American Greed
GenreDocumentary
Narrated byStacy Keach
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons15
No. of episodes222 (& 3 specials) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
  • Sharon Barrett
  • Charles Schaffer
  • Mike West
  • Robin Feinberg
  • Luke Bauer
ProducerMike West
Production locationChicago, Illinois
Running time42–44 minutes
Production company
  • Kurtis Productions
Original release
NetworkCNBC
ReleaseJune 21, 2007 (2007-06-21) –
present

American Greed (also known as American Greed: Scams, Scoundrels and Scandals and as American Greed: Scams, Schemes and Broken Dreams) is an American documentary television series on CNBC.[1][2] The series focuses on cases of Ponzi schemes, embezzlement and other white collar crimes and features interviews with police investigators, fraud victims and sometimes fraudsters.

It was initially created by Mark Hoffman, the President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Directors of CNBC, and it is produced by Bill Kurtis' Kurtis Productions. The program is narrated by Stacy Keach Jr.,[3] who was recruited because Kurtis himself was unavailable for that purpose. It premiered on June 21, 2007.[4]

Subjects

The business-reality program focuses on the stories behind high-profile corporate and white-collar crimes, betrayals, and scams in American history, including the financial scandals involving WorldCom,[5] HealthSouth,[6] Tyco International,[7] and CyberNET.[8] Besides these high-profile cases, stories have featured lower-profile financial crimes that have affected individual investors and smaller companies, including various Ponzi schemes, real estate and other investment frauds, bank robbery, identity theft, medical fraud, embezzlement, insurance fraud, murder-for-hire, art theft, credit card fraud, money laundering, and political corruption.[1]

In addition, there have been three American Greed special presentations: American Greed Special: Bernie Madoff Behind Bars;[9] American Greed: Special Presentation: 9/11 Fraud – "A Contractor Capitalizes on Disaster";[10] and Mob Money: An American Greed Special Presentation.[11]

In April 2022, American Greed and CNBC partnered with AMC to deliver a special episode detailing the life and crimes of fictional lawyer Jimmy McGill in promotion for the 6th season of Better Call Saul.[12]

Episodes

Companion series

American Greed has had at least three companion programs, all of which have also been narrated by Stacy Keach Jr.

In August 2012, CNBC aired the series American Greed: The Fugitives, which focused on active cases of alleged white-collar crime. The show documented stories of suspects who were still at large and had continued to evade authorities.[13] It lasted 2 seasons, covering 13 cases of financial crimes.[14] After the November 14, 2013, airing of American Greed: The Fugitives #12, viewer tips led to the successful November 26, 2013, arrest of FBI Most Wanted fugitive David Kaup, who had been a fugitive since December 17, 2012, when he failed to appear for sentencing in Los Angeles.[15][16]

In early 2019, CNBC aired another companion series, American Greed: Deadly Rich, which focused on high-profile murder cases involving the wealthy.

On July 15, 2020, it was announced that another companion series titled American Greed: Biggest Cons would premiere on July 20, 2020.[17] When American Greed: Biggest Cons did so premiere, it updated some of the stories the main program had previously featured, such as its profiles of Madoff and Martin Shkreli and its study of William "Rick" Singer's college-admission scheme.

A few weeks before the Better Call Saul season 6 premiere on April Fools' Day 2022, the CNBC Prime YouTube account uploaded American Greed: James McGill.[18] The ten-minute short is a faux documentary done in the same style as the popular series with the same name, and recaps the events of both Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul.[19] Narrated by Stacey Keach, the mockumentary features in-character interviews from several recurring cast members from Better Call Saul, including DA Suzanne Ericsen (Julie Pearl), Deputy DA Bill Oakley (Peter Diseth) and Kim Wexler's former boss Rich Schweikart (Dennis Boutsikaris), as they recounted their memories of Jimmy McGill and Kim Wexler. Also making their reappearances are Craig and Betsy Kettleman (Jeremy Shamos and Julie Ann Emery, respectively), who had not appeared on the series since the first season, but made their last canonical appearance in the short film No Picnic, which was released after the third season.[20][21]

References

  1. 1 2 Goldman, Beth (June 11, 2007). "CNBC's "American Greed: Scams, Scoundrels and Scandals" To Premiere on Thursday, June 21st". CNBC.
  2. ↑ "American Greed". CNBC. February 3, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Bill Kurtis: 'For us, greed has been good'".
  4. ↑ https://www.moviefone.com/tv/american-greed/178448/season-11/%5B%5D
  5. ↑ Keach, Stacy. "American Greed: Inside the WorldCom Scam | DHS: Department of Hollywood Scams". cnbc.com.
  6. ↑ Keach, Stacy. "American Greed: A Wall Street Wonder Takes a Fall". cnbc.com.
  7. ↑ Keach, Stacy. "American Greed: Party's Over: Tyco's Kozlowski". cnbc.com.
  8. ↑ Keach, Stacy. "American Greed: Fraud in Cyberspace". cnbc.com.
  9. ↑ Keach, Stacy. "American Greed Special: Bernie Madoff Behind Bars". cnbc.com.
  10. ↑ "American Greed: Special Presentation: 9/11 Fraud – 'A Contractor Capitalizes on Disaster'". cnbc.com. August 31, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Mob Money: An American Greed Special Presentation" – via imdb.com.
  12. ↑ "American Greed: James McGill | Watch Better Call Saul Video Extras | AMC". www.amc.com. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  13. ↑ "The Power of 'Greed'". HuffPost. August 13, 2012.
  14. ↑ "American Greed: The Fugitives: Seasons". cnbc.com.
  15. ↑ CNBC, Celia Watson Seupel, Special to (December 4, 2013). "A capture after 'American Greed: The Fugitives' profile". CNBC.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  16. ↑ "Fugitive Who Failed to Appear for Sentencing for Carrying Out a Multi-Million-Dollar Scheme That Defrauded Homeowners Arrested in Las Vegas". FBI.
  17. ↑ "CNBC's "American Greed: Biggest Cons" Premieres Monday July 20th at 10PM ET/PT". The Futon Critic. July 15, 2020.
  18. ↑ Zinski, Dan (April 5, 2022). "Better Call Saul Season 6 Video Shows Jimmy's Walter White Connections". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on April 5, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  19. ↑ Bonomolo, Cameron (April 5, 2022). "Better Call Saul: CNBC's American Greed Documents Jimmy McGill's Crimes". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on April 5, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  20. ↑ Anderson, Lauren (April 10, 2022). "'Better Call Saul': 'American Greed' Special Drops Hints About Final Season". Showbiz Cheatsheet. Archived from the original on April 10, 2022. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
  21. ↑ Lynch, Jason (June 15, 2017). "Acura Caps This Season's Better Call Saul Partnership by Bringing Back Some Memorable Season 1 Characters". RPA (Rubin Postaer and Associates). Retrieved April 11, 2022.

Other sources

1. Fed.R. Civ. Pro 9.

2. Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009).

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