Made-For-tv Murder

CBS announced last week that Edward James Olmos would play the father in The Beverly Hills Murders, the TV-movie version of the Menendez murder case. Here is a speculative look at an entire ensemble, with actual excerpts from the only slightly overwrought descriptions of the roles producers have provided to agents.

Jose Menendez:...A driven, relentless perfectionist of a man who brooks no failure from himself, his subordinates or his sons...Sarcastic and condescending to his unhappy wife, on whom he regularly cheats...clearly a man with deep anger...

Kitty Menendez:...Deeply unhappy in her marriage, she is an alcoholic who , periodically and desperately makes futile attempts to live up to her husband's standards. Aware that her marriage is a sham, she herself is the victim of Jose's cruelty...

Lyle Menendez:...A complicated, brilliant, arrogant boy, he has been seriously damaged by his impossible-to-please, unbearably domineering father...Cold, calculating, with a bitter, biting humor, Lyle both loathes and admires his father and feels nothing but contempt for his beaten-down mother...

Erik Menendez:...((A)) softer, warmer human being ((than Lyle)), still capable of feeling pity and love for his mother, as well as being able to share a few lighthearted moments with his father, who makes his life generally miserable...