Picks and Pans Review: Frontline: the Mind of a Murderer

UPDATED 03/19/1984 at 01:00 AM EST Originally published 03/19/1984 at 01:00 AM EST

PBS (Monday, March 19, 8 p.m. ET)

This documentary about Hillside Strangler Kenneth Bianchi, convicted of seven murders, has the awful air of a televised True Detective: too many pictures of naked dead bodies; too many grisly details. The producers try to paint it as a public-service show about mass murder. That's flimsy. But there is some absolutely fascinating TV here in tapes of psychologists' jailhouse interviews with Bianchi. The footage shows his multiple personalities: The polite Ken switches to the psychotic "Steve," who snarls, "Killing a broad doesn't make any difference to me." Some shrinks buy the act, but one doesn't and argues that Bianchi is nothing but a frighteningly accomplished actor. (Part two airs Monday, March 26.)

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