In the 1940s, a man and woman traveled around the country placing personal ads in newspapers and murdering the women who would respond, probably because there wasn’t anything better to do in the ‘40s than senselessly kill people. Dubbed “The Lonely Hearts Killers,” the pair fell in love and lived happily ever after—at least until they were executed for all of those murders they committed.
So what does this have to do with anything? Well, as indicated by the words “love” and “murder,” this is the perfect TV show pitch, and Showtime has recognized that. According to Deadline, its developing a TV show based on the Lonely Hearts Killers with Memphis Beat creators Liz Garcia and Josh Harto—who are a similarly loving couple, only they travel around the country creating TV shows. Showtime’s version will be a “modern retelling” of the murders, so the network will have to update the entire idea of placing an ad in a newspaper or whatever, because nobody has used a newspaper to do anything in at least 20 years. Deadline notes that several movies have already been made about the Lonely Hearts Killers, and they also inspired an episode of Cold Case, but that’s all in the past, man. You’ve gotta live for the TV of today.