What to Watch Friday: 20/20 looks at Gainesville student murder spree of 1990
20/20: Gainesville (9 p.m., ABC) - This two-hour episode looks back to August 1990, when serial killer Danny Rolling murdered five University of Florida students over a span of four days, just as a new school year was beginning in Gainesville. 20/20 has an exclusive interview with Cindy Dobbin, who talks about her Crime Stoppers tip to authorities that led them Rolling, who was responsible for at least eight murders total, including the Gainesville crimes and a triple homicide in Shreveport, Louisiana. Dobbin reveals why she suspected Rolling and how she was certain he was also responsible for the then-unsolved Shreveport murders. “20/20” also has the first interview with Scott Grissom, whose father, sister and son were victims of Rolling in Shreveport, and interviews with family members of the Gainesville victims, as well as authorities who worked on the case. This will be available to stream on Hulu tomorrow.
Dateline NBC (9 p.m., NBC) - Dennis Murphy reports on one of Detroit’s most notorious homicide cases: the murder of marketing executive Jane Bashara in 2012. Bashara, a Grosse Pointe Park resident, was found strangled to death in the back of her Mercedes SUV, abandoned in a Detroit alley. The investigation revealed “a tangled web of sex and lies” (will the words “sex dungeon” come up? Yes, they will). “Dateline” goes inside the case with new details and interviews about the prominent family’s dark secrets, and including the informant who helped the FBI expose a hit-for-hire plot in the case, all caught on tape.
Oliver Sacks: His Own Life (9 p.m., PBS NC) - This American Masters documentary examines the life and work of neurologist and storyteller Oliver Sacks, whose work redefined people’s understanding of the brain.
Doing the Most with Phoebe Robinson (Comedy Central) - Phoebe Robinson will explore a new career each week with a different celebrity guest, from horseback riding with instructor Whitney Cummings to winetasting with expert Gabrielle Union. Other guests will include Kevin Bacon and Eric Nam. We start tonight with the Whitney Cummings episode.
Thunder Force (Netflix) - Melissa McCarthy and Octavia Spencer star in this new action comedy, playing two estranged childhood best friends who reunite after one devises a treatment that gives them powers to protect their city from evil villains.
Ed Gein: The Real Psycho (discovery+) - Sixty years after murderer and grave robber Ed Gein’s arrest, paranormal investigator Steve Shippy and psychic medium Cindy Kaza travel to Gein’s hometown in Plainfield, Wisconsin, to conduct investigations of the most haunted locations connected to the infamous killer. For the first time in history, cameras are allowed on the Gein property where the gruesome evidence was first discovered.
Some programming descriptions are provided by networks.
