You Can’t Make This Up

With its expensive online courses, Twin Flames Universe promised members would find their true loves. The online cult was better at making money than finding love, so leaders Jeff and Shaleia Ayons began matchmaking its followers with one another. Though many had identified as straight and cis, they were paired with same sex partners and prodded to rethink their gender identity.  The Netflix docum...

Destined for bit parts and supporting roles, Sylvester Stallone broke out by creating some of the most memorable characters in cinema, including Rocky and Rambo. But in a career filled with unmatched box office punch, many of Sly’s films were ignored by audiences and excoriated by critics. Now an entertainment lion in winter, Stallone is ready to look back at his life and career. In the Netflix do...

Liza Drake is a blue-collar single mom who has just lost her job and is at the end of her rope. A chance meeting with a pharmaceutical sales rep puts her on an upwards trajectory economically - but a dubious path ethically - as she becomes entangled in a dangerous racketeering scheme. Her unhinged boss, her daughter's worsening medical condition, and the awareness of the devastation the company is...

Every living creature can trace its origins to a single cell 4 billion years ago. But the long march of evolution took many twists and turns. Whether fish or amphibian or reptile, one creature would rise to the top…only to be wiped out in one of five mass extinctions. And each time, the fittest among them would rise and inherit the earth. Using cutting edge special effects, the Netflix documentary...

In 1980, the Glatzel’s son, David, began having convulsions. A pair of self-styled ghost hunters declared the child was possessed by the devil. The family turned to the church for help, but something went wrong during the exorcism. His sister’s boyfriend challenged Satan to take him on instead. Months later, Arne Cheyenne Johnson was accused of murdering his landlord. The case made headlines when...

Soccer legend David Beckham is one of the most known names on the planet, yet few people know who he really is. The four-part Netflix documentary series “BECKHAM” tells the inside story of a global football star and cultural icon.  On this episode, we’ll turn things over to our friends at Netflix’s “Skip Intro.” Each week, host Krista Smith brings us dynamic conversations with the exceptional peop...

It’s common folklore: a sole witness to a mysterious flying object whose tale of their encounter is met with skepticism. But what if dozens - if not hundreds of people say they all saw something in the sky at the same time? The Netflix series “Encounters” goes beyond the reported incidents of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena or extraterrestrial contact. Why would groups of unconnected people claim to...

Mike Veeck was a third generation baseball executive, son of the Hall of Fame White Sox owner Bill Veeck. But Mike’s “Disco Demolition” night devolved into an actual riot, with rowdy rock fans charging the field and setting fires. After the debacle, he couldn’t get another job in professional sports. But years later, Mike had the opportunity to purchase a minor league team and put his own stamp on...

For those who dream of leaping from the top rope and body slamming their opponent, their journey begins at Ohio Valley Wrestling - a Kentucky-based training ground for would-be stars. But the organization is pinned to the mat, drowning in debt. OVW’s new owners have given the team until the end of summer to get into the black…and that starts a grudge match over the league’s future. The Netflix doc...

The Boy Scouts were considered a model youth group, with its emphasis on proud citizenship, self-reliance, and good character. For decades, the national headquarters kept extensive, confidential files on predators within their ranks and their victims. It wasn’t until a legal reckoning that the Scouts were forced to reveal the files’ existence which demonstrated how little they did to address the s...

College football is life in Florida. Enter Urban Meyer: the Florida Gators’ demanding new head coach. His take-no-prisoners style breeds a string of legendary victories from 2005 to 2010, but also unrelenting drama that ripples well beyond the locker room.  In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Untold: Swamp Kings" out now on Netflix. Host...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Depp v. Heard" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews executive producer Emma Cooper. When actor Johnny Depp sued his ex-wife Amber Heard for accusing him of abuse, the world was glued to the trial livestream. Fans took sides, lawyers pulled no punches and social media influencers provided h...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Ladies First: A Story of Women in Hip Hop" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews executive producers Raeshem Nijhon and Carri Twigg. Over the past five decades, hip hop has influenced everything from culture to fashion to politics. Its lyrics have tackled discrimination, sexism and violence...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary “Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case," out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Hyoe Yamamoto and producer Rob Sixsmith. Lucie Blackman left her life in England for new experiences in Japan, working as a hostess in a Tokyo nightclub. But her disappearance in 2000 sent shock waves through both na...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary “The Deepest Breath" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Laura McGann. Freedivers compete by swimming straight down to the deepests depths and back to the surface, all on a single gulp of air. Alessia Zecchini pushed herself to go down farther than any woman before. But she can’t do it w...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we revisit our discussion of the Netflix film “Lost Girls," out now on Netflix. Guest host Kevin Flynn interviews director Liz Garbus. True crime fans have heard the news from Gilgo Beach: an arrest has been made this month in the Long Island serial killer case. The development has renewed interest in the crimes that baffled authorities for more than a de...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Quarterback" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews directors Tim Rumpff, Shannon Furman, and Matthew Dissinger. They are the faces of football! Quarterbacks are the marquee players of the NFL and the success of their whole team rests on their shoulder pads. The eight-part series “Quarterbac...

Next up on You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Quarterback." The series features exclusive, unprecedented access to these marquee players from the beginning of the 2022 season to its conclusion, following them on and off the field, from inside the huddle with teammates to inside their homes with their families.  In our next episode, host Rebecca Lavoie inte...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary “WHAM!" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews producer Simon Halfon. In 1982, best friends and teenagers George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley set out to conquer the world as WHAM! By 1986, it was over. Now for the very first time, told in their own words, it’s the amazing story of how in four years t...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators,” out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews Dan “Nitro” Clark and Lori “Ice” Fetrick. In the days before reality TV game shows, one television program invited viewers to win money completing athletic challenges. The catch: they’d ha...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Our Planet II" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews executive producer Keith Scholey and series producer Huw Cordey. In every corner of our world, at any given moment, billions of animals have someplace important to be. From whales to pumas, from crablets to cranes – almost every animal mi...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Arnold" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews Executive Producer Allen Hughes and Director Lesley Chilcott. From a tiny village in Austria to the limelight of championship bodybuilding - from conquering Hollywood to capturing Sacramento - Arnold Schwarzenegger's life stands apart. For the f...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “MerPeople" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews executive producer and director Cynthia Wade. No longer the legends of sailors or the stars of fairy tales. Mermaids exist! With a custom-made fin, a can-do attitude, and some strong swimming skills, you too can splash it up as a merperson. W...

Nicole Chase was a young mom with a daughter to support when she took a job at a local restaurant in Canton, Connecticut. She liked the work and was good at her job. But the place turned out to be more like a frat house than a quaint roadside sandwich spot. And the crude behavior kept escalating – until one day she says her boss went too far and she turned to the local police for help. What happen...

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary film “Victim/Suspect" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Nancy Schwartzman and journalist Rachel De Leon. An investigative reporter discovered a nationwide pattern of women who’d come forward to report a sexual assault, only to be arrested for filing a false report. But the victims said...