Once upon a time, To Catch a Predator was must-see cringe TV.

Millions of people tuned in to watch a series of unwitting men arrive at a nondescript house in the suburbs for what they thought was going to be a sexual encounter with an underage boy or girl, only to find themselves confronted by host Chris Hansen and some stomach-turning chat logs.

"If you haven't seen it," Jimmy Kimmel quipped on his late night show in 2007, "it's like Punk'd for pedophiles."

But while the Dateline NBC segment became a much-parodied cultural touchstone, the ethics of the ruse that was central to the show's popularity remain up for debate.

And, as recounted in the 2007 Esquire article "Tonight on Dateline This Man Will Die"—which inspired the new film Primetime, starring Robert Pattinson as the telegenic Hansen—the ruse went disturbingly awry in November 2006, when Texas prosecutor Bill Conradt died by suicide as police showed up at his home to arrest him while the cameras were rolling.

In the film, Conradt's death occurs as the show's ostensible mission is being surpassed by the quest to produce compelling television—and beat ABC's Lost in the ratings.

"Catching child predators is such a serious subject," Pattinson reflected in A24's press notes about the film, "and yet it’s a television show that was subject to the same criteria of entertainment success as sitcoms and reality TV."

Hansen, meanwhile, has stressed that he was not involved in the making of Primetime, telling the Los Angeles Times that he left a screening at A24's Manhattan office rather than sign a nondisclosure agreement. (A person involved with the film not authorized to discuss the matter told the publication it was a standard NDA to prevent viewers from revealing plot points and spoilers.)

Instead, he purchased ads for his true crime streaming network TruBlu to run in theaters, where the film is now playing.

But the 67-year-old—who has since shared his plan to go see the movie with a camera crew in tow to shoot content for one of his podcasts—conceded to Entertainment Tonight that, from what he saw in the trailer, Pattinson did "a pretty good imitation."

Still, Hansen added, “He’s saying things I never said and doing things I never did, and that’s not who I am. I’m a nice guy, except when it comes to criminals and predators. I think people should remember that it is a work of fiction, only based on real-life events.”

Primetime doesn't purport to be a docudrama, with director Lance Oppenheim explaining in the press notes that he "liked the idea of mixing truth and fictionization together," as To Catch a Predator "blended artifice—actors, fake houses—with very real stakes."

He continued, "You’d watch someone’s life effectively end on television while a short adult actor playing a child hovered in the background. It felt like a circus, with Chris as the ringleader."

The lion got out of the cage on Nov. 5, 2006, when police arrived at the Terrell, Texas, home of Louis “Bill” Conradt Jr.—an assistant district attorney for Rockland County—to arrest him on charges of soliciting sex with a minor and he fatally shot himself before officers forced their way inside.

Conradt had exchanged messages with a decoy who'd been posing as a 13-year-old boy, Murphy Police Sgt. Snow Robertson told reporters at the time.

The decoy was from Perverted-Justice, the watchdog group that teamed with To Catch a Predator during its run from 2004 to 2007 to purportedly do exactly that. Robertson noted that his department had been working with NBC News and Perverted-Justice on a broader sting in the area.

Conradt, 56, did not go to the TCAP sting house in Murphy, but police said they believed he would, according to NBC News. 

An NBC News spokeswoman told the New York Times that, while cameras were there to capture Conradt's arrest, no one from Dateline had been in contact with him and there was "absolutely no evidence that would suggest that he was aware of us" when he shot himself.

The Murphy sting was featured on To Catch a Predator in February 2007. (While 24 people were arrested at the TCAP house, prosecutors didn't pursue charges, with Collin County District Attorney John Roach telling the Associated Press he didn't have jurisdiction in 16 cases, while police couldn't guarantee the authenticity of the chat logs for the others.)

Conradt's sister Patricia Conradt subsequently sued NBC for $105 million, alleging in the lawsuit, per the AP, that NBC "steamrolled" police to arrest her brother, as well as "trespassed and invaded upon Bill’s property" to “broadcast a spectacle to millions.”

Though a network spokeswoman called the suit "completely without merit," the two sides reached an undisclosed settlement in 2008, saying in a joint statement that "the matter has been amicably resolved to the satisfaction of both parties."

