5 best Dateline episodes of all time

Dateline is NBC's very own reality docuseries that explores various intriguing cases across America. The series premiered on NBC in 1992 and has since aired 32 seasons, amounting to over 1300 episodes.

Initially set to be a general interest news show, Dateline has now become a series that primarily focuses on legal cases and true crime instances. With its long running history and its weekly Friday airtime throughout the year, it has become an iconic title from the house of NBC.

For 32 years, Dateline has covered a wide variety of cases, with some being so complex that they have even bewildered authorities. Fans who prefer extremely complicated cases riddled with mysteries, can check out some of the best rated and most invigorating episodes from NBC's Dateline.

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5 Dateline episodes to add to your watchlist right now

1) The Phone Call (season 29 episode 43)

Episode 43 from season 29 of Dateline became one of the most highly rated episodes from NBC's long-running true crime show. The Phone Call was released on April 16, 2021, as a two hour-long Friday special episode. The Dateline correspondent for the case was Natalie Morales.

The official synopsis for the episode reads as follows:

"A woman makes a phone call right before her death naming her killer, which leads to an arrest. Twelve years later, authorities begin wonder who was really the victim. Natalie Morales reports."

The case expands upon the death of 45-year-old Kathleen Scholl and her 64-year-old husband, Carl Scholl. The couple were found dead at their Kansas City residence with bullet wounds on the back of Kathleen's head and on Carl's chest on April 7, 2008.

Based on a telephone call that Kathleen had made just moments before her death, authorities pinned the charges on Olin "Pete" Coones, son of the elderly whose caregiver was Kathleen. Pete was convicted of Kathleen's murder on two counts, and also served time for over 12 years before being exonerated in 2020. This episode delves into the intricacies of a case that put an innocent man in jail.

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2) The Man Who Knew Too Much (season 25 episode 8)

One of the most popular and noteworthy episodes of the show aired during season 25 in 2016. The episode in question was titled The Man Who Knew Too Much, and it actually came as a follow-up to one of the cases that Dateline had covered back in 2010. The episode aired on NBC on November 11, 2016.

The Girl with the Blue Mustang was an episode from Dateline's 18th season, that explored the murder case of Michelle O'Keefe. After her dead body was found in her car in a parking lot, authorities took over six years to make an arrest. The murder was pitted on a security guard, Raymon Lee Jennings, an Iraq war vet, who had divulged pivotal information about the crime to the police.

However, when Dateline aired the episode, a keen viewer noticed that things were not adding up. Self-taught polymath Clint Ehrlich and his father, who was an attorney, did some digging around themselves. This ultimately led to Jennings being released from jail after spending 12 years of a 40-year sentence, none of which he deserved.

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3) The Doomsday Files (season 30 episode 8)

The case around the Idaho couple, Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow, has been the subject of multiple episodes. Through episodes like Where Are the Children? and Mommy Doomsday, Dateline kept a close watch on the case. However, the episode that became the most popular of the lot was The Doomsday Files, which aired on November 12, 2021.

After Where Are the Children and Mommy Doomsday aired in February 2020 and March 2021, The Doomsday Files unveiled previously unknown information about the case. The episode featured unheard audio tapes and new evidence regarding the case alongside exclusive interviews. Overall, the episode took a deeper dive into the mind-boggling case of the Idaho couple who left four dead bodies behind them.

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4) The Real Thing About Pam (season 30 episode 22)

The Real Thing About Pam takes a deep dive into the twisted case of Pam Hupp. NBC kept a close eye on the case through multiple original reports, a popular podcast, and even a limited series on Peacock TV. Dateline even made a total of six episodes on the case between 2014 and 2022.

The Real Thing About Pam is the third and latest iteration of Dateline's update on the Betsy Faria murder case. With a detailed insight into the lives of the Hupp and Faria households, recordings of the 911 call by Hupp, and interviews with the family of the victim, the episode is one of the most gripping segments in the series.

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5) Deep in the Woods (season 26 episode 17)

Deep in the Woods is another intriguing case covered by Dateline NBC. Aired during their 26th season, the episode deals with the disappearance of Kelli Brodeaux, a Private First Class Army Medic stationed at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville.

When she went missing, the initial suspicion landed on her partner and soon-to-be-ex-husband, Mike Bordeaux. However, with practically no leads and no body found, the trail was a dead end. This was until a private investigator's suspicions were ticked off by an interview with one of her acquaintances.

This ultimately led to the investigator pursuing his hunch and getting to the bottom of the mystery, and finding an unexpected perpetrator.

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These are some of our personal top picks of episodes from Dateline NBC's extensive list of cases covered. If you have your own favorite episode, drop a comment down below and let us know which episode it is and why you find it so enthralling!