. She’s a good actress.

r8 the only thing I can think of that she was in that was a true hit was the movie Something's Gotta Give with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, but she wasn't the lead.

I like Amanda Peet, but she's not right for Betty Broderick.

Meredith Baxter's performance is legend.

Can you watch MBB's version on Hulu or streaming on some other platform?

They showed tits in a TV movie?

I couldn’t watch it. The script was REALLY heavy-handed.

I like Amanda Peet. Solid in “Igby Goes Down” and Nicole Holofcener’s “Please Give”. And that episode of “Law and Order” (not kidding).

I'm giving it a go, but it already feels ultimately unwatchable. Unless it camps up soon, I'm out. Nothing can top the original. Agree a bad choice of actres for this particular role. Bitches need to be willing to fluff up a bit once in a while. She's also too young looking fat or not.

Christian Slater looks like a tapeworm. A short tapeworm.

*ahem* Actress . Sorry.

I just don't recognize this story or the characters at all. Betty was vivacious and wacky. Peet is playing her as tightly wound. The story so far is all fucked up, no rhyme or reason.

This is a younger generation's take on the story, and it ain't good.

They needed a good character actress to play Betty.

R14 it is on YouTube for free. Shhhhhhh.......

Has Christian Slater had a **little** work done, or what?

Peet gives off major bitch vibes. Imo.

Where is Linda in this portrayal? Their relationship predated the divorce.

Igby Goes Down is the only thing that justifies her career. Excellent movie - written by Gore Vidals nephew.

I can't be the only one who thought it was Jillian Michaels in OP's pic.

It's picking up, Dan just hired Linda as his assistant and Betty told Dan to get rid of her

Betty / Amanda is still too skinny - but her acting is decent. She gets across the crazy, low self esteem, frau behavior/look. I see it as critical viewing for all the new “stay at home” mom movement. It’s crazy to give up all financial control to a husband. .

I would rather fuck Christian Slater than Stephen Collins. Christian Slater is playing Dan more accurately because he was kind of a nerd before he was successful.

A Touch of Tuesday Weld has some good articles and comments on Betty and Dan

R15 That still is from the TV movie MY BREAST, about a woman suffering from breast cancer. And, yes, they did show her breast in the film. I was 14 when it originally aired and I recall it being a topic of discussion at the time, because of nudity on network television. I also watched a lot of Entertainment Tonight and they followed that story forever, it seems.

Amanda Peete was good as Betty. Body type is off but not a big deal. I’ve always felt sorry for Betty Broderick. She should not have had to spend half her life in prison. Dan and Linda caused their own deaths.

I just realized that Peet has crazy eyes!

^^ [italic]JUST ? ?[/italic]

(Tho the horse teeth and anorexia bother me more.)

I have the non-fiction books. I've taped the MB double-series. One of my top true-crime stories.

This version? Execrable! Couldn't get past Episode One. Who the HELL thought that casting Christian Slater as Dr. Dan made one scintilla of sense?!

Don't get me started on the awful lead.

Christian Slater is better than Amanda Peete on this show. That was a total misfire hiring her.

The casting is atrocious. Amanda Peet is all wrong for this. She could play Linda Kolkena but not Betty. Christian Slater is also miscast. Dan Broderick was a top attorney in San Diego, he had an MD and JD -- Slater looks like he didn't even graduate middle school.

What crackhead did the casting for this?

I really enjoyed the first season that was actually *about* Dirty John. Binged all the episodes while on a plane, having only intended to watch the first episode or two. It really drew me in.

When I heard they were doing the Betty Broderick story for "the second season of Dirty John" (which makes absolutely no sense), all I could think was WHY?? It's already been done, and quite well. And the casting is ludicrous.

A shoddy money grab... that's all this is.

Linda and Dan are responsible for their own deaths. Betty has served her time and should be out.

Just finished Episode 7 and I'm liking the casting more and more. Slater is really dialing up the sleezy lawyer vibe and you can see why the first jury thought it was a miracle that Betty hadn't shot him earlier. I want to smack that smirk off his newly-freshened face.

Linda is a willing accomplice and is not the sweet innocent as portrayed in The Betty Broderick Story.

And Amanda .... she gives us Betty's anguish and terror beyond all the Meredith Baxter-Birney bravado.

I'm sorry. Amanda Peet is a talented actress, but I did not buy her as a woman scorned.

I hated this interpretation of the Betty story. The MBB version is beyond compare.

Now, on a bit of a Betty kick, I'm watching a new episode of "Snapped" and it's such a piece of shit. They just show the same photos of Betty, Dan, Linda and the murder house over and over again with dramatic music and pounding drums. The reenactments are so cheap; for some reason they have a brunette playing Betty.

Betty Broderick is such a fascinating case study, but this series was a real turd, for all the reasons already mentioned. A limited series that was appropriately cast and stuck to the facts of the story would be very interesting to watch. Maybe someday.

it was awful...I couldn't watch the whole thing.

I don't understand how they botched this. The original "Dirty John" with Connie Britton was excellent. Connie could have played Betty. Just call every season "Dirty John" (so stupid) and have Connie star.

Kind of a turd, but also a good time waster. Betty was a nut job. She's the reason why men should just all be gay.

Nobody ever considers me for roles.

What was the story with her parents? Just fragile? Too much drama? Scared of her?

R28, I just finished the book Until the Twelfth of Never and I'd say it was pretty neutral as far as telling the story. Dan Broderick was a real asshole and he used his position and clout to crush her emotionally and psychologically. The head judge in the family court where their divorce was being heard was his friend and a guest at his wedding. Their divorce file "went missing" with all the pleadings and all the paperwork that Betty needed. Nowadays we call what he did emotional abuse and gaslighting, back then none of it counted unless your husband put his hands on you.

Why is it called Until the Twelfth of Never?

Oh, and his brother Larry is a real piece of shit too. Betty and Dan's kids had to sue him to get the money that was left to them. He insisted that he be paid 50k a year to take care of them and then another 50k a year for expenses. Linda's family also had to sue him because he insisted that she died first so anything she was entitled to transferred to Dan for the 20 minutes that he supposedly outlived her.

R50, it was a Johhny Mathis song they danced to at their wedding

The divorce would've gone differently if it happened today, Betty would've been treated more fairly by the courts. Also, public opinion would be on Betty's side (I mean the divorce proceedings, not what happened afterwards).

R53, there was a lot of shenanigans going on in her divorce/cusody fight. He was dragging the property settlement out years after he divorced her so he could squirrel away money to his brother and so that he could give her money that she had no idea she'd have to pay back and that would be deducted from her settlement. She really did have nowhere to turn. When the judges are shady, where can you go from there? The divorce proceedings were closed to the public; that was the first time that ever happened. When the press inquired about why they couldn't be there the judge gave her the option of having one of them sit in, but asked would a mother want to do such a thing to her children (she was also fighting for custody). She got railroaded at every turn.

To paraphrase a classic Chris Rock bit: "I'm not saying she should've killed them, but I understand."

I think today she would have an easier time finding a lawyer to represent her in her divorce.

R55, one of the jurors in her first trial asked what took her so long

R56, I think a lot of things in her case would be different today

Betty Broderick is probably the only murderer I have ever truly felt sympathy for.

Let her out of jail. Free Betty.

R59, I was on the fence about her until I read this book. What he did to her really was a Chinese water torture.

OK. Thanks to you bitchez I had to watch it on YouTube, thankyouverymuch. I can honestly say now I'm older that woman was suffering from some extreme psychosis. She was fucking nuts. Mentally ill. Yes, Meredith Baxter Burney was very good. Excellent. No, Amanda peet is not a good choice.

Why doesn't anyone put MBB in anything? Surely she still gets an offer or two.

R41 Peet seems like the type who wasn't a hundred percent traditional old school and would be more likely to bounce back quickly. I can see peet as the type who would write a self help book and open an organic juicing business after the divorce,not go insane.

Hey, As I watched MBB she reminded me of someone. It bothered me all evening. Then I realized it. I had a crazy cousin who was just. like. Betty Broderick. Seriously. We're Italian. So I looked it up, and Betty Broderick was Italian. Unstable, paranoid, combative, vicious, and twisting the truth every time it didn't suit her reality. MBB was spot on. Amanda Peet is no where close to being right for that part. She has no edge. No volatility.

r62, you watched the movie with MBB in it? While the casting was excellent, the story tilted heavily in one direction since only Dan's grifter brother, Linda's sister, and the inept prosecutor were the only ones consulted in the making of it.

CourtTV recently rose from the dead and they have Betty's second trial on their site. I was embarrassed for the prosecutor. The trial that they show is Wells' second crack at Betty, and she's absolutely AWFUL. Betty sliced and diced her....again.

The night before jury selection, Hard Copy released a tape of an unruly Betty in prison fighting with her guards in her underwear. Mysteriously that got leaked to the media just in time. One of the guards later said that that incident was the first time anything like that had happened with Betty. What a coincidence, huh? Just when some random camera was rolling to capture it all. I guess the prosecutor herself knew she needed to deal from the bottom of the deck in order to convict her. The judge also forbade any evidence of Dan Broderick's emotional abuse of Betty in the second trial.