Primetime director Oppenheimer recalled being "haunted" by the segment and sought to capture in the film "the feeling of being inside the apparatus as things spiraled out of control.”

Twenty years later, Hansen maintains that NBC "didn't have a role" in the decision to go to Conradt's house. "The police decided to do it," he told The Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview, "and we covered it like any other arrest we would cover in the course of reporting the story."

As for the assumption that the Conradt scandal hastened TCAP's cancellation in early 2008, Hanson saw it differently, telling TIME in 2015 that the show just ran its course.

“I think we raised awareness and created a dialogue that didn’t exist before,” he said. “We created compelling television, and I think we exposed a lot of bad people who were preying on children."

Hansen and NBC News parted ways in 2013 but he's yet to retire from true crime. His TruBlu series, Takedown With Chris Hansen, resembles the To Catch a Predator format, and he hosts the podcasts Have a Seat with Chris Hansen and Predators I've Caught—all content Pattinson devoured in coming up with his portrayal.

And it's a performance he hopes Hansen likes. "There’s something electrifying about him," the actor told reporters at the Venice Film Festival. "I would hope the amount of inspiration his character has given a lot of people for years is some kind of compliment."

See more stars who took on the task of playing a real person in films and TV:

The Wonka star played the legendary folk singer-songwriter in the film A Complete Unknown.

The English actress transformed into the Baywatch icon in the Hulu series Pam & Tommy.

The actor dropped jaws after showing off his epic makeover as the Mötley CrĂŒe rocker for the Hulu series Pam & Tommy.

The actress portrayed the late Tejano star for the Netflix show Selena: The Series.

The Oscar winner had fans doing a double-take in Bombshell, in which she played Fox News alum who helped take down Roger Ailes' career after he was accused of sexual misconduct. 

The actress earned her first Golden Globe win in 2021 for her role as the iconic singer in the biopic The United States Vs. Billie Holiday.

The Australia native produced and starred in I, Tonya, a 2017 movie based on the disgraced figure skater's life.

In 2019's Rocketman, the British actor played one of the most iconic musicians in the history of rock 'n' roll.

The Oscar winner stepped into the shoes of the late movie legend in Feud, Ryan Murphy's FX series about the making of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

The Dead Man Walking star played the acting legend in Feud.

The singer took on the Queen of Soul in 2021's Respect.

After Natalie Portman dropped out, the English actress stepped in to play the late Supreme Court Justice in On the Basis of Sex, a biopic directed by Mimi Leder.

The actor played the civil rights leader opposite Bryan Cranston as President Lyndon B. Johnson in HBO's All the Way.

The Oscar-nominated actor portrayed the famed inventor of the light bulb in Current War.

The British actor starred as the late country singer in the 2015 film I Saw the Light.

The Lovesick star played the late rock legend in the 2020 biopic Stardust. 

Parker Sawyers played the former president in Southside With You, a romantic dramedy loosely based on Barack's first date with Michelle Obama back in 1989.

The actress starred as the former First Lady in Southside With You.

"She was a groundbreaking woman, so ahead of her time," Odette told E! News of her Astronaut Wives Club character, who was an extremely skilled pilot in her own right. "It's such an honor to play her."

The Scandal star took on the role of the aide who accused U.S. Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual assault in 1991 in HBO's biopic Confirmation.

The Oscar nominee starred in The Founder, a biopic about the founder of the McDonald's empire.

The actress and model played the late legendary singer in a Lifetime biopic.

The Les Misérables heartthrob won the Oscar after portraying Hawking in Theory of Everything.

In The Kennedys miniseries, the Dawson's Creek alum channeled the former First Lady and one of America's most fashionable public figures.

The Oscar-winning actress stepped into the regal shoes of the Hollywood legend turned princess for Grace of Monaco.

The Marvel star played Jamie Lee Curtis' famous mom in Hitchcock, which focused on the making of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.

The former Private Pactice starlet portrayed the late Playboy model in the Lifetime biopic The Anna Nicole Story.

The That '70s Show alum played the late Apple co-founder in the indie flick Jobs.

The Aussie actor portrayed the Formula 1 race car driver in Ron Howard's biopic Rush.

The actress starred alongside Sean Penn as the outed CIA agent in the thriller Fair Game.