TV Talk: Western Pa. dentist’s murder conviction gets true crime treatment in Hulu's ‘Trophy Wife’

The story of a former Pittsburgh-area dentist convicted of murder gets the true crime docuseries treatment in ABC News Studios’ “Trophy Wife: Murder on Safari,” now streaming on Hulu.

The three-episode program (about 40 minutes each) chronicles the story of Larry Rudolph, who was convicted of killing his wife, Bianca, on safari in Zambia.

The series includes interviews with Pittsburghers who worked with Rudolph, clips from local newscasts (Hi there, Ken Rice!) and even phone interviews from federal prison with Rudolph and his former mistress, Lori Milliron, who was charged with perjury, obstruction of justice and accessory (to murder) after the fact.

“He used to tell me, (his affair) was like going to Kennywood and riding the Laser Loop,” says Maryann Versmessen, one of Rudolph’s former dental assistants. “It’s a thrill for him. We would get comments from patients all the time, ‘Are you hiring by hair color? Because you have mostly blonds.’ ”

The series begins giving Rudolph’s background running The Dentistry in Green Tree before his partners forced him out — Tim Runco says Rudolph saw patients for cash behind his partners’ backs. Rudolph opened a rival practice, the Hempfield-­based Three Rivers Dental Group, with offices in Greensburg, Cranberry, Jennerstown, Washington and one in Green Tree that was visible from The Dentistry across the Parkway West.

“He started to put his face on TV (in commercials) a lot and they believed him and he was funny and charming and I wanted to throw up in my mouth when I saw some of that,” Runco says.

“Trophy Wife” director Dani Sloane and executive producer Erin Lee Carr bought the rights to a 2022 Rolling Stone article about the case by Matt Sullivan (“Before the Dentist Knows You’re Dead”) and spent two years making this docuseries.

Sloane said she’s drawn to stories of complicated women and found that in Milliron’s part of the story.

“Anytime we see a headline where a woman is called a villain, or made one-dimensional, it pricks our Spidey senses up,” Sloane said. “That immediate demonization and villainization of Lori in this story, I think Matt so beautifully started tapping into that in his article. We just knew that there was more to say about who this woman was, what this relationship was, and that there was more to dig into deeper.”

The filmmakers shot many interviews in Pittsburgh.

“Our favorite location scout we’ve ever worked with was in Pittsburgh,” Sloane said. “We got a feel for the texture of the city, and there’s so much beauty and grittiness to it and it’s such a pivotal part of this story.”

What’s fascinating about “Trophy Wife” is the degree to which Rudolph’s former employees and associates dislike him. Several members from the jury suggest they were prepared to acquit Rudolph until he took the stand in his own defense.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen this level of visceral hatred from this diverse a group of people,” Sloane said. “It would be one thing if it was just the dental assistants and the employees, but there’s a real trail of people that he (upset) … just the random people in the wake of his bad behavior.”

“Larry literally made almost everybody his enemy,” Carr added. “Sure, Lori was not good at work, she was going on with a married man, but he was the one that was married. It is his burden to bear in terms of that affair.”

An element that sets “Trophy Wife” apart is its humor, courtesy of the people interviewed, from Runco’s description of the actions of one Rudolph mistress (not fit for a family newspaper) to the dancing, pony-tailed 2017-20 U.S. ambassador to Zambia.

“We were definitely pleasantly surprised when we sat down in the chair and the first day we filmed was with Runco and (he told) that story (not fit for a family newspaper),” Sloane said. “I wish there was a camera on me and my (director of photography) because we could not believe what we were hearing. … This is what Larry brings out in people, and Lori, to an extent, too: This level of pain and anger and humor and the absurdity, but also the sadness. It’s so visceral and it’s so real.”

Fed cuts’ impact on WQED

In an email with the subject line “WQED Faces a $1.8M Cut,” WQED president Jason Jedlinski invited the community to attend “a critical conversation” about what the federal government ending funding to PBS and its member stations will mean locally.

A “state of the station” webinar will be held tonight (July 21) at 7 p.m. via Zoom. Register to attend by clicking here.

Kept/canceled

AMC renewed “The Walking Dead: Dead City” for a third season.

The CW renewed “Sullivan’s Crossing” for a 10-episode fourth season to air in 2026.

Amazon’s Prime Video will bring back animated adult comedy “Invincible” for a fifth season.

The news Thursday that CBS canceled “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” (last episode airs in May 2026) was as shocking as it was confounding. CBS’s statement contended both that “Late Show” has been No. 1 for nine consecutive seasons but also that the cancellation was “purely a financial decision against the challenging backdrop of late night.” And while it’s true that late night has been challenged (see: NBC cutting “The Tonight Show” to four nights per week; CBS canceled “After Midnight;” Puck says Colbert’s show lost $40 million per year), given that this happened at the same time Paramount is seeking government approval to be sold to Skydance, that Paramount already capitulated to President Trump over a harmless “60 Minutes” edit and that President Trump has expressed his displeasure at being mocked by Colbert, it’s hard not to see CBS’s move as appeasement to get the deal cleared. By killing the entire “Late Show” franchise, CBS ensures execs won’t have to worry about a Colbert replacement angering Trump or any future U.S. president.

Deadline.com reports HGTV canceled “Christina on the Coast” and “The Flipping El Moussas,” the latest in a spate of HGTV cancellations.