What to Watch Friday: Dateline has updates on notorious Montana murder case
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Here’s what’s on TV tonight.
Gunther’s Millions (Netflix)
Technically this landed on Wednesday, but it’s at the top of my weekend viewing list.
“Gunther’s Millions” is the story of a German Shepherd, Gunther VI, who is a multi-millionaire living in “the lap of luxury.” According to legend, says Netflix, Gunther VI’s great-grandfather inherited millions of dollars from a German countess named Karlotta Leibenstein 30 years ago (Leibenstein and the original Gunther are pictured below). The countess’s son had died tragically so she left all her money to her beloved dog and left the dog in the care of her son’s close friend, an Italian pharmaceutical heir named Maurizio Mian.
Netflix: Gunther “travels on private planes, eats gold-flaked steaks for dinner, and surrounds himself with a glamorous entourage of spokesmodels and entertainers. . . . Over the past 30 years, (guardian) Mian has built an empire on behalf of his canine boss, including glamorous real estate purchases, controversial social experiments, and one of the biggest tax fraud schemes of all time. It’s a fairy tale both beautiful and bizarre, and naturally, questions abound.” Questions, indeed.
Dateline: On a Dark, Deserted Highway (9 p.m., NBC)
Keith Morrison heads to Montana to report updates on one of the state’s most infamous cases: the murder of Broadwater County Deputy Mason Moore, who was shot and killed in the early morning hours of May 16, 2017 by a father and son duo (Lloyd and Marshall Barrus). The Barruses were spotted later by law enforcement officers and a deadly high-speed chase and then a shootout ensued. Marshall Barrus was killed in the exchange and his father was arrested and charged with deliberate homicide.
According to the Montana Free Press, the episode will examine Lloyd Barrus’ anti-government extremism, including a 2000 incident involving another son, Jeffrey Barrus, in California’s Death Valley National Park.
Morrison interviews Mason Moore’s widow Jodi Moore, Sheriff Wynn Meehan, police dispatcher Kylie Howard, Tracy Hagadorn, Alma Barrus and others.
Killing County (Hulu)
This new three-episode documentary series focuses on how justice is served when the killers are the police. It’s produced by former NFL star Colin Kaepernick and based on a deadly hotel shooting in Bakersfield, in Kern County, California, that killed Jorge Ramirez Jr. Hulu: “For the families of the dead, the details surrounding the deaths of their loved ones were mysterious. But to them, the biggest mystery of all is how to hold killers accountable when the killers are the police.”
Murder in Big Horn (Showtime)
Another powerful documentary series, this one debuting on Showtime streaming today (and on-air this Sunday). The story focuses on the disappearance of dozens of young indigenous women and girls from the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Nations in Montana’s Big Horn County and surrounding areas over the past decade. The Native families have pressed law enforcement for help, but are often met with silence or indifference, say filmmakers. Showtime: “Arrests in these cases are rare, and convictions are virtually nonexistent. Elsewhere in America, similar stories of disappearances and death shock communities and become nationwide news, but when they occur on Native land, a circle of bereft family members, friends, and activists are left to fight for justice on their own.” Directed by Razelle Benally and Matthew Galkin, the documentary made its Sundance debut last month.
Some programming descriptions are provided by networks.