Is it time for an "I, Tonya" of Betty Broderick? That Aussie actress would love to do it, probably.

R56. Today celebrity divorce attorneys would be killing each other to represent her. Betty could get out if she expressed some basic measure of sorrow about her role in shooting 2 people in their beds. BTW was a total dick and Linda was hardly the virgin sweetheart.

Betty's trial would definitely go differently today. She would be much more of a sympathetic figure. Perhaps she wouldn't even get jail time. Things were a lot different back then.

R68, That's what they say, she has to express remorse. But from my reading, it seems as though there is nothing she can do to be released. Even her parole hearings are light years between each other.

Sweet, virginal Linda got fired from Delta soon after her probationary period ended because she and a passenger, whose lap she was sitting on and whose lips she was kissing, disappeared into the bathroom.

She was quite the prize.

I’d love to know what universe the people who think she wouldn’t get jail time today if she showed remorse live in. Because I got a few people I’d love to shoot in their beds, and I could act pretty remorseful if it means not being convicted of at least involuntary manslaughter. Maybe you can sympathize with her or how the system worked against her at the time, but she still shot and killed two people. That can’t be an act that goes unpunished.

What has Linda's sex life got to do with being a murder victim?

R71, try to keep up. We're talking about her showing remorse at her parole hearings in an effort to be released after serving 30+ years.

[quote]Sweet, virginal Linda got fired from Delta soon after her probationary period ended because she and a passenger, whose lap she was sitting on and whose lips she was kissing, disappeared into the bathroom.

Never heard about the kissing and bathroom part.

According to Linda, she did take herself off of the guys lap but kept her legs flung over his because she didn't want to offend him.

Not a fan of Peet

It’s on Netflix now

I love Amanda Peet. I think she's gorgeous.

She is too thin for the role, but I think Juliette Lewis would be a good Betty.

The first season of Dirty John was so much better

Jennifer Aspen who played the chubby blonde housewife in the show GCB would have been a good Betty or the daughter from Grace & Frankie as posted above. Amanda Peete is a likable actress but not right for this part.

CourtTV documentary, with footage from the second trial.

Low-key loving the banter between Betty and prosecutor Kerry Wells, who made it clear that she couldn't stand Betty and was repulsed by her 'battered wife' defense.

The only Amanda Peet film I remember seeing is "Igby Goes Down", which I enjoyed, though because it costars Susan Sarandon, it probably isn't terribly popular here on DL.

However: Sarandon's character dies, and Ryan Phillipe, and Jeff Goldblum are among the cast. Come to think of it, if Igby were gay, he'd definitely be a DLer.

Amanda Peet seems like a not quite talented asshole.

Betty was an innocent victim!

The count set me up! She shot Dan then she killed herself. Just to ruin my life.

CUNT. Why does everyone forbid me from cursing, damnit! I refuse to pay anymore fines! Oh, yeah. I, um, the cunt killed poor Dan.

What did Betty say on the answer machine?

R87- It was Linda's voice on Dan's answering machine, which just sent Betty into a snarling, seething rage, lol. This was after Dan moved out and got his own house. Dan had the answering machine and he and Linda recorded the standard " we can't come to the phone right now, please leave a message." Well, Betts was just livid! The cunt had no right! So Betty left obscenity filled messages calling Linda all shades of slut, whore. " Are you fucking the dirty slut now, Dan?" Those kind of messages. Betts was a real hoot!

Were they shot in the nude?

R79, I agree. Loved that first season.

R79- No, both had pajamas on as far as I know. She shot Linda first, then Dan. He fell to the floor and reached for the phone. She snatched it from his hand or out if his reach and ripped it from the wall. He said " you have already killed me, Betts."

Holiday 2007 Gap model, Amanda Peet?

Dan Broderick was President of the Bar Association in San Diego at the time and that's why no one wanted to represent Betty. He was also an MD. Book smart and strategic .Also Betty was a borderline. I'm sure she was hell to live with plus she got dumpy. But Linda is that woman. Manipulative, underhanded, intentional, middle class, child of immigrants and only 21 when she set her sights on her boss. She saw Dan and she was going to take him from his wife if that was the last thing she did. I mean who sits on the lap of a passenger at your job? She was out of her league. This was not her world. And Dan was just shallow enough to fall for it.

Make no mistake: they were all three vile, vindictive people. That Dan was a manipulative asshole and Linda a calculating cunt doesn't make Betty a saint. She could have taken her $16K per month (in the '80s!) and moved on with her life, but instead she decided to fixate on avenging herself however she could, and she didn't care that her kids were collateral damage. Even now, she insists she doesn't regret any of her actions and she'd do it all again; that's why she's still in prison, and it's almost certainly where she belongs.

Fall 2003 Gap model, Amanda Peet?

R94- Dan was also an alcoholic. His autopsy showed liver damage and advanced alcoholism. Linda sent Betty weight loss ads and just fucked with this dangerously angry women. Both her and Dan did this. Dan was a cold blooded son of a bitch, imo. Betty worked her ass off putting him through law and then med school. She did this while having his children and doing all of the child care and house work, cooking, ect. After years of working her ass off, they finally made it and were well on the way to being very wealthy, if not rich. As soon as he was successful, he dumped her for a younger wife who would reap the rewards of Betty's hard work. I would have poisoned his drunken ass. I would not have been caught.

This thread appears to be full of frauen and man-hating lesbians. Betty is the epitome of an unstable fat frau cow. The old slag should’ve gotten the chair.

So Betty's kids hate her, right?

[quote] Linda sent Betty weight loss ads

How is Linda not a DL icon?

Betty got a house and gaggles of money in the divorce. A normal person would’ve been satisfied with that. Dan met Linda and realized that Betty’s stinking, gaping maw (it must’ve been frightful) wasn’t his only option.

Linda’s only “crime” was having a tight pussy.

R100 she got little compared to what she would have got in a fair settlement. Her husband rigged everything against her.

Linda stole him away and showed no shame or pity for dumped Betty. Instead of keeping quiet she appears to have gloated, insulted, mocked and made Betty even angrier.

Amanda Peet, the poor man's Sarah Paulson

R97 = Linda Broderick, sending Betty Jenny Craig ads as we speak

I'm watching this and I remember the name as she is infamous but not when the trial was happening. Too young to be interested maybe. Now tell me was she this sympathetic? When this happened? All I can think is kill that son of a bitch gaslighting husband. Initially I thought okay she has to do some time for killing Linda, she was really an innocent to all of it and she would be next to be mentally fucked by Dan when he got tired of her. But no she is a true cunt also. I'm waiting for her to kill them and hope she can get a light sentence.

But I am spoiled, I know she is still in jail to this day. How he fucked her over in the divorce is amazing. The whole Einstein shit. Can't get over it.

Betty and Dan's son is a teacher now

[quote] she got little compared to what she would have got in a fair settlement.

So she was just greedy. A deranged, greedy old sow. She should’ve taken the quite generous settlement and moved on. She never would’ve had to work. She could’ve lost some weight, maybe had a facelift, gotten that poon tightened, and found a nice wealthy old widower to escort her out on the town.

Instead, she chose to make life hell for her ex-husband and his wife and ultimately murder them in cold blood while they slept. I have no sympathy for this vile murderess.

Betty was probably a pretty shallow and unlikeable person even before the divorce. She seemed to care more about the status Dan gave her than she did him as a person. Of course, he also was probably a very unlikeable person. This is my impression from the Stumbo book. Amanda played her as more genuinely in love with Dan. I’m not sure that was the case by the time of the divorce.

I used to work for her dad. I met her once when she was up at the firm visiting Charlie. She’s a major ally FWIW.

Make no mistake, Linda would have eventually been cast aside by Dan, had Betty not shot them, for Wife #3. Maybe around the turn of the new millennium.

Then Wife #3 would have been tossed away for an even younger model by approximately 2016... just in time for Dan to vote for Trump.

Permanent solutions work best on children. Trying to correct an adult's behavior certainly seems to have its challenges!

[quote[ Then Wife #3 would have been tossed away for an even younger model by approximately 2016... just in time for Dan to vote for Trump.

How family friendly!

Linda was not very into personal hygiene. In other words, her pussy truly did stink.

Both "A Woman Scorned" and "Dirty John" really glossed over the numerous negative effects the divorce had on the kids.

The older daughter got knocked up in high school and had an abortion (it was rumored that Linda drove her to the clinic). The younger daughter dropped out of high school, got into drugs and partying, and would steal Betty's car. The boys were dealing with emotional problems, and one of them (I think the older one) was noted by his school as being malnourished, with head lice (this was in Dirty John).

The book by Bella Stumbo went into it in great detail.

