Brendan Dassey remains locked up on Season 2 of Netflix’s “Making a Murderer,” but the convicted rapist and murderer is not completely removed from society. He’s still got screen time, for example, and Dassey prefers to use it on his favorite TV show, Fox’s “Lethal Weapon.”
During the fourth episode of what Netflix prefers to call “Part 2,” Steven Avery’s nephew shares a few phone calls with his mother Barb and stepfather Scott Tadych. One of those he wants to keep short.
“My show is on. ‘Lethal Weapons,’” Dassey tells the two upfront before acknowledging that their call, the latest on his appeal and potential-release status, is “more important.”
Earlier in the episode, Dassey and his family were in high spirits.
In August 2016, Dassey had his conviction overturned by federal magistrate judge William E. Duffin, who granted Dassey’s writ for a petition of habeas corpus, finding that his imprisonment was unlawful because his confession to the murder of Teresa Halbach was involuntary. In reaching that decision, Duffin wrote that the “misconduct” of Len Kachinsky, Dassey’s court-appointed attorney who was featured in the original “Making a Murderer” run, was “indefensible.”
Unfortunately for Dassey, who was 16-years-old at the time of the crime, the state of Wisconsin appealed his overturned conviction, saying that his confession “was voluntary and the investigators did not use constitutionally impermissible tactics.”
Back and forth the legal battle went, until ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Dassey’s case. He is still in prison and serving a life sentence.
Dassey’s favorite TV show may not be on for many more of those years. Last week, star Damon Wayans said he’s quitting the Fox action-dramedy in December.
“I’m going to be quitting the show in December after we finish the initial 13 [episodes],” he said in a video interview with Electronic Urban Report. “I’m a 58-year-old diabetic and I’m working 16-hour days.”
“Like Murtaugh said, ‘I’m too old for this,’” Wayans added, channeling his character, Roger Murtaugh, who was played in the “Lethal Weapon” movies by Danny Glover.
The father of “Happy Together” star Damon Wayans Jr. said that he plans to “return to the stage” to “try to find my smile again.”
Wayans’ former co-star Clayne Crawford was fired from the Fox series and his character killed off after on-set clashes between the two nearly led to its cancellation. In June, footage surfaced of the actors exchanging expletives over an injury Wayans sustained on an episode Crawford was directing.
In another incident, Crawford was caught losing his temper during a scene disrupted by background noise. Two months before that video leaked, Crawford apologized for his behavior, saying he’d “been reprimanded twice during the past two seasons of ‘Lethal Weapon.’”
Crawford, who played Riggs (Mel Gibson’s role from the movies), has been effectively replaced by “American Pie” alum Seann William Scott in a newly created role. Fans have not responded favorably to the new partnership, as evidenced by declining Nielsen ratings.
“Making a Murderer: Part Two” premieres Oct. 19 on Netflix. Season 3 of “Lethal Weapon” airs new episodes Tuesdays at 9/8c on Fox.