Wentworth, Frontier and 15 TV hidden gems on Netflix

13. Shot in the Dark

Shot in the Dark is the first docuseries on our list and one that is both familiar and different. We are all aware of the emergency shows with the shaky camera chasing down bad guys (COPS, Live PD) or emergency victims (Trauma: Life in the ER) but Shot in the Dark is much more voyeuristic.

Shot in the Dark follows three freelance “stringers” who ride around the streets of Los Angeles looking to be the first one to the scenes of crimes and tragedies. If you enjoyed Jake Gyllenhaal’s turn as Louis Bloom in Nightcrawler then you might already know what a stringer is.

Essentially, the clips that you see on the news of car accidents, fires, and other tragedies don’t always come from the news crews. Often, especially in larger cities, freelance crews get the footage and sell it to the tv stations for a profit. In Shot, we get to see the people behind the camera and the intensity, competitiveness, and dangers associated with being the first one on the scene.

One of the teams followed for the series worked as consultants for Nightcrawler and in watching the series you can see how accurate the film was in describing the lifestyle. There has not been an announcement of a second season for the series though fans have been begging for it for the past year. In the meantime, the two main teams are active on social media and it’s interesting to follow how they’re doing in the interim.