I love it that Dataloungers always talk about the Meredith Baxter version of the story as if it were at least on a par with "Citizen Kane" and "The Rules of the Game."

At LEAST.

R113- Was that the daughter that Dan coldly cut out of his will? I think she was a mainline heroin addict.

R114- Meredith is a DL icon and this movie is perfection! The funniest part of the movie was when Betty/Meredith gathered all of " Dandy Dan's" clothes and burned them in front of him, lol!

I'm not even sure I heard of the Broderick case before I found Datalounge. And finally, last fall, I binged both parts of "A Woman Scorned" and realized I had been missing out - MBB acted the hell of the role. My favorite part was her screaming in the answering machine: "I WILL NOT be ignored!", probably because that has a DL reference crossover. So thank you, DLers!

I watched "Dirty John" and read Stumbo's book shortly afterwards. One LOL moment in the beginning of the book is how the real Betty was glad that they cast MBB as her for "A Woman Scorned", because she was worried that they would cast ROSEANNE for the part!

Where are the Broderick kids now?

Kathleen Turner already did it best in Serial Mom.

Did the sons have any homosexual experiences?

MBB movie Part I

Another favorite of mine, R118. But it doesn't reach the level of our Meredith as bat shit Betty.

MBB movie Part II

Dan was pretty hot. I think the hotter a guy is, the stiffer the sentence should be for the fish who offed him.

The son Dan is also hot.

Rhett was always rather unfortunate looking. He’s got Betty’s psychotic smile.

The Broderick boys all have sociopath eyes.

Watching the original on TubiTV as we speak

Why doesn't Betty just pretend to be sorry?

Because she's personality disordered. Have you ever heard a narcissist apologize?

r102 Sarah Paulson, chronically overrated, is the poor man's Sarah Paulson. Peet is a good actress, not perfect casting for this, though.

Betty Broderick is the epitome of a frau. A smelly, stinky, fish frau cow.

The new show is a total hit piece against the victims, Dan and Linda. Betty was a deranged sociopath suffering from female hysteria. The Baxter film was much better.

r108 who are you talking about? Betty? Amanda Peete?

[quote] Betty Broderick is the epitome of a frau. A smelly, stinky, fish frau cow.

And she smells.......down there.

This was just released on Netflix and is #3 right now. Is anyone watching that didn't catch this last year. I'm one episode in. There is no comparison to MBB - she WAS Betty Broderick. This Betty is kind of a schlub. I need Betty in her Chanel suits and her blond quaff was signature hair. Amanda Peet actually reminds me of the actress who played Linda in the OG version. This is like noir, crazy kind of take, so I'll see it through.

R132, there's no such thing as "female hysteria" and 90% of killers are male

[quote]there's no such thing as "female hysteria"

Who should you believe? R136 or your lying eyes?

[quote] The older daughter got knocked up in high school and had an abortion (it was rumored that Linda drove her to the clinic). The younger daughter dropped out of high school, got into drugs and partying, and would steal Betty's car. The boys were dealing with emotional problems, and one of them (I think the older one) was noted by his school as being malnourished, with head lice (this was in Dirty John).

[quote] The book by Bella Stumbo went into it in great detail

I remember those details in the book. Years ago, I remember stumbling onto some San Diego or La Jolla message board where a poster claimed that she was a nanny for a family in La Jolla and she encountered the Broderick sons because they attended the same school as the kids she was caring for. She said that one of the boys used to show to school in dirty clothes and hungry. The poster said something about Dan being an asshole parent and that other parents in that circle hated him.

I bet Dan threw a mean fuck.

“Quaff” and “coif” are two different things.

Dan was a major asshole, gaslighting husband. Linda was a snide bitch "other woman" who thought in appropriate to interfere in his divorce. Neither of these folks deserved a death sentence.

Dan's legal skills and connections put Betty at a major disadvantage, but she definitely was her own worst enemy. She dismissed/ refused to hire several good attorneys and represented herself at the divorce. She's the one who dumped the kids at his new house to force him to be responsible and have the extra work. That backfired on her, then he wouldn't "give them back". Her acting out got her nowhere, except on a psychiatric hold, and lots more evidence for him.

Two people ended up dead when she broke into their home. All the pseudo-justifications about her taking the gun there "to force him to listen" and then she was going to shoot herself. Right, that was going to show Dan and Linda just how far over the cliff they forced poor Betty. Only problem is she killed both of them.

Betty is where she should be, the sentence was fair. Whether she will ever show remorse or be considered rehabilitated is another question. Again, she's her own worst enemy in any attempt for parole. She gets more attention that way.

Is this about that drag queen political commentator on Twitter who acts all Good Christian Bitches?

Betty was no "nut job," r46. Dan was a consummate gaslighter, but even so, Betty knew he was lying through his teeth about not philandering.

And the more Dan lied, the more he tried to exile her from their social circle, the more he destroyed her family life---the angrier Betty got.

Who would not?

Betty sacrificed her life to work to pay for Dan's DOUBLE degree matriculations; to bear and raise his children as a "Super-Mom"; to age gracefully (an original "Real Housewife") to still look good at Dan's side; and in general to make achieving professional success easier for Dan than it would have been on his own.

But success gave Dan Broderick other ideas, other plans.

Dan looks like a lizard

r132, but that film was told with the support of Dan and Linda's family. His brother and her sister were the major inputs.

This one at least used court records and talk to other people.

r141, she has to be top dog up in Chino by now. It's been 30 years. She is one of those momma's that gets the best treatment, I'm sure.

[quote] Dan looks like a lizard

You smell like stinkfish.

[quote] but that film was told with the support of Dan and Linda's family.

So?

Who cares what “other people” have to say? Betty is a crazy cunt who murdered two people (one of whom was a gorgeous man) in cold blood. She should’ve gotten the chair. I have no interest in any other story.

[quote] She is one of those momma's that gets the best treatment, I'm sure.

Yes, and she should’ve gotten the chair. A gorgeous man like Dan is dead, but this fat old bitch is still alive to stink up the world with her smelly cooze until she finally kicks off? I don’t think so.

R145, Well, then those family members weren't so bright, as the MB version shows Dan as a duplicitous, egotistical, incredibly self-centered gaslighter in the throes of a Mid-Life Crisis, complete with red sports car and chickie girlfriend.

I think the entire tragedy boils down to---when one considers everything, ranging from the denied infidelity to Dan's "fining" Betty for her phone language to selling their house without her knowledge--->

"How DARE he?!"

But Dan did dare, and to do much more than to eat a peach.

And he lost.

R150= murderous lesbian

R149, You "don't think so"?

Meet reality.

R151, Not gay. Just your garden-variety Scorpio.

Begone, fraufish!

Betty Broderick is the face of modern feminism. They no longer hide the fact that their endgame has always been to kill men.

Poor Dan. If only he’d found a sister to take care of him instead of messing with stinkfish, he’d be alive today.

R156, Don't you really mean "Poor Dan. If only he'd realized he was gay, as all men are, and found a man to take care of him....."?

I knew this show must have had a resurgence when I started receiving upvotes on my old comments from a year ago on Primetimer forum

Dan would have had no use for gay men so quit fantasizing about that douche

Oh, and Betty is also a Scorpio (November 7).

This version has taken make a while to get into but has really picked up steam by episode 4. The problem is that they are trying to stretch out a very well known story over 8 episodes, when 2-4 max would have done. One thing that is consistent in both portrayals is that Betty seems absolutely exhausting. Peet play her with a more powerless vulnerability (at least up to this point) to Meredith's "don't fuck with me fellas" type of fierceness. Christian Slater has always had a skeezy vibe, so the already questionable Dan seems all the more loathsome played by Slater. Linda seems like a gold digging seductress whore in this one vs. the more innocent, angelic version in MB's movie.

Betty is part of the pop culture fabric of the 80s. I recently watched her YouTube videos on Oprah. She seems slightly unhinged; maybe she does have borderline personality disorder. On all of the YouTube videos about Betty, the vast majority of the comments are supportive of her.

I just started watching the Netflix series today. Betty is privileged and has a college degree, she still goes along with the expectation of the submissive, supportive wife. The show emphasizes the fact that Betty does everything society told her she is supposed to do. She supports her husband and raises his kids while he climbs the corporate ladder. But then, once he reaches the top of the ladder, and she's supposed to enjoy the success she helped him earn, he dumps her. He basically used her as an accessory and disposed of her when she was no longer useful to him.

The happened to many, many other women, but on a smaller scale. And Betty did what they fantasized about doing. And that's why she has so many supporters on YouTube.

Peet made Betty way too subdued, it felt off. MBB seemed to be more on the money with how frazzled, frenzied and chaotic the real Betty was as the divorce went on.

This was especially true with the infamous 'Bronco through the front door' incident. Peet's Betty was taken away by the police passively, MBB's Betty was kicking and screaming the entire time.

Slaters eye work is so fucking distracting.

r148, all you care about was that Dan was gorgeous. He was a gaslighting, controlling asshole. Not saying he deserved to be murdered. But I could see that he did have it coming.

