NETFLIX’s new docuseries about RCSD reaches #2 spot among viewers nationwide

By W. Thomas Smith Jr.

MISSING: Dead or Alive, NETFLIX’s new four-part docuseries showcasing the stellar work of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department’s Missing’s Persons Unit received week-two kudos after seizing the #2 spot among NETFLIX’s TOP 10 currently airing shows nationwide.

Following its May 10 premiere on the popular streaming service, review publication COLLIDER.com invites its readers to: “Follow officers from a South Carolina sheriff’s department as they urgently search for individuals who’ve disappeared under troubling circumstances.”

NETFLIX bills the series similarly.

Paste magazine reports: “True crime continues to pay for Netflix with their latest docuseries—a four-part look at missing persons cases in South Carolina.”

I agree with the reviews and the penultimate ranking. Though I personally believe – and I’m holding out hope – that Missing: Dead or Alive will achieve the top spot among the top 10 within the next few weeks. The series is not only superbly scripted and well-produced, but the investigators (detectives) themselves are perfectly cast. But then, well, they are in the very roles of themselves. And yes, I am biased.

The only drawback to MISSING: Dead or Alive is that there are only four episodes so far (I watched them all on the first night) and no additional episodes have been contracted as far as I know. We’ll see. In the meantime, we still have REELZ’s enormously popular On Patrol: Live, essentially a redux of A&E’s hit television series LIVE PD.

– W. Thomas Smith Jr., a special deputy with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department, is a formerly deployed U.S. Marine infantry leader, a former SWAT team officer in the nuclear industry, and a New York Times bestselling editor.