Season one of Bravo’s Dirty John—based on a true-crime podcast—focused on the twisted yet fascinating tale of con artist John Meehan. But once that case was wrapped up, how could the series go on to a season two? Fortunately, Dirty John found a new title character—named Dan, actually—and a new network—USA—for another go-round as Dirty John: The Betty Broderick Story. Christian Slater plays Dan Broderick, a California businessman who left his wife and five kids in a classic midlife crisis. (“I was married for 16 years, then he turns 40 and he’s walking out with a 19-year-old and a sports car,” complains Amanda Peet’s Betty in the trailer.) Not so typical, though, was his wife’s reaction: Betty did not take the breakup lightly, vandalizing her husband’s new home, driving her car into it, and worse.
Granted, the definitive Broderick story has already been told in a 1992 two-part TV movie series (A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story and Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, The Last Chapter), with Family Ties’ Meredith Baxter rightly earning an Emmy nomination as Betty. But judging from the new trailer, this season has promise, what with the over-the-top ’80s fashions, Slater’s obvious delight at playing the diabolic Dan, and Amanda Peet getting a chance to unravel completely as Betty. The trailer ends with the maddening tease of “coming soon”; color us intrigued by yet another Dirty John.