15 Bloated Docuseries That Dragged on Way Too Long

A television documentary series, or docuseries, contains two or more episodes on a given subject. Some long-running docuseries — especially nature series such as Planet Earth, Blue Planet, and Life on Our Planet — are understandably lengthy because they cover a broad topic with many different elements worthy of closer inspection.

Other docuseries — especially true-crime shows — drag out the content about a single subject over several episodes or seasons. Sometimes a streaming provider such as Netflix will spread a story thin like a pat of butter over too much bread just because people will watch.

All of the following docuseries — even if only three or four episodes — dedicated an excessive amount of screen time to a single subject. How many of these would you sit through?

Making a Murderer

Making a Murderer chronicles Steven Avery, a man who served 18 years in prison for the wrongful conviction of sexual assault and attempted murder of one woman only to get released get convicted of the 2005 murder of Teresa Halbach.

Even with the connected story involving Avery’s nephew, Brendan Dassey, and his alleged involvement in the crime, the docuseries seems thin on recent developments or fresh insights after 2 seasons and 20 episodes.

Tiger King

Released during the pandemic, the public couldn’t get enough of the Netflix docuseries Tiger King about former zookeeper and convicted felon Joe Exotic’s beef with Big Cat Rescue owner Carole Baskin.

Even though we all had fun watching these colorful characters while caged like animals during lockdown, this isn’t the Watergate scandal. Tiger King didn’t necessitate three seasons plus a special. Netflix stretched it out only because viewers were bored and willing to watch anything.

Wild Wild Country

This Netflix docuseries about the controversial Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his cult, located in Oregon, had six episodes, each of which ran longer than an hour.

Did folks interested in this story and wanting to learn more about this forgotten commune need to devote more the six hours to get the gist?

Surviving R. Kelly

Lifetime built a network on telling stories about women being wronged by men. With the docuseries Surviving R. Kelly about convicted felon and former singer R. Kelly, there are numerous victims to discuss.

R. Kelly is serving 30 years in prison for his crimes, which is almost as long as the 3 seasons and 15 total episodes of Surviving R. Kelly feel.

The Keepers

The docuseries The Keepers chronicles the unsolved murder of Baltimore nun Catherine Cesnik and the alleged cover-up by authorities after Sister Catherine suspected that a priest at her high school had molested several students.

Church scandals always grab viewers’ attention, but if Netflix wants people to watch seven episodes of an unsolved mystery, it better end with the perpetrator in handcuffs.

Evil Genius: The True Story of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist

This 2018 Netflix true-crime docuseries covers the death of Brian Wells, the victim in the so-called “pizza bomber” or “collar bomb” case in 2003.

The docuseries spends a lot of time over its four episodes with Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, a woman convicted of masterminding the crime and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. There is a fine line between being thorough and exploiting an incarcerated mentally ill person willing to talk at length on camera.

Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich

This Netflix miniseries about convicted sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein is based on the book of the same name by James Patterson. The four-part series contains interviews with survivors about how Epstein abused his power and status to commit his crimes.

Since Epstein took his own life in prison in 2019, the nearly four hours devoted to his story by this docuseries should be the end of it.

Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer

This true-crime docuseries about Richard Ramirez, aka the Night Stalker, aired on Netflix in 2021.

Although Ramirez terrorizing Los Angeles in the 1980s generated a lot of news coverage and people watch stories about serial killers, four episodes devoted to the “hunt” for Ramirez — who died in 2013 — seems excessive if he was hunted, captured, and imprisoned years ago.

Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel

The death of Elisa Lam at the Cecil Hotel in downtown Los Angeles is just one of many stories about the notorious building.

Although the circumstances surrounding Lam’s disappearance and eventual discovery of her body in a water tank on the hotel’s roof warrant a Netflix documentary, the story didn’t require nearly four hours to tell.

Dirty Money

The 2018 Netflix docuseries Dirty Money produced by Alex Gibney exposes corporate corruption and covers topics such as Donald Trump, the Volkswagen emissions scandal, Jared Kushner, Wells Fargo, the so-called Maple Syrup Heist, and more.

A lot of dirty money and dirty deeds is covered over 2 seasons and 12 total episodes.

Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes

This series premiered on Netflix in 2019, 30 years after the execution of serial killer Ted Bundy. The show condensed over 100 hours of interviews and old footage of Bundy into four episodes of this docuseries created by Joe Berlinger.

Although this deep dive into Bundy’s past might interest true-crime enthusiasts, the four episodes don’t really reveal any shocking new insights for the casual viewer about the man who killed dozens of young women in the 1970s.

The Devil Next Door

This 2019 Netflix docuseries focuses on John Demjanjuk, a former concentration camp guard during World War II accused of crimes against humanity. After becoming a naturalized citizen and living in Cleveland for years, the U.S. deported Demjanjuk to Germany. The court found him guilty of being an accessory to murder and sentenced him to prison, where he died.

Although Demjanjuk’s story deserves telling, viewers should decide if it warrants 3 hours and 49 minutes of time spread over five episodes.

Pandemic: How To Prevent an Outbreak

Netflix had scary-good timing when it released Pandemic: How To Prevent an Outbreak on January 22, 2020, right at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This series about universal vaccines, anti-vaxxers, and Ebola hit hard as the world started dealing with lockdowns, masking debates, and social distancing. Once the lockdowns began a couple of months later, maybe viewers had more time to devote to this 6-episode, 287-minute docuseries.

I Am a Killer

This Netflix series features interviews with death row inmates. So far it consists of four seasons, for a total of 32 episodes.

Unlike other true-crime series about convicted killers, I Am a Killer is not about people claiming that they are innocent or trying to get released. These interviews feature people resigned to their fates. How much time audiences will want to spend with any of these disturbed souls will depend on personal tastes.

The Sons of Sam: A Descent Into Darkness

This 2021 Netflix docuseries focuses on the late Maury Terry, an investigative journalist who spent four decades trying to prove that serial killer David Berkowitz did not act alone.

Director Joshua Zeman points to Terry as the last of Berkowitz’s victims because Terry’s obsession with the Son of Sam murders took over his life. This four-episode docuseries will consume a chunk of time, too, for anyone who thinks a deep dive into Terry’s theory deserves a watch.