Calling all true-crime fans! The Thing About Pam is a six-episode limited series starring Renée Zellweger. This true-crime show is based on the 2011 murder of Betsy Faria and the investigation and fallout from that murder (and there was certainly a lot of fallout). This series is based on a true story that absolutely proves that truth is stranger than fiction could ever dream of being.

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When Is the Release Date of The Thing About Pam?

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Image via NBC

If you can’t wait to dig into this bizarre true story, then we have good news: The Thing About Pam will begin airing on NBC on March 8 and will stream on NBC’s Peacock service the next day. So be sure to tune in to NBC at 10 pm Eastern Time on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, to learn more than a few things about Pam.

So What Is The Thing About Pam?

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Image via NBC

The Thing About Pam focuses on the murder of Betsy Faria. When Betsy, a woman suffering from stage 4 cancer, is found stabbed to death days after Christmas in 2011, it sets off a chain of events that engulfs multiple families and leads to more murders.

Betsy is found by her husband Russ Faria, who, noticing only some of the wounds to Betsy’s body, assumes she has died of suicide and immediately contacts 911 in a panic. The police quickly find that Betsy was in fact stabbed more than fifty times and that this is not suicide, but murder. Russ is the immediate suspect, especially after Pam Hupp, Betsy’s “best friend,” mentions how scared Betsy had been of Russ. Pam conveniently is also the last person to see Betsy alive and is the beneficiary of one of Betsy’s life insurance policies.

Related:The Best True Crime Series Streaming on HBO Max Right NowThe shocking death of Betsy Faria, the two murder trials of Russ Faria, and the other crimes, deaths, and pain that resulted from that initial murder were the focus of multiple Dateline episodes. It was most recently the topic of an episode in Season 28 of the long-running show entitled “The Thing About Pam.” Unlike many episodes of Dateline, this specific episode is not currently available to stream on NBC’s Peacock streaming service.

The Betsy Faria murder case and the other cases it led to are also covered in detail in a 2019 NBC News podcast, also titled “The Thing About Pam”. The podcast is available to stream on Apple Podcasts. It follows the Dateline crew’s investigation into the case following Russ Faria’s conviction and focuses as much on the media’s investigation and the creation of the Dateline episodes regarding the case as it does on the murder itself. It is narrated by Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison in his distinctive style.

A book about the case, co-written by Russ Faria’s lawyer Josh Schwartz, was published on February 22, 2022, and is called Bone Deep: Untangling the Betsy Faria Murder Case. Additionally, more newspaper articles than can be counted have been written about Pam Hupp and the people who had the misfortune to have her enter their lives.

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Watch The Thing About Pam's Trailer

The first trailer for The Thing About Pam was released in early February. This trailer shows Betsey Faria’s body being discovered and suspicion quickly falling on her husband Russ. It also hints at some of the odd twists the case will take. Additionally, it gives one of the first looks at The Thing About Pam’s principal cast.

A second trailer was released during the 2022 Super Bowl. This second trailer is a simpler affair, with a voiceover from Renée Zellweger as Pam Hupp as newspaper headlines about the case and about Pam Hupp pull back to unveil Pam’s face. Both trailers give audiences a clear look at the show’s surprisingly light tone given the violent crimes it’s covering, as well as offering a glimpse of Rene Zellweger’s choices in her portrayal of Pam Hupp. Zellweger’s version of Pam’s voice and mannerisms seem to have as much in common with Kathy Bates’ performance in Misery as they do with the real Pam Hupp. A third trailer has also been released for the show on February 26.

What Are The Thing About Pam Episode Titles?

We know the episode titles of the first four episodes so far and with names like “She’s a Good Friend” (episode 1), “She’s a Helper” (episode 2), “She’s a Star Witness” (episode 3), and “She’s a Good Daughter” (episode 4), it looks like we’ll be learning quite a few things about Pam. These are not the same names as the episodes the podcast has. The first episode of the podcast is instead called “They’re Still Counting.” This hints that there may be some major differences between the TV series and the podcast series.

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Who Are the Cast and Crew of The Thing About Pam?

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Image via NBC

The Thing About Pam stars two-time Academy Award winner Renée Zellweger as Pam Hupp. Zellweger also has an executive producer credit on the series. There has been a fair amount of discussion regarding the choice to cast Renée Zellweger as Pam Hupp and Zellweger wears large amounts of prosthetics to better approximate a woman she normally bears little resemblance to. As can be seen in the trailers, she also uses a distinctive accent that sounds quite a bit different from Pam Hupp’s actual speaking voice.

Josh Duhamel will play Joel Schwartz, Russ Faria’s tireless defense attorney. Josh Duhamel is perhaps best known for his role as William Lennox in the Transformers franchise. He has also had roles in everything from All My Children to Batman: The Long Halloween.

Judy Greer will play Leah Askey, the prosecutor trying Russ Faria. You may remember Judy Greer from her role as Kitty in Arrested Development. She was also in Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills, playing Laurie Strode’s daughter Karen.

Sean Bridgers, best known as Deadwood’s Johnny Burns, will play Pam’s husband, Mark Hupp. You may have also seen Sean Bridgers in SundanceTV’s Rectify.

Additionally, Mac Brandt, known for playing police officers in shows from Prison Break to Lovecraft Country, will play Detective McCarrick, one of the officers assigned to investigate the murder case. Glenn Fleshler (Joker) will play Russ Faria, and Katy Mixon (Mike and Molly) will play the unfortunate Betsy Faria.

Keith Morrison, known primarily for his longtime role as an NBC Dateline correspondent, will be narrating the series, bringing his distinctive, and often parodied, delivery to the show. Keith Morrison was also the narrator of NBC Dateline’s podcast The Thing About Pam and of course was also in episodes of the Dateline television series regarding the case.

In addition to Renee Zellweger, executive producers include Jason Blum and Jenny Klein. Jason Blum is of course the CEO of Blumhouse productions, one of the studios co-producing the series alongside NBC News Studios and Big Picture Co. Blum has been a producer or executive producer on projects ranging from Get Out to Halloween Kills. Klein, in addition to being an executive producer, is also the showrunner for The Thing About Pam and is known for her work on shows like The Witcher and Jessica Jones.