The production company Universal Cable Productions—a unit of NBC Universal, itself a part of the much larger Sheinhardt Wig Company—has acquired the rights to the 2008 documentary Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father, presumably because there’s a shortage of salty human tears and body-wracking sobs in the world. The company plans to smash your faith in humanity and make you raise your fists to the heavens, screaming, “If you really exist, how could you let this happen?” by turning the story into a mini-series. The spoiler-free version: In 2001, Andrew Bagby was murdered by his ex-girlfriend, who fled to Canada and awaited extradition to the U.S. While there, she announced she was pregnant with Bagby’s child. Bagby’s friend Kurt Kuenne began the documentary as a way for that child, Zachary, to know the father he could never meet; he interviewed friends and family about Bagby’s life and intended the footage to be seen only by friends and family. Then some other shit happened. Bad shit. The doc is soul-destroying and well worth watching—try pairing it with one of our 24 great films too painful to watch twice. There’s no date yet on the mini-series.

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