MBB was born to play Betty. She looked remarkably like Betty. And she also seems to have an "unhinged" quality boiling below the surface.

Starts tonight? It's been on for days.

Bless your heart, R167.

"Umm Betty had menopausal weight on her, that was one reason Dan dumped her."

Umm, no. When Dan left her she was a normal weight. She claimed that when he told her she was fat she wore a size 8 and said that couldn't have been that big for someone as tall as she was (she was 5'10). She probably weighted more than Linda did though; there are photos where Linda looks stick skinny. I guess Dan liked them skinny. But Betty DID get fat after Dan left her. It was comfort eating that did it. She was the same way with money. She's spend and spend to make herself feel better, but it only worked for about 15 minutes. Betty just went on a downward spiral after Dan left her; she became fat, wore her hair in a ponytail, wore sweat suits most of the time (she used to be very stylish and well put together), used foul language and ranted and raved to anybody who would listen to her. The Dirty John shows about her document her mental disintegration but don't really touch on her physical decline at all. In the shows she sometimes looks haggard and is seen on occasion stuffing her face but she doesn't look anywhere near the total physical mess she became in real life.

[quote] [R148], all you care about was that Dan was gorgeous.

What else is there to care about?

Also, everyone is saying the cast is too young. Weren't the Brodericks around early to mid 40's when this happened? MBB looked younger than Peet does despite the harsh hair color and 80's wardrobe. Peet is 50 and Slater is 56. Slater is one of the few cases where the ultra botox for men seems to work, but again that kind of measly face. They actually look too old to me for these characters. Nobody leaves a harassing voice message like MBB and those poor kids who had to listen. We don't get as much of the kids as we do in A Woman Scorned.

In the Bronco scene, I doubt the cops would straight jacket Betty in the front yard. I feel like Meredith's version is a purists version of the story and I don't remember that. The secretary pissed and confronting Dan when whore Linda (RIP) become receptionist to paralegal in a day is consistent in both films.

I like murder stories where the victim was an asshole (not that they deserve to be killed) and you have a little sliver of sympathy for the murderer.

"Peet is 50 and Slater is 56."

When the affair started Dan was 37 and Linda was 21 (not 19, as Betty liked to say). I think Betty was 35 or 36. So they were much younger than the actors who played them.

Was Doug Savant in this? It was a minor part as one of the philandering husbands. I've loved him ever since he played a gay on Melrose Place. He looks fantastic for 56! He's aged very well.

R174 yes, Doug had a very small role in this. I binged both seasons this weekend. The first was much better. Although I feel like both Britton and Peet were too old for their roles. I'm shocked that Peet is only 50. And Slater was too short for the role. The other actors towered over him.

Dan Broderick was a monster. He tormented his mentally fragile wife for years, seemingly just for kicks. I have no sympathy for him or "the whore". All involved parties made horrible decisions. And all were driven by greed.

Dan wasn’t handsome until he got the nose job. Dan and bettys youngest child Rhett got Dan’s nose.

Betty and Dan seemed to enjoy winding each other up. Maybe there was a level of dangerous kink, like an S&M relationship.

Why would you ask and then answer your own question , R174? Are you the type of person in love with the sound of their own voice?

Amanda Peet was surprisingly good.

I wasn't familiar with the real Betty Broderick so I wasn't comparing her, but Peet's acting was much better than I expected.

I just felt that it was at least twice as long as it should have been. And there were no sympathetic characters.

As soon as I'd feel sorry for Betty, she'd do something stupid/awful to make her own life worse.

And her "friends" at the trial were all cunts. That was very abrupt. They hadn't been like that to her before. I get that they were tired of her at that point, but I didn't buy that they would all turn on her like that.

It was absolutely stretched out far too long.

Sometimes I think Betty doesn't really want to leave prison. She has been there for too many years. It might be hard for her to forge a life outside of prison. For one thing, she doesn't have any money and she is quite status conscious.

The next time she's eligible for parole will be in 2032. She will be 83 years old. She's only worked sporadic odd jobs, so she'll have no social security. I don't believe she'll be entitled to her ex-husband's money. If her children inherited the money, they might not want to share it with her.

Honestly, at 83, she should just stay in prison. At least she'll get meals and health care. It's probably better than a state-run nursing home.

I don't think she wants to be paroled either. When she first got arrested, she slept better in her jail cell than she had for years in her bed at home. She really was spiraling out of control in the two or so years before she shot Dan and Linda, it seems that something extreme was going to happen regardless.

Plus, due to all the publicity she was getting during her trials, she was a bit of a Queen Bee in prison.

I read that 2 of her kids want her to be released, and 2 think she shouldn't.

Before Betty was sentenced her attorney Jack Earley said of her: "She doesn't need to get out. She just needs to get OLD." He also said "what would she do if she did get out?" My guess is that is she did get out she wouldn't buy a gun and start blowing people away, as her detractors seem to think. She's probably live with one of her children (it would have to be Lee or Rhett; Kim and Danny Jr. want her to die in prison), spend time with her grandchildren and try to get a job. She's no danger to anyone. As Rhett said the only people who would be in danger if she got out are dead.

The two who testified against her predictably don't want her to be released. Would you? We know what she does to people who she feels have betrayed her...

She's not a serial killer, R186. Two people consistently, continually tormented her until she snapped and killed them. To think that she'd get out of prison and start blowing away everybody she doesn't like is ridiculous. She's in her seventies now, and in poor health. If she got out she'd want to spend the time she has left with her kids and grandkids. She's a harmless old lady.

I watched the entire season and it finally got good after episode 3. Amanda Peet did do a good crazy in later episodes.

I just watched the MBB version on Tubi. Her performance is not as epic as I'd remembered. However, she was a far better physical match than Peet. The MBB version is not as detailed. It assumes the viewer knows the story already.

Amanda Peet gets credit for letting herself look like shit as time went by.

Early on, she was in perfect makeup, hair, and Chanel when lunching with friends. Later, she was wearing a warmup and looked as if she'd slept in her car.

If they had cast an actor better looking than moon-faced Christian Slater, it would have been clearer why Betty killed for that hot dick her husband was cruelly depriving her of.

Dan Broderick was WAY better looking than Christian Slater. After his nose job he was classically handsome. I have no idea why Slater, who has always looked weird, was cast as him.

Wait, this series has been going on for a year already? I thought it was just starting.

Amanda Peet in the OP’s picture is a very attractive woman. Is she about Angie Dickinson’s age when she did Dressed To Kill?

I simply cant take how stupid R193 is.

I thought it was a new series, too. As it just popped up on Netflix.

What shocked me is that it has a higher rating than the original Dirty John, which I thought was far more entertaining.

I sometimes mistake Amanda Peet for Hilary Swank and vv.

R196 Does Amanda Whatever have two Oscars, too?

R197 I meant their faces are very similar.

MBB was nominated for an EMMY for her portrayal. I love the subject matter, but I am losing interest and I'm on episode 6 or 7. There is not a huge camp element either. It just feels like prolonged misery, which I guess was what marriage was like to either of them. I'll finish up though.

The MBB Betty Broderick movies were highly biased in favor of Dan and Linda and portrayed Betty as a complete bitch from start to finish. It was pretty much bullshit.

As entertaining as Betty is, I can't believe people would a defend a crazy bitch who shot two people in their sleep.

MBB was fab, Amanda Peet tried but was all wrong.

I'm watching the series. Amanda Peet doesn't fit the role physically but she's doing a great job. She had big shoes to fill with MBB.

[quote] I simply cant take how stupid [R193] is.

It’s okay. I like you, and I want to be your friend.

This is what Betty said happened and I believe her:

She'd gotten a nasty legal letter from Dan's attorney saying she MIGHT be able to have some custody of her kids if she adhered to their rules, and if she didn't custody would immediately be revoked. That made her snap; she got some crazy idea that is she showed up at Dan's house with a gun he and Linda would HAVE to listen to her. Of course they'd never let her in the house, so she used a key belonging to her daughter and let herself in in the wee hours of the morning. In her crazy mind, she thought she would, armed with a gun, tell them to leave her alone or she's blow her brains out. She stepped into the room; Linda saw her and screamed "CALL THE POLICE!" and Dan lunged from the phone. And in a fear fueled panic she shot the gun five times. She said Dan spoke to her, said "You got me" or something like that. Afraid he'd call the police on her, she broke the phone cord. And fled the house.

I don't think it was first degree murder. I don't think she had any plan to kill them when she went into the house. I don't think she had any plan at all. Her mind was totally disoriented; I don't think she could have planned a ham sandwich at that point in her life. I think it was a murder that happened out of sheer panic.

I have sympathy for Betty Broderick but I think she got what she deserved: a long prison sentence. But she should have been let out before now. She's no threat to anyone. But her mind is still stuck in Dan and Linda mode. She'll never get over that, so I think unless she gets some kind of compassionate release due to her age or ill health, she will probably die in prison.

