Why ‘To Catch a Predator’ Was Canceled After Peak Popularity and Legal Drama

NBC's To Catch a Predator was one of the most unforgettable shows of the 2000s, until it was abruptly canceled. The network introduced the segment on Dateline NBC in 2004, with Chris Hansen confronting adult men who believed they were showing up to meet minors after chatting online with decoys.

Hidden cameras captured the meetings, and police often moved in after Chris confronted the alleged perp. The format took off fast, and by 2006 the segments were pulling in more than 10 million viewers, according to The Los Angeles Times. Despite strong ratings, the show was canceled after just a few seasons.

NBC stopped producing the original version of To Catch a Predator after 2007. The show faced legal and ethical drama. The biggest turning point came after a 2006 Texas sting tied to assistant district attorney Bill Conradt. According to Time, Bill did not show up at the sting house. Instead, police went to his home while NBC cameras were nearby, and he died by suicide during the confrontation. His family later sued NBC, and the network settled the case.

The Conradt case was the biggest controversy, but it was not the only scandal hanging over the series. Critics argued that Dateline blurred the line between reporting the news and helping create it. The Society of Professional Journalists later used the program as an ethics case study, saying the series raised serious questions about reporters working alongside police, using deception, and turning humiliation into part of the punishment.

“The biggest stakeholders in this ethical decision clearly were the men lured before the cameras,” SPJ wrote. “Their wives and families also faced major consequences from what NBC did. Law enforcement officers provided plenty of 'perp walks,' arrests, and bookings in clear view of cameras for additional video footage of the suspects, in return for coverage of their cleaning up the community of predators.”

Some of the show’s methods also raised concerns long before it ended. Time reported that critics viewed the decoys as manipulative. In one example, a decoy pushed for an in-person meeting and even offered gas money. The same report said the Conradt sting continued to haunt the franchise. Advertiser discomfort also likely played a role in the show’s demise.

To Catch a Predator never came back in its original NBC form, but the concept did. In 2016, Chris joined Crime Watch Daily and launched Hansen vs. Predator, a new round of hidden-camera investigations built around the same basic formula. In 2022, he returned again with Takedown With Chris Hansen on TruBlu, which is essentially an ongoing predator-investigation series.

Chris has always stood by the show. In an interview with Time, he defended its impact. “I think we raised awareness and created a dialogue that didn’t exist before,” Chris said. “We created compelling television, and I think we exposed a lot of bad people who were preying on children. So if the old-guard journalists have a problem with that, then so be it.”