First Person

Seasons

2000

8.6

Amazing series primarily using Errol Morris' invention the Interrotron for unusual people to tell their outré stories directly into the camera to the viewer. Almost every half-hour documentary episode focused on 1 person, especially scientists, criminals, cranks, plus everyday folks in strange circumstances. First season seen on Bravo, second on IFC. Having a roaming crew at the ready led Morris to start filming his Academy Award winning documentary on Robert McNamara, "The Fog of War." Some subjects came from Morris' back-file, others were newly uncovered. First season included the autistic woman scientist who designs humane slaughterhouses (Temple Grandin, "Stairway to Heaven"), the parrot whose testimony in a trial exonerated a man wrongly accused of murdering his owner, the ex-lobster fisherman devoted to being the first to see a live giant squid ("Eyeball to Eyeball"), and a serial killer groupie. Second season had some 2 parters such as a haunted passenger who landed a crashing jet liner, also the dot.com entrepreneur who believes first mate Gilligan is the new messiah ! Errol Morris hoped to continue "First Person," but funding was unavailable.

Episode List

S1 • E1

Mr. Debt

Credit card companies and collection agencies are trying to put a lawyer out of business for paying off other people's high-interest debts.

S1 • E2

Eyeball to Eyeball

An interview with Clyde Roper, a leading expert on giant squid.

S1 • E3

Stairway to Heaven

An interview with Temple Grandin, an autistic expert on the humane slaughter of cattle.

S1 • E4

The Killer Inside Me

Nonfiction author Sondra London tells of how she met and had a relationship with serial killers Gerard John Schaefer and Danny Rolling.

S1 • E5

I Dismember Mama

Saul Kent explains his fascination with cryogenics and the legal troubles he faced when he chose to preserve his mother's head for reattachment and reanimation.

S1 • E6

The Stalker

An interview with Bill Kinsley, who was the employer of the disgruntled postal worker, Thomas Mcvane

S1 • E7

The Parrot

Can a parrot be an eye witness to a murder?

S1 • E8

Smiling in a Jar

Gretchen Worden, director of the Mütter Museum, discusses her work, the medical library's holdings (and in particular some of its curiosities), and her outlook on life.

S1 • E9

In the Kingdom of the Unabomber

An interview with Gary Greenberg, who exchanged letters with Ted Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber.

S1 • E10

The Little Grey Man

An interview with Antonio Mendez, who was a CIA operative and master of disguise. Dubbed "the little grey man" for his ability to blend in.

S1 • E11

You're Soaking in It

Crime scene cleaner Joan Dougherty explains that, after the death of her stepson, she discovered that the police do not clean up crime scenes once they are done collecting evidence from them. As a result of her experience cleaning up the physical signs of her stepson's death, as well as his personal effects, she started a business cleaning crime scenes so that other parents and loved ones did not have to.