Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Making Manson’ On Peacock, Where New Recordings Of Charles Manson Gives New Perspective On The Crimes Committed By His “Family”

Making Manson is a three-part docuseries, directed by Billie Mintz; at its center are pieces of over 100 hours of never-before-heard phone calls between Charles Manson and autograph collector John Michael Jones, who became friends with the convicted murderer and cult leader about 20 years before Manson’s 2017 death. Jones is interviewed for the series, as are former members of Manson’s “family”, who were followers of Manson’s in the late 1960s. Many of them were teens or in their early twenties at the time, and some of the people in the “family” went on to commit crimes on his behalf, including the murder of Sharon Tate and four others in 1969.

MAKING MANSON: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Archival footage and newspaper headlines from the murder of actress Sharon Tate and four others in 1969.

The Gist: In the first episode, we hear Manson talking about his rough childhood, and how he was in prison for much of the time from when he was a teenager until he was released in 1967. Suddenly, he was thrust in the middle of the counterculture movement in San Francisco, and he managed to gather a group of young people to follow him through mostly his charm and power of persuasion. They traveled together on a blue school bus, and the group eventually found themselves at the house of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson. There was lots of free sex and acid; many of the girls who were in the family were still teenagers.

By the time the group settled at a ranch that used to be used as a movie set, Manson started getting abusive, and some of the members of the family decided to leave. But others stayed, despite signs that Manson was dangerous.

Photo: PEACOCK

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? There have been many documentaries and series about Manson and his minions, including Helter Skelter: An American Myth and The Manson Murders.

Our Take: Charles Manson isn’t exactly one of those infamous figures in history that was reluctant to talk; he was interviewed from prison many, many times over the decades, and many of those interviews were unhinged. Making Manson shows a bit of a different Charles Manson, but one that’s no less scary to listen to.

Manson definitely got more real and personal with Jones than we’ve heard him be in more formal interviews. But he also knew that Jones was recording him; in fact, he encouraged his new friend to record every word of their conversations. So there are elements of these conversations where Manson practices that same degree of deranged showmanship we saw in any number of TV or documentary interviews with him over the years.

We listened to Manson’s conversations with Jones with a bit of a jaundiced ear, though; as much as he may or may not make himself culpable for the crimes committed by “family” members, it’s hard to take anything Manson says at face value. This is how the interviews with associates and “family” members gives context; they know the different sides of Manson, including the side that wrote music and felt screwed by a producer named Terry Melcher, which is what was what precipitated the Tate murders; Tate and her guests were at the address where Manson and company thought Melcher was still living.

Photos: Getty Images, AP ; Illustration: Dillen Phelps

Our Call: STREAM IT. Making Manson is interesting because of the tapes of Manson talking more in-depth about his “family” and the crimes they committed than anything we’ve heard from him before. Even if not everything he’s saying is true, the conversations still give a glimpse inside Manson’s very complicated mind.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.