She was - and probably still is - completely, obsessively crazy. If they let her out, she'd probably transfer her obsessive craziness to one or more of the kids. I think she is where she belongs. And I agree with what Dan said (if he actually said it in real life), she has a huge sense of entitlement which is oftentimes a trait in socio- and psychopaths. Self-centered and narcissistic are also traits of those types of egos as well, and she had all three of those traits in spades. I lived in the San Diego area during the time of the trial and saw quite a few of the courtroom clips. You could tell she was a psycho.

If anybody was a "narcissist" it was Dan Broderick. That guy thought the sun rose and set on him. As for Betty, it seemed to me she was no narcissist; in fact she had low self esteem that was only assuaged by being Dan's wife and the mother of his children. When she lost him and the children she went bonkers. She felt she was nothing without her marriage and children. Some "narcissist."

R205 Agree 100%. The crazy is well documented in the writings of Bella Stumbo, who was somewhat sympathetic to Betty.

r206 they can both be narcissists. Having low self-esteem has nothing to do with being, or not being, a narcissist. In fact, "Narcissistic Personality Disorder" lists low self-esteem as one of the hallmarks of the disease. The link explains it better.

"Narcissist" should be the Oxford Dictionary word of the year. You can't go a day without reading it.

R209 The word became widely used in reference to Trump. I rarely saw it before his reign. It's his fault, as is everything fucked up about society right now.

I thought this was a new series too until I noticed the fade-outs for commercial breaks and realized it had been made for regular TV.

I love Peet but she's physically miscast as BB, as is Slater. I found everyone's overacting a bit exasperating although it's not a bad show, overall.

[quote]I love Peet but she's physically miscast as BB, as is Slater.

Yes, Slater made a dreadful Betty.

I just binged all 8 episodes. I thought Peet was very good and Slater, who plays slimy characters very well, was okay. It probably helps that I don't know what the real Betty or Dan or Linda look like. Also, I remember watching the MBB version years ago and liking it. I thought this most recent version gave more background but I like both versions equally.

I didn't know what Betty looked like either.

No wonder he divorced her!

Jon Hamm would have been a much better choice for the role of Dan Broderick than Christian Slater.

R215 Both juries would have acquitted Betty for killing for Jon Hamm dick.

Bella Stumbo's "Until The Twelfth of Never" is the Bible of the Betty Broderick case. Anyone interested in this crime should read this book because it will tell you EVERYTHING. Stumbo is not as much sympathetic to Betty as she is HONEST about her. And Dan. And Linda. She portrays them all accurately, without bias, and they all have one thing in common: they were all selfish, self absorbed people who put their needs above everyone else's, especially the Broderick children. They were all awful.

Another awful character in all the mess was Kim, Betty's oldest daughter. Kim was, like her mother, very materialistic. She ran up high phone bills, smashed her car and expected Dan to pay the bills and get a new car. He wouldn't, so she would run to Betty who promptly got her a rental car and paid her phone bills, despite not really having the money to do it. Kim also ran whining and crying to Betty because Dan only gave her $150 to buy a dress for her junior prom. So what does Betty do? She runs right out and buys a v-neck, peach satin, beaded gown for $800, with "matching slippers." Kim's complaints and crying about how Dan was nickel and diming her enraged Betty, threw fuel on the fire of her anger. But when Kim testified for the prosecution at her mother's trial, she lied through her teeth, saying that she never really made a big deal about the prom dress or the bills or anything like that, Betty was just exaggerating again. Kim seems a lot like her dear old Dad; out for herself totally, cold and totally without compassion for her mother, who spend thousands of dollars on her to make her happy.

They were both nuts.

Dan should have given her the money she asked for. He just had to have everything his way.

Betty resorted to ridiculous tactics when her sense of injustice wasn't satiated. Everyone tried to advise her to calm the F down, but she never listened to anyone.

BTW, the money he ended up giving her was way more than most alimony payments many women of that era got. It's not like she was living in a shoebox. And a lot of housewives get dumped for younger women; you have to move on.

Hot damn, I wish someone would give my middle-aged ass alimony. He could have the kids, too. Go be with your 21-year old trophy wife.

That sounds like a great arrangement to me. I’d live in an apartment and do yoga and read books and ride my bike and enjoy the peace and quiet.

R219 Life isn't worth living without a big dick in you!

R219 I know! She got a lot of money too.

For those of you complaining about the casting, then who should have played Dan and Betty?

I"d pick Ty Burrell for Dan. There's some resemblance, and I'd like to see him play an evil character.

If this were ten years ago, then Courtney Love would have been perfect to play Betty. Or Courtney Thorne Smith. Today, I'd pick Jaime Pressly or Anna Faris.

They should have put Amanda Peet in a fat suit to play Betty after her physical deterioration. That would have been fun to watch.

Completely left out of the Dirty John episodes was Brad Wright, Betty's boyfriend. Yes, Betty had a boyfriend, a nice, handsome, loyal, well off man who was a few years younger than she was. He affectionately called the rotund Betty "The Bear." He had a kind of childlike naivete about him that was very appealing. He was nice, good looking, had his own business; I think any woman would have been happy to be with him. But there was one thing wrong with him: he wasn't Dan Broderick. He wasn't a hot shot, go getting, socially prominent millionaire attorney. Betty considered him inferior to Dan. He remained loyal to her after she went to jail, but they eventually parted ways at some point. I saw a video on YouTube about him; seems he had a storage locker and didn't keep up with the fees; apparently absent minded, he forgot that the locker contained love letters from Betty Broderick. The contents of the locker were auctioned off and the love letters became public. Betty told him "if I had a penny for every time I think of you I'd be a millionaire many times over." The locker also contained cancelled checks; he gave money to Betty and also her daughter, to "help her out." In one letter she writes "Where are you and where's my money? Help! I need to see you, it's been too, too long." He said he wishes the letters had never been published (no surprise, there) and considers his time with Betty "a dark chapter in his life."

This series was terrible.

There was no attempt to fully grasp any of the characters. It was more like a film BASED on the people- with no attempt to capture them.

They could have been playing anyone. Peet was fine. Christian was blah. The kids were horrible.

It looked CHEAP AS FUCK, made no attempt to even capture Dan Diego/La Jolla.

The homes looked so cheap, the law firm setting was nothing like the real thing.

I cannot believe that this was so many episodes.

For me the production design was horrible on all levels, and made it even worse.

I am still trying to get through this. I'm on the final episode. The whole series is Betty sobbing. Where is the rage, the anger, where is the WOMAN SCORNED????? Where are the fist fights in prison? I will give Peet credit for being able to maintain a level of constant misery and despair for 8 hours. It's harder to play desperate sadness that fury, but it's so tedious. I love this story and was waiting for this version to finally get to Netflix. Thank God I didn't purchase this on Amazon when I was bored over quarantine. I would have been pissed! I need to watch the first Dirty John. That one is supposed to be good and I love Connie Britton.

R226- The first Dirty John was AWESOME. And it was even better because I knew nothing about that case prior to watching. Highly recommended either way.

Like night and day- the actors in that one really tried to capture the characters they were playing- it was really good.

That house he lived in did look cheap.

And they cut corners by having the wedding at the same house Betty had lived in.

The husband had bought a new mansion by then.

Season 3: Dirty Yashar.

I hate Amanda Peet

BB experts. Was Betty's cliffside La Jolla house a teardown like the one portrayed here or was it a nice move in ready home like in MBB's version? I can't see the pre-divorce Betty agreeing to leave her nice house with down to go live in a tear down with the family. They would have remained in their original home, done the work, and then moved in. Peet's house looks like one of those old shacks in Malibu that smell like mildew and have old carpeting. It looks like this was filmed in Palos Verdes.

The whole aesthetic was visually “dark.” We get it. Hated it. MBB version was bright and engaging.

Is R230 Howard Stern?

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

R233 I remember it. Wasn’t there a horrific scene of her gobbling cake out by a dumpster?

[quote] Wasn’t there a horrific scene of her gobbling cake out by a dumpster?

No she did not!???!?!?!?! OK, I am going to get drunk at a day time Pride event and watch it this evening wasted if I can find it on Amazon or Apple. I'm sold by the prospect seeing an upper middle class white woman dumpster diving for cake in a bulimic frenzy!

R235 I think she got the cake at a supermarket and then went out back to devour it, if memory serves. But your viewing plans sound excellent!

Yeah, not worth 8 episodes and, if you binge, it drags terribly. Episodes seem to go by with absolutely no point.

R233-HELL YES!!! Kate's Secret is a classic! I watched that one in 1986 during summer repeats at my grandparents house!! I was in awe at the age of 9.

I think the finest scene in all of filmdom (TV and Cinema) is when Kate decides to DEVOUR a package of cookies IN THE SUPERMARKET while hiding from the security camera. Kate was not only Bulimic, but straight up GANGSTA!

