True crime buffs will no doubt be watching Rodney & Cheryl to gain a little more insight into the case of Rodney Alcala, the man who was dubbed The Dating Game Killer for a while, but a lot of others might be watching for morbid fascination. It’s a story, albeit a true and horrifying one. But that’s why we’ll be watching it because it’s another tale of human tragedy, degradation, and the ongoing horror of humanity that pops its head up out of the archives every now and then. Rodney Alcala was by far a mentally sick and evil individual in a lot of ways, but whatever defense might have been put up, using his mental faculties to explain away his behavior, wasn’t any good, since he ended up being locked away and then given the death penalty, which he has not received to this day. It’s very likely that Rodney will never leave prison alive though since at this point he’s an old man and not faring so well.
But in his prime, Rodney was a dangerous individual, and brazen to a fault, since his appearance on something as public as The Dating Game was evidence enough to show that he wasn’t too worried about the results of his own behavior. How the movie will be stretched out long enough to show the interaction between Rodney and Cheryl Bradshaw is hard to say, but to this day many are glad that Cheryl followed her instincts and didn’t bother to go on a date with Rodney, even after she selected him during the game based on his answers to her questions. Many people today might not remember The Dating Game, but what’s kind of obvious is that the screening process was extremely lax or non-existent at that point, since otherwise Rodney likely never would have been allowed on. These days he might not even be allowed near the building where the show was being broadcast from, since being a registered sex offender would likely have the guy afraid to leave his home.
The attitudes of many people have changed over the years thanks to technology. Any harm done to women and children hasn’t been seen as acceptable for a long time, but with technology has come the ability to realize when a registered sex offender moves into the neighborhood. While it’s not something that’s recommended, a lot of people will take it upon themselves to find ways to let the sex offender know that they’re not welcome in the neighborhood, especially if there are kids anywhere nearby. It’s fair to say that Rodney’s self-confidence in moving about so easily might have been easily shattered in the modern era, no matter if it was done in a righteous or suspect manner. But back then, a man such as Rodney could move about as he pleased no matter that he’d already been caught and served time.
His slick and charming manner took Rodney pretty much wherever he wanted to go since people were either enchanted by him or repelled by his narcissism as it’s been stated in several articles that can be found online. When it came to The Dating Game though, his answers appeared to charm Cheryl to no end, but when she finally had a chance to speak with him it would appear that whatever charm he’d displayed failed to push her over the edge, as her defenses went up and she declined to go on a date with him, which is rather fortunate, to say the least. Had she disregarded such feelings she might have been another name on his list.
There’s still enough doubt to wonder how this movie is going to play out and how it’s going to keep the attention of those that enjoy such stories, especially with other adaptations coming, but it’s of great enough interest to sit down and see how it will happen. One has to wonder what Rodney said to Cheryl, or how he acted, that turned her off and switched on her danger sense when other women apparently didn’t feel that way. Hopefully the movie will go a little deeper into Rodney’s thought process as well, such as being bold enough to walk onto a game show when he was already a registered sex offender and knew that there was a good chance that there might be repercussions for such a bold action. That appears to have been his character though, as he’s been described as someone who is very narcissistic and has almost a devil may care attitude. Whether this is due to his faulty wiring or something else, he has become a historical figure that true crime buffs have been poring over for years, and even after his death it’s fair to say that people are going to be trying to find out what made him believe that The Dating Game was a good idea.
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