You Can’t Make This Up – Details, episodes & analysis

A program in D.C. offers the children of incarcerated men a rare chance to be with their fathers: a Daddy Daughter Dance inside the jail. While the men go on a journey to consider the impacts of their actions on their family, the girls navigate heartbreak, anger, and uncertainty, as they seize a precious opportunity to be with a parent they’re not even permitted to hug. But when the music stops, will these connections endure? Netflix’s Daughters follows Aubrey, Santana, Raziah, and Ja’Ana as they prepare for a momentous Daddy Daughter Dance with their incarcerated fathers. The film sheds light on the complexities of familial bonds strained by the unforgiving barriers of the criminal legal system. It also follows its main subjects long after the dance to see if the experience had a lasting effect on the bonds between father and daughter. In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, host Rebecca Lavoie interviews directors Natalie Rae Robison and Angela Patton. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched Daughters yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.  Listen to more from Netflix Podcasts.

She was the bright and bubbly young woman who disappeared on Christmas Eve of 2002 while eight months pregnant. The disturbing mystery of what happened captured the nation’s attention and dominated the news as the investigation slowly pointed to her husband. The murder of Laci Peterson remains one of the most famous and compelling true crime cases of the century. The Netflix documentary series American Murder: Laci Peterson is a story about a beloved woman, intimate partner violence, and media obsession. For the first time, we hear from Laci’s mother, Sharon, about her family’s ordeal. And we get the perspective of the woman thrown into the center of the case: Scott Peterson’s unsuspecting girlfriend, Amber Frey. In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Skye Borgman. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched American Murder: Laci Peterson yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.  Listen to more from Netflix Podcasts.

In 1959, Barbie changed the way girls played with dolls - taking them from babies to beauty queens, fashion mavens, and professional role models. But girls of color didn’t see themselves represented by the blonde haired, Malibu-tanned figurine. It took 20 years for Mattel to finally release Black Barbie. But in the subsequent years, Black Barbie’s place in the Barbie universe - and in the real world - is still evolving and sparking conversation. Black Barbie traces the doll’s journey from creation to its impact on children of color and its influence in contemporary culture. We hear from the former employees who labored to bring diversity to the famous toy line. The film asks whether - this Barbie is everything - OR could be something more? In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, host Rebecca Lavoie interviews writer & director Lagueria Davis. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched Black Barbie yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.  Listen to more from Netflix Podcasts.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about volume three of the Netflix series “Unsolved Mysteries" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews series executive producer Terry Dunn Meurer and director Donald Eichar. Over the next three weeks, new episodes featuring more unexplained deaths, baffling disappearances, and bizarre paranormal activity will be available on Netflix.  "Unsolved Mysteries" is a series you don’t just watch. Viewers engage with the stories, offering more than 5,000 tips regarding the last two seasons at unsolved.com. Maybe you have information about cold cases, missing persons, and paranormal puzzles. In this podcast we'll talk about “Body in Bags.” When a beloved single father disappeared and was later found dead, there was only one suspect. Now the U.S. Marshals Task Force is on the hunt for his girlfriend who is now a fugitive from justice. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Body in Bags" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary “The Redeem Team" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director and executive producer Jon Weinbach. When the US added NBA players to their men’s Olympic basketball team in 1992, it seemed they’d never lose again. But in the years after that first Dream Team, the international competition got better and the American teams began to coast.   After a humiliating bronze-medal performance in 2004, organizers shook up the US system. A legendary coach assembled the nation’s greatest players with a renewed sense of purpose and a shot at redemption. But can these superstars learn to play together and bring the gold medal home? SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “The Redeem Team" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga," out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews executive producer Dan Cogan. Powerful Wall Street hedge funds made a financial bet: if video game retailer GameStop went bankrupt, they’d make a killing on its devalued stock. But no one could anticipate an army of online day traders would prop up GameStop and squeeze the over-extended hedge funds that were short selling the company. What happened next made some people very rich, while bringing the nation's financial institutions to their knees. SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Eat the Rich" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “The Real Bling Ring: Hollywood Heist" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Miles Blayden-Ryall. They slipped undetected in and out of the homes of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and others stars just by watching their social media. They became known as The Bling Ring and their exploits were made into a book and a movie. But their stories didn’t end there. In “The Real Bling Ring” we go inside the crimes and wild times of these star-studded burglars, who preyed on the famous while seeking fame for themselves.   SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “The Real Bling Ring" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary film, “The Anthrax Attacks: In the Shadow of 9/11" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Dan Krauss. In the days after September 11th, the nation was on edge fearing more attacks. When politicians and media figures began receiving letters filled with deadly anthrax, officials thought foreign terrorists were responsible.  But when tests revealed the anthrax was a strain used only by American laboratories, the FBI turned its attention to the scientists who had access to the bacteria...including Dr. Bruce Ivins.  SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “The Anthrax Attacks" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on.

In this episode of You Can't Make This Up, we are talking about the Netflix documentary series “Sins of Our Mother" out now on Netflix. Host Rebecca Lavoie interviews director Skye Borgman. Lori Vallow was known to friends and family as a devoted mother of three, a loving wife, and a woman of God. But then things changed. Lori joined a doomsday religious community. Her ex-husband was shot after a family confrontation…and the wife of her lover died under mysterious circumstances.  Lori’s face was in the news after two of her children went missing - all while she was on a carefree Hawaiian honeymoon. Now she faces trial in connection with their murders.   SPOILER ALERT! If you haven't watched “Sins of Our Mother" yet, make sure to add it to your watch-list before listening on. Listener note: The following interview was recorded in August 2022 and does not take into account any recent developments pertaining to the case.  

In this episode of "You Can't Make This Up," Rebecca Lavoie is joined by Connie Wang from Tudum to discuss the best unscripted films and series on Netflix coming this fall.