The other scene is after (or during) a dinner party when Kate basically FUCKS THE LEFTOVERS on the floor!!!! She literally has an orgasm. Chocolate Cake- everything. The most horrible part is when she shoves a plateful of macaroni salad in her mouth (WITH HER HANDS) and then scoops of a heaping bite of that delicious chocolate cake! Its disgusting!

Meredith Baxter Birney RULES!

The Dirty John series really watered down Betty's foul language. She never said "Linda the whorel Kolkena." It was always "Linda the CUNT Kolkena." And Dan was "fuckhead." She left a message for them on the answering machine that started "This message is for Fuckhead and the Cunt." She was always leaving messages like that, due in part to hearing Linda Kolkena's voice on Dan's answering machine. Linda the Cunt put her voice on Dan's answering machine BEFORE they were married. Why did she do that? Why, to enrage Betty of course. And that's just ONE of the things she did to drive Betty nuts.

The first Dirty John was so much more entertaining.

R238 And then she puts the package of cookies back on the shelf!

[quote]] Betty was no "nut job," [R46]. Dan was a consummate gaslighter, but even so, Betty knew he was lying through his teeth about not philandering.

Yes, it's the work of a sane person to drive her car into a house's side in order to punish someone.

R233- The ENTIRE telefilm!!! Link for you.

And this bitch was hardcore. After stealing the cookies and eating them while hiding from one camera, this bitch decides to mosey on over to the dairy section, pops open a carton of milk, and washes those delicious cookies down!!!! Shit.

Ok you bitches, I'm watching "Kate's Secret," the big cookie scene. Looks like the bingeing scenes will be accompanied by weird distorted funhouse music. And omg she then throws UP in the dumpster! Ok, no more spoilers.

R244- And she WASHES THEM DOWN WITH MILK AFTER!

WITH HER MOTHER WAITING IN THAT BEAUTIFUL JEEP WAGONEER with the wood sides! (A sought after classic today)

And they stopped there to get her ( under the false pretense) mom mint tea!!!!

Instead Gangsta-Bitch Kate steals cookies, eats the package, throws the remainder on the shelf, strolls over to dairy, steals milk, swigs it down, and tells her mu-va that the store was OUT OF THE MINT TEA!

Gangsta!

R238 Oh my GAWD you weren't kidding about the party leftovers scene. That drama far exceeds the cookie scene imo.

The whole thing takes place in a very cozy upscale Malibu family milieu.

R246- SHIT!!!! Was the cookie scene at the Trancas Market?? I actually wondered that!

The Party Leftovers scene is like watching your parents have sex. It is supremely dirty and uncomfortable.

And the background music when she EYES THE CAKE!!!

This movie is a classic for the ages

And back to Betty-

Isn't it crazy that in this shitty Netflix version, Amanda at least says a swear in the "leaving message" scene, and yet Meredith Baxter Birney says "Are you with her now Dan? Are you making it with the DOGMEAT on the stairs now Dan" ? And somehow the Meredith version is one million times better and more effective? DOGMEAT??

Meredith = Queen

Thanks for this R243. Watching now. I was in the mood for some campy fun!

R248, after watching 'A Woman Scorned' the first time, I would say the dog meat line to myself and then laugh. That line and MBB's delivery of it was just flawless.

There’s a foreshadowing of MBB’s Betty performance in Kate’s Secret. Kate is the perfect housewife but cunty to her husband in the same way as Betty, and her manic binge scenes recall Betty trashing Dan’s house.

Right?? Its actually a very good early 90's TV movie of the week version of "this is for the scumbag and the CUNT!" message...

How the fuck could that scene be 200 times better than a 2020 Netflix version that includes a SWEAR??

It's Meredith, Bitch.

She is straight up gangsta, bitch.

I need to start a Youtube dedicated to MBB.

I have to get this bitch for an interview, and then it is EAST STREET!

^^ Motherfuck! EASY STREET!

Wasn't Tracy Nelson in that bulemia movie as an anorexic model/ star of some sort that MBB meets in treatment?

Sorry for the interruption... but MBB was great in that movie as well as the classic Betty Broderick ones.

And hell- 80's SUPERSTAR- Miss Shari Belafonte Harper played her bestest friend!!!!!!!!

i read Bella Stumbo's book. She thoroughly documented Betty's torrent of obscenities. But nowhere does she report that Betty used the word :"dogmeat" to refer to Linda. I wonder where the writers came up with that one? Oh well, they had to have her some something distasteful and since they couldn't use the words she actually used they had to think up some other gross thing for her to say. But "dogmeat?" I thought that was pretty funny.

I own Bella's paperback.

But DOGMEAT worked better in 1992(93?) than "ASSHOLE" in 2020!!!

Fuck this 2020 piece of SHIT!

Dogmeat isn’t even a word I’ve ever heard, out of the Betty context. It’s genius though. Imagine some Hollywood screenwritee brainstorming it.

Screenwriter

Am I really supposed to believe Tracy Nelson as a model??????

Betty won.

I'm going to have to look this one up I guess. I loved The Twelfth of Never and the MBB film. I wasn't even aware of this newer one. I am team Betty all the way. Dan, for some insane reason, just loved to poke at this piranha lady with a sharp fork. He couldn't seem to help himself. For that reason alone he got what he deserved. You don't go poking a crazed, angry person that much and for that long, without consequences. Stupid, stupid fellow. This entire story is a lesson that should be learned by every tormentor... you poke the bear enough times and it will eventually attack and devour you. Should she be let out of prison? Can't really say. I doubt she would ever harm another human, but she did kill two people. She is probably better off just remaining in the cooler. What she did to Dan and Linda, she was pushed to the limit to do. He was a royal fucker of a guy.

Wasn't that Linda chick a real cunt to her too?

Yes, Linda was a "real cunt" to Betty: putting her voice on Dan's answering machine before they were married. notarizing legal missives Dan sent to Betty (like the one cancelling her insurance), sending her anonymous mailings that considered of ads for weight loss products and wrinkle cream. She (and Dan) would call Betty fat, the beast, the monster, etc. within earshot of the Broderick children. Not only that, Linda would butt in when it came to the kids, telling Dan to keep Betty away from them. She also encouraged him to fine her more and have her thrown in jail more. Linda was indeed "The Cunt."

As for Dan, well, he was so cocksure of himself that he thought he could do anything and get away with it. He had no fear of Betty. He did keep poking at her until she finally snapped. Why did Dan and Linda continue to torment Betty, whose mind was unraveling more and more each day? That's one of the mysteries of the case: why didn't they back off when they could plainly see Betty was getting more and more out of control? Betty's attorney said this about how Dan kept at her heedlessly: "He must have been really stupid or had a real death wish."

Funny how Betty wasn't "bonkers" or "crazy" or "narcissistic" or "psycho" or, especially, "selfish" when she worked multiple jobs to pay for Dan to get TWO professional degrees (medicine and law) while being pregnant, giving birth, and raising their children.

Funny how people didn't describe Betty with pejoratives until the highly esteemed and successful Dan Broderick chose his fateful path of cheating, gaslighting, divorcing, and, in their milieu, making Betty a social exile.

Linda was a younger, slimmer, and more deferential version of Betty. She got to attend the graduation ceremony of one of Betty's children, without having had any of the less glamorous work of nurturing that child.

Linda was allowed to simply inherit Betty's house and home, family, and friends. Dan allowed Betty only memories.

That's the type of human being Daniel Broderick was.

That would, of course, be "while she was being pregnant,,...."

Kim and Danny jr don’t want her out but both actually visit her in prison. Their big issue is that she doesn’t show or have remorse. Rhett and lee have made peace with that. I think one of dans brothers squandered some of the kids inheritance. Also weren’t Dan and Linda sending Betty ads for fat farms and weight loss products? My memory is rusty but right before going to work for Dan wasn’t linda a flight attendant who was fired for fucking a passenger?

R258, You'd never heard the word "dogmeat"?!

Dan and Linda got what they deserved. Plus some Jury members were so stupid they didn't understand the sentencing guidelines so they mistakenly convicted her more harshly than they intended.

I binged it this weekend. It was OK: not bad, not especially impressive. Interesting arc though--the first episode made Betty look ridiculous and Dan practically a saint, and the remaining episodes completely flipped that impression around.

I don't understand why it was made part of a Dirty John series. This case has nothing to do with John Meehan.

R270 it's about a love story gone bad. But yeah, they should've changed the title.

[quote] Interesting arc though--the first episode made Betty look ridiculous and Dan practically a saint, and the remaining episodes completely flipped that impression around.

I don't agree. I think Dan came across as bad in the beginning (there was a lot of foreboding when they first go married -- like him telling her on their honeymoon that they didn't need a hotel maid because she could make the bed), but Betty came across as much less sympathetic as the show went on.

Making the choice to have Dan scold his new wife about breaking into Betty's house and invading her privacy -- "We don't do that type of thing" -- was an interesting choice that made him seem superior to crazy Betty.

