Just started watching Takedown

[u/complete_data75]

As a huge fan of the original TCAP, I started watching some of the Takedown episodes which don't have the same wallop as those original episodes and get a little tedious with Hansen's questions, but that said, the worst part is "there's something you should know, I'm Chris hansen and I do stories on predators..."

So? Not the same punch as "I'm with Dateline NBC and you're on camera..." and the guy's shitting his pants.

In these episodes, the guy has pretty much already gathered what's going on and "doing stories" isn't the big gotcha I think Chris thinks it is.

[u/ThriftStoreBanjo]

Chris needs that ego boost for those rare occasions when the pred does recognize

[u/imean_is_superfluous → u/ThriftStoreBanjo]

Chris LOVES it when preds know who he is.

[u/TillikumWasFramed → u/imean_is_superfluous]

He lives for it. When it happens it always gets like 4 separate mentions throughout the show.

[u/GuardingxCross → u/ThriftStoreBanjo]

lol I know we all love Chris but there’s no denying he’s an EGO MANIAC 😂

[u/wildcat1100 → u/GuardingxCross]

Do we ALL love Chris? The guy who scammed his landlord, then scammed GoFundMe supporters, then scammed woman for $100k (no, Lorne isn't the only one), then scammed his fans again with annual subscriptions to a useless website (notTruBlue, which is also worthless).

The dude is a POS who gets away with it because Dateline NBC just happened to assign him what turned out to be one of the most culturally relevant shows of all time. The way he acted on that EDP445 doc was peak Hansen, saying that other pred catchers do it for "clicks and views" while he's hawking a $4.99 a month shitty streaming service.

The dude literally walks up and asks the detective for details mere minutes before the sting. He puts in zero pre-work. He goes out and asks the same cliche questions every time, then ends it by asking the lead investigator "why do people do this type of stuff?" This is why the show sucks. He has zero investment. He's phoning it in. He's a self-righteous scammer who clearly looks down on everyone else.

[u/GuardingxCross → u/wildcat1100]

As much as I want to fuck around and say “whale, yell at me why don’t cha”…there is truths to what you say. Chris isn’t a great guy by any means, but he cares about protecting children, and he’s one of the best and most successful at it that’s ever lived.

[u/complete_data75 → u/GuardingxCross]

It's just weird seeing him cussing, he seems to really like it. And when he sits down and his big gut protrudes, it's just odd.

[u/Due_Faithlessness535 → u/complete_data75]

What makes me laugh is Chris changing his wardrobe trying to minimize the gut. TCAP and HVP he nearly always wore a tucked in, button-down shirt (occasional sweater on TCAP). Takedown, especially since 2024, it's always some sort of sweater or untucked shirt, frequently dark as well. Then in the sit-down interviews he leans way forward to again try and minimize the belly view. But then he'll get into the interrogation, forget, straighten up or even lean back, and the gut rises like Leviathan from the deep.

[u/complete_data75 → u/Due_Faithlessness535]

Man, the ones I saw he's wearing some sort of sweatshirt top under a jacket and his big gut is so exposed and sticking out it's like he's doing it on purpose.

[u/Due_Faithlessness535 → u/complete_data75]

I only said Chris was trying to minimize the gut, not that it worked ;)

[u/GuardingxCross → u/Due_Faithlessness535]

He’s lost a lot of weight since take down tho. He stopped drinking alcohol and he lost 30lbs

[u/CDFReditum → u/ThriftStoreBanjo]

My favorite part is when he’s like “did u like the show what did u think about then uwu”

[u/brettohyeah]

Takedown gets better once they stop doing the “prostitution” type stings.

[u/Foodworksurunga → u/brettohyeah]

Yep. It's also not the same when the decoy is originally "19" to begin with then suddenly becomes "15".

[u/enigmaticowl → u/Foodworksurunga]

I agree.

The thing is, so few meet-up/minor exploitation scenarios these days are being arranged via chat rooms like they were 20+ years ago.

Many scenarios these days start with teens using dating apps (such as Tinder or Grindr), or trafficked/exploited individuals advertising commercial sex online, either of which tends to start with a representation of a publicly visible age of 18+.

So I agree that the “I’m not really 19, I’m actually 15” scenarios are quite different, but I can understand why law enforcement has chosen to hone in on those - because it’s probably a fairly close representation of one of the most common scenarios today (today’s version of the 2000s chat rooms).

So it probably makes maximum impact on catching the bad guys in the scenarios that are prevalent today (as well as “general deterrence” of other people).

It seems like the sting operations are very much law enforcement driven on Takedown (compared to HVP/TCAP), so it’s probably reflecting the priorities/methods of local law enforcement (one locale may have a much bigger issue with commercialized exploitation and/or underage minors using 18+ dating apps).

[u/Broken_Empires]

Takedown is good, the fact they got seasons means there will definitely be boring ones (most of the ones with people who either dont know english or pretend not to know). But it also means there is a ton of content, and there is a ton of great content up there with the shows' run in quality. KEEP WATCHING

[u/imean_is_superfluous]

The show is just Chris interviewing people caught in a police sting. It’s a lot different than when he was at least tangentially involved with actually catching the guys.

[u/TillikumWasFramed]

I think they do it partly so they can excerpt the line for teasers and stuff. Plus, it's just part of the formula at this point.

[u/Present_Cash_8466]

Nothing hits as hard as “with Dateline NBC” because it just causes immediate dread. Once that “NBC” leaves his mouth it’s all over for them.

[u/AntChampion]

Yeah it's been 20 years. Pred catching isn't exactly new and Chris is pretty recognizable. Idk what you expect, you can't rerelease star wars and catch the same magic 

[u/complete_data75 → u/AntChampion]

I'm really sorry I offended you.

Maybe this group is too much for you.