Dirty John investigative podcast to become Bravo television series

Dirty John is the latest podcast to make the leap to the small screen. The podcast began as a multimedia investigative project from the Los Angeles Times and Wondery. Now it has received a two-season order from Bravo as a scripted anthology series.

Connie Britton is set to star in the first season, and is attached as an executive producer alongside people from Universal Cable Productions, Los Angeles Times Studios, and Atlas Entertainment. The first season will share the same true-crime story as the podcast, which focused on the relationship between John Meehan and Debra Newell with themes of manipulation and abuse.

Podcasting has become a more frequent inspiration for Hollywood projects as the audio format grows in popularity. The Gimlet Media show StartUp was one of the first to get the TV transformation; it debuts on ABC this week with the title Alex, Inc. Gimlet has since launched a dedicated film and TV department for pursuing these crossover projects.

Anna Washenko