[quote]there was a lot of foreboding when they first go married -- like him telling her on their honeymoon that they didn't need a hotel maid because she could make the bed

That was the second or third episode. The first episode focused on Betty pissing off her first divorce attorney by being completely uncooperative and crashing her car into Dan's house.

Linda Kolkena was a whore! She deserved it

Pop

Six

Squish

Uh uh

La Jolla

Kolkena

So she was utterly impossible and Dan and Linda did some unnecessary taunting. So they deserved to be shot in their sleep? How can anyone be OK with that? How? Also - how?

Thank you so much for the link, R243. I got too drunk last night and feel asleep before I got to it. I'm hung over today and am about to dive into "Kate's Secret", which sounds like it might deserve it's own thread.

I don’t know if it’s a matter of being okay with it but more understanding of why she did it. She was a mentally unstable woman at the end of her rope emotionally and financially being mocked and bullied by Dan and Linda.

At least portrayed both by Betty and heavily suggested in this version, the court system was an old boys club with lawyers giving each other intel about how to fuck their wives over. The judge was also in on it, so there was no way that Betty could have received a truly fair trial. However, it also alludes that Dan was paying her above and beyond what she was due. If Betty bowed out gracefully, Dan probably would have compensated her so that she could maintain her lifestyle. The toying with money came as Betty's actions got crazier and crazier, at least as I understand it based on both this and MBB's version.

Dan was not paying above and beyond. Far from it, plus he was burying her in court fees. He used the system to come down unfairly on her then taunted her. I'm a pretty chill guy but I can understand her anger and desperation. The court should have recompensated her fairly.

Betty believed in marriage and taking one's vows seriously. Remember how she bailed on the remarriage/wedding of her friend's ex-husband? If Dan had treated her with respect and given her a fair amount of money out of the gate, she wouldn't have gone bonkers. And promoting some unskilled and uneducated ninny to paralegal just because he wanted to fuck her? What an insult to his long time secretary. Dan was a grade A POS and deserves to be 6 feet under.

[quote]Dan was a grade A POS and deserves to be 6 feet under.

Only if he really did look like Christian Slater. But he didn't.

I bet he had a big dick. He should have lived.

Betty did plenty of inexcusable things even before the murder. But Dan got away with a lot of shit that he shouldn't have. That stunt with moving her out of their house, abusing the Epstein credits, and his monetary "penalties" should have been slapped down hard by the judge. But, much like the recent media hysteria around "civility," because Dan had the power and money so he could do all these things under a veneer of calm and without cursing and screaming he got away with it and Betty was penalized for every little thing.

If she hadn't run off every single lawyer who tried to help her, she likely would have ended up with much more money. But the judge still had an obligation to protect her rights regardless and letting Dan get away with his sly but polite stunts was just wrong.

As far as the children, they were both pretty damn awful.

Linda tried to be a flight attendant but was fired for getting drunk and screwing a male passenger in the plane's toilet. Also for using "bad language." Linda was indeed a slut.

Happy summer, gays.

Who wants to write to Betty in prison and tell her she is a DL icon? Has anyone ever written to her? As a dumb gayling, I wrote to Michael Alig after Party Monster came out and he sent me a really nice letter back with all these drawings.

Yeah, somebody should write her and tell that she's an icon on a website called Datalounge. I think she'd appreciate it. She loves supportive letters.

[quote] This is what Betty said happened and I believe her:

You’re a dumbass. The woman is psychotic and deserves to die in prison. End of discussion.

I adore Betty’s antics as much as the next gay but my dears, SHE KILLED TWO PEOPLE!

With that said, I am now going to return to “Kate’s secret,” which I had to stop halfway through yesterday. When I left off, Shari Belafonte was leading an aerobics class and Meredith had just gotten dizzy and hit the deck.

R288, you are obviously an idiot. Betty was NEVER "psychotic." If she had been it would have been used as a defense at her trial. Who are you anyway, some asshole relative of Dan :"Fuckhead" Broderick or Linda "The Cunt" Kolkena?

Wasn’t Howard Stern in a feud with Amanda Peet?

"I adore Betty’s antics as much as the next gay but my dears, SHE KILLED TWO PEOPLE!"

Yeah, she killed two people alright. After being gaslighted by Dan for years and then tormented in various by both Dan and Linda for years. That needs to be taken into account. As for the killing itself, it was done in a panic. If she'd planned it and aimed the gun all of the bullets would have hit them instead of three. She went in with some crazy idea that she could finally get them to listen to her if she had a gun and "they moved, I moved, and it was over." Just like that.

[quote]I adore Betty’s antics as much as the next gay but my dears, SHE KILLED TWO PEOPLE!

We know, dear. She's in jail, and not getting out at least until she's too frail to pick up a fork let alone a gun. We can safely talk and even joke about her antics precisely because she has and is paying the price for her crimes.

[quote] Betty was NEVER "psychotic."

She drove an SUV through a house and then shot two people as they slept. People don’t generally do things like that unless they’re psychotic. You fat frau.

[quote] That needs to be taken into account.

Bull fucking shit. The bitch should’ve taken the $11,000 a month she was being given and moved on with her life.

The fact that you believe the crazy bitch’s cockamamie story about “just wanting to talk” tells me that you’re a fat frau whose husband is probably getting his ass eaten by a guy he met in the steam room as we speak.

R293 I get it. What I don’t get is how she has a sincere fandom who think her imprisonment is an injustice.

"I don't know what took her so long!"

R298 That’s terrible.

Rhett told Oprah that she’s pretty mellow and calm, but loses it if Dan and Linda are brought up which has been her downfall as far as getting parole.

The kids wanted to live Betty and you can hear Danny jr. pleading with her in the recorded calls to stop cussing and acting crazy so they can live with her again. Dan didn’t want the kids and the younger boys showed signs of neglect. Dan wrote Lee out of his will because she wanted to stay with her mom, she was a teenager at the time. Rhett said Dan’s family treated him like shit because he wanted to have a relationship with his mother.

Kim got screwed a few years ago by a woman she considered collaborating on a book on and did a few interviews with. The two fell out and the woman published a book with Kim being listed as the co author. Kim’s married last name is Piggins, even with the notoriety of the Broderick case, I think I would’ve kept my maiden name.

R294,R295 and R296 are the same retard. By the way retard, Betty was thoroughly examined psychologically and was NEVER diagnosed as "psychotic. Actually, you sound like the psychotic. A psychotic retard.

Dan and Linda have been worm food since 1989. Betty is still alive and kicking. I'd say she won.

Not a legal expert, but couldn’t Betty have requested the divorce proceedings to be moved to another county since Dan was so ensconced with the legal community in San Diego?

Kim and Dan Jr. on Oprah, around the same time Oprah interviewed Betty. Those poor kids saw some shit.

[quote] Actually, you sound like the psychotic. A psychotic retard.

lololol You’re the psychotic one, you crazy frau, defending this nut job killer. Any psychological exam that resulted in Betty getting a clean bill of mental health is clearly flawed. You can keep flapping your pussy lips about how she’s totally sane, but nobody with a lick of sense will listen to a word you say.

[quote] Rhett said Dan’s family treated him like shit because he wanted to have a relationship with his mother.

Rhett is ugly. Dan, Jr. inherited Daddy’s looks.

R305 is TRIGGERED! Also a retarded psycho. By the way, retard psycho, Betty never got "a clean bill of mental health." She was just never diagnosed a psychotic. You don't know much about her, obviously.

I know all I need to know about her.

"Rhett is ugly. Dan, Jr. inherited Daddy’s looks."

Rhett Broderick is NOT ugly. And Dan Jr. didn't "inherit" any looks from Dan. He doesn't look much like him at all. Kim Broderick looks more like her father than any of the others. And Dan wasn't much to look at before he got his needle nose cropped.

Rhett is most assuredly ugly. Dan, Jr. is hot. So was his father. If Dan, Sr. was alive, I’d let them spit roast me without a second thought.

Rhett looks like Dan pre plastic surgery. You can see some of bettys features in Dan jr.

[quote] You can see some of bettys features in Dan jr.

You shut your filthy mouth.

What number wife would Dan be on if he'd lived? #4? #5?

How long would Linda have lasted? '95? '99?

He has bettys blue eyes r312.

I think had Dan lived the current Mrs. Broderick would’ve been born in the 80’s.

Does anyone know where to find bettys answering machine messages and recorded phone calls. I couldn’t find them on YouTube.

R313, I predicted back in R109 that Dan would be on wife number four by now. I was a bit more optimistic than you that Linda would have lasted until around 2000.

R314 - the A&E documentary linked below has some of them (with bleeps). The "fuckhead and the cunt" messages are at the 12-minute mark.

I've heard one message where she tells Linda through the machine that she's supposed to fuck Dan at home and answer the phone at the office. I'll try to find it.

A hypothetical current Mrs Broderick MIGHT be old enough to rent a car

What might have happened if Dan turned to Linda before their wedding and said "You know, I'm going to be fair to Betty and give her the bulk of the estate to make up for everything. Sure, things will be tight for a while but I suppose it's only fair that I struggle now while she enjoys the wealth she helped me create. You don't mind, right?"

