PASADENA, Calif. – Producer Ryan Murphy understands one of the few truths in today’s pop culture: Crime pays. Or at least true crime stories do, because American viewers gobble them up.

Next week, Murphy begins a true crime series with his latest Netflix series, “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” (Sept. 19), and two days earlier, FX debuts the first two episodes of Murphy’s “American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez” (10 p.m., Sept. 17, FX; the following day on Hulu).

Based on The Boston Globe/Wondery podcast “Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.,” the first 10-episode installment in the new anthology franchise “American Sports Story” chronicles Hernandez’s rise to the NFL’s New England Patriots, his early childhood trauma, the impact of CTE, his sexual identity and the murders he committed.

In an interview during FX’s portion of the Television Critics Association summer 2024 press conference, series writer/executive producer Stuart Zicherman said that Hernandez’s story was originally going to premiere under the “American Crime Story” banner, but that because the “American Sports Story” anthology had already been announced, that decision was reconsidered.

“From the moment I read the Globe article, it was so much about sports in America, but it also touched on all the big issues of culture in America,” Zicherman said. “I think that’s why they decided to make it the first ‘Sports Story,’ because it’s not just about sports. It’s an event in the sports world that speaks to the bigger social issues in America, but also touches on sports.”

Patricia Wen, a consultant on the series and a writer for the Boston Globe/former editor of Spotlight, said she and the other reporters who worked on the original print Globe series were available to Zicherman to answer questions, but they had no veto power over the TV series.

“All reporters, including myself, realize that when you’re going to do a dramatization of our work, even if they have a police report and it tells them what was said, (the writers of the TV series) still have to create the dialogue for it,” she said.

Wen said she watched the first five episodes and felt that “the character of Aaron Hernandez exudes all the complexity that we all saw when we reported on it.”

Zicherman said that while much has been written about Hernandez, a dramatic series offers filmmakers the opportunity to “fill in the gaps.”

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“They were speculating that Aaron Hernandez was going to Indianapolis to meet with (New England Patriots coach Bill) Belichick and request a trade,” Zicherman said. “I just thought, I want to be in that room where that happened. No one else could do that. So I get to write that scene. Using all the information that we get from what they reported, I know I can write that scene, shoot that scene and for the first time, someone is in the room where it happened. And that’s why you make a show like this.”

According to Wen, one of the breakthroughs in the Globe team’s reporting was access to prison tapes after Hernandez committed suicide in prison.

“Getting hundreds of hours of prison tape was one of those things that really informed our reporting in terms of his vulnerability, things where he would be very open about, ‘I was surrounded by millions of dollars of fame, and I was miserable inside,'” Wen said. “It was like Aaron Hernandez was speaking from the dead. And that was so powerful. We can try to integrate that (into our reporting), and so a TV series has the ability to project the soul and the psyche of Aaron Hernandez in a way that we can’t in print.”

‘How to Die Alone’

Natasha Rothwell was the heart of season one of “The White Lotus,” playing spa manager Belinda (she returns in that role in season three), so she got the chance to create and star in her own series, “How to Die Alone,” which hits Hulu September 13.

As talented as Rothwell is, this comedy series is a hodgepodge with a tone that veers wildly from broad comedy to heartbreaking drama in almost every episode. It’s an odd mix.

Rothwell plays Mel, a JFK airport worker whose brush with death gives her the courage to take risks, but she panics when her ex-boyfriend (Jocko Sims) invites Mel and her gay best friend (Conrad Ricamora) to his ex’s wedding in Hawaii.

Mel is a great friend. She’s smart, funny, and has a great personality, but her insecurities lead to bad choices that make “How to Die Alone” less fun and enjoyable than it could be.

Zapping

Steelers defensive tackle Cam Heyward appeared on the streaming series “Hot Ones” last week, discussing his favorite Pittsburghese bits (both called “nebby” and “dahntahn”) while devouring chicken wings topped with increasingly spicy hot sauce. … Pittsburgh native Joe Manganiello will host Netflix’s personal “Geeked Week 2024 Live” from Atlanta, airing at 8 p.m. ET on Sept. 19 on YouTube, Twitch and X. … Denzel Washington, executive producer of Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of August Wilson’s Pittsburgh-set but Atlanta-filmed “The Piano Lesson,” told Variety this week that the next Wilson play to be adapted will be Wilson’s Pittsburgh-set “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.” … Chloe Troast is leaving NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” after one season, as the show adds three new performers, Ashley Padilla, Emil Wakim and Jane Wickline. … The “76th Annual Emmy Awards” air Sunday at 8 p.m. on ABC, preceded by “On the Red Carpet: Live at the Emmys” (7 p.m. Sunday, ABC) and coverage on E!, 5-7 p.m. … On Sept. 23, streaming service BroadwayHD will debut a recording of the 2022 Off-Broadway musical “Between the Lines,” based on the novel by Jodi Picoult and her daughter Samantha van Leer about an outsider in a new town trying to find her place at a new school. … Tuesday night’s debate between U.S. presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump drew 67.14 million viewers across multiple linear TV networks, a 31% increase in viewership compared to the debate between Trump and President Joe Biden in June. Tuesday’s debate scored well in the swing state of Pennsylvania, with the debate earning its highest ratings nationally in Pittsburgh, where it earned a 44.2 rating. Philadelphia was number 2 with a rating of 43.4.