What's happening for Betty in prison? She's very quiet.

What's happening for Betty in prison? Well, at the end of Bella Stumbo's book Betty has been assigned janitorial duties, cleaning cells and toilets. She said "Now I'm a housewife again. The other girls got to work, I get up and have my coffee and chocolate, and then I clean house all day. Just like before. It's perfect for me." Does she still do that? Who knows. Anyway, she shares a room with five other women and all her worldly possession are kept in a small locker. Some "country club" as Oprah Winfrey said the prison was said to be, on the show where she interviewed Betty.

In recent years Betty Broderick has had health problems. She's in her seventies now, an old lady. She probably doesn't have the energy to mouth off like she used to.

A girlfriend of mine growing up has a rich father. He slept with one of her friends when we were 19 and her current stepmother is 8 years younger than we are. That was Dan's future.

R289 - I just watched "Kate's Secret" thanks the MBB rabbit hole this thread sent me down and then by the very kind linking of the film! This is DL mandatory viewing and free on YouTube. I had no idea bulimia was so taboo in the 80's!!!

MBB shoving cookies in her mouth at like this quaint Malibu supermarket and then chugging milk straight out of the carton in the store like she was Patsy Stone in the liquor aisle was next level. Couldn't she have just bought the food like every other bulimic and eaten in her closet at home? The soundtrack was Jaws-esque every time she starts to binge. The group family therapy scene! OK, I won't ruin the fun for everyone else! Like Betty, Kate is married to another questionable lawyer which triggers her very aggressive binging. So good!!!!!

Back to Betty!

R321 I watched it too! Was that Mackenzie Phillips I spotted in a cameo?

Yes!!!!! McKenzie Phillips did have a small cameo, but very minimal lines and that girl who always has an eating disorder in everything she is in (Down & Out in BH), Tracy Nelson.

The old fraufish here are so jealous of young women with tight pussies. Dan got tired of fucking his fat, old wife and her gaping meat wallet. Big fucking deal. Again, take the $11,000 a month and move on.

[quote] MBB shoving cookies in her mouth at like this quaint Malibu supermarket and then chugging milk straight out of the carton in the store like she was Patsy Stone in the liquor aisle was next level. Couldn't she have just bought the food like every other bulimic and eaten in her closet at home?

Not dramatic enough. If 3/4 of your screenplay is your star gorging herself then throwing up, you need to find new ways for her to do it.

You could always retro-explain it as she doesn't want her husband to discover how much money she's spending on cookies and cake that somehow never make it to the kitchen.

Watching in the background as I work. Plays much better in a binge. Week to week, I wouldn't have come back.

So are they going to do a third "marriage from Hell" story and still call it Dirty John? Which one do you think they should do?

I have an idea, R327.

I'm r265, and even I don't believe Betty's ridiculous "I went there to talk and/or kill myself" claptrap!

She went in the dark of night to threaten, IMO, to coerce, to hold the life or death power over Dan as she perceived his behavior towards her. To get him to knock it the hell off!

But then Betty saw them. In bed.

I can believe that she fired the gun impulsively when one of the victims awoke.

The show doesn't even show the shooting. It was...fine, but the MBB version is superior in every single way.

R329 here.

Oh, wait. I guess I do allow room for the "talk" idea. Hmmm....

Well, talk not in the sense of discuss but in the sense of you'll do what I say. Never, though, suicide.

I liked the eerie music that accompanied the scene in the MBB version where she slowly enters the house, then goes up the stairs and into the room where Dan and his trophy wife bride lay in bed. I thought the music was a perfect reflection of what was going on in her mind at the time, that dark, foreboding music.

I’m in episode 6 right now and Amanda Peet is doing an incredible job, IMO. She doesn’t look like Betty but her scene at the end of the settlement (courtroom/she repped herself and owed Dan $787k, etc.) was just heartbreaking. I’ve always liked her, actually.

I finished the series last week and thought Amanda did a great job. Christian played his usual slimy self - no stretch at all.

I would have given her the chair.

If Dan and Linda were alive today, they'd be hosting fundraisers for Dump. Thank you, Betty!

That shot of Betty having a vision of Dan and Linda sitting across from her in her cell was a complete ripoff of the Chris Watts movie!

I gave up at the beginning of episode 8. I slogged through the first half hung over one day and then was forcing myself through it. I found myself scrolling on my phone or taking little naps. This was background noise TV or nap tv where you can still get the gist with your eyes closed. I have a vision of Betty and Amanda Peet was not it. They didn't bother with her hair, her weight or even go full in on her wardrobe. She was fine - meh! I think I'm too familiar with the case for this to be fun, especially after MBB.

For anyone interested, the classic “a woman scorned” starring the one and only MBB is free on Amazon Prime right now. I’m having a rewatch. Better than “Citizen Kane” for me.

NONE of the BB movies showed her extreme physical deterioration after Dan left her. This is an excerpt from "Until The Twelfth of Never", where Bella Stumbo describes her physical appearance:

"At last she had become too disgusting, too pathetic to bear, but only she could not see it. She grew fatter, messier, uglier each day, until finally she could wear nothing but sweat suits. Her hair was yellow straw, jerked back in a rubber band, a bristling ponytail, accentuating her pasty, multiple chins. She looked like a frowsy blimp, like some low class Twinkies freak from a cheap trailer park; and her old friends, remembering how lovely, how willowy, how elegant she had once been, flinched and turned their own pretty, smooth faces away. How could she let herself go like that they whispered among themselves, making mental notes to double their time at the gym next week."

r233 Bradley looks gay there

That’s true, R340. At the start, MBB is shown looking highly groomed in that 80s fashion. Later her only concession is sweats or mom jeans, but she still looks ok. Amanda was way too thin and pinched, and her hair was all wrong.

You know what I realized about the first TV movie? It contains the immortal line "I will not be ignored, Dan!" Delivered by MBB as Betty, to Dan's answering machine. A little wink to Fatal Attraction?

I caught that too, R343, the first time I watched it. It made me wonder if the real Dan and Linda ever watched [italic]Fatal Attraction[/italic], and if so, if they laughed at Glenn Close's iconic line because it reminded them of Betty.

Just looking at pictures of Dan and Linda would make ANYBODY want to kill them. They both looked immensely chuffed to be in possession of each other. Dan always has a shit eating grin or a smirk on his face that screams "Look at what I've got; nice piece of ass, huh?" And Linda ALWAYS has that enormous grin on her face with her huge teeth filling up half her face. I've noticed that she was always clutching Dan in photos, not unlike the way Meghan Markle clutches dimwit Harry. Dan and Linda seemed absolutely insufferable. But they were a rich couple, so their company was sought after. It was the 80s; that was all that matter: money.

I’ve never seen murder victims trashed the way Dan and Linda have been. For smiling in photos? Wtf? I’m a big fan of Betty’s other crazy antics, mind you, but she shot two people in their sleep!

Dan was an ass who didn't treat Linda as an equal, she should have stuck with the hot boyfriend she cheated on him with. Linda was no innocent though either, they both poked the tiger.

Dan and Linda deserved to be trashed. They were both selfish, self absorbed egoists who put their own wants above all else, and that included the Broderick children. They did things to anger Betty deliberately; Linda's voice on Dan's answering machine before they were married, Linda notarizing legal papers sent to Betty by Dan (legal papers signed by your husband's mistress?), etc. Betty said she got anonymous mailings that consisted of ads for weight loss products and wrinkle cream; I think she was telling the truth about that. And Dan's proposal to Linda; instead of asking her to marry him in private he did it in the most public way he could think of, getting down on one knee in a bar filled with his drunken buddies. It was so public it got written up in a gossip column. It was like he did that deliberately to rub Betty's face in it. Dan and Linda were murder victims, sure. But they were also really awful.

R348 Not a single one of those petty acts excuses what Betty did. Any normal, mature, basically well-adjusted adult copes with such things, painful as they may be.

Can you Harry/Meghan assholes keep them out of threads were they don't belong, R345? Seriously-seek some fucking help.

That was only so a deranged Harry/Meghan dipshit could work them into the thread, R346.

R350, if a random comment about Harry/Meghan upsets you so much then it is you who seriously needs to get some fucking help and SOON.

And the same goes for for the twat at R351. You need help too. You both need it SO much.

Hey, all you peeps saying Betty should have known better, and Dan and Linda didn't deserve what happened. Pay attention to what went down. When you are stupid and petty enough to keep poking that grizzly over and over and over and over with a sharp stick then you fucking get what is coming to you.

R353 oh please

It was obviously going to end with SOMEONE dead. Dan just expected she'd commit suicide, IMO.

R355 I doubt it. She was a big tough Italian broad at heart, not the type.

Dan (and Linda) knew Betty was mentally going off the deep end and they enjoyed it and tried to break her. It backfired on them.

R357 Bingo