Television, 2006. A newsmagazine segment called To Catch a Predator is about to become one of the most argued-over programmes of its decade, and Lance Oppenheim's Primetime, with Robert Pattinson and Skyler Gisondo heading the cast, dramatises the year its host set out to make history.
What is Primetime about?
Chris Hansen has an idea for a piece of television that nobody has quite attempted before: an undercover investigation built for broadcast, with the moment of exposure placed at the centre of every episode. Primetime follows the making of that format through 2006, as the ambition to produce something historic collides with the machinery needed to pull it off and with the growing argument over what the show is actually doing. Oppenheim treats the story as a drama about a man and a medium, where every decision in the production office has consequences once the cameras are rolling, and where the gap between journalism, entertainment and law enforcement narrows with each broadcast.
About the cast
Robert Pattinson and Skyler Gisondo lead a cast that also features Merritt Wever, Phoebe Bridgers, Matthew Maher, Bokeem Woodbine, Alex Winter and Anna Faris. The line-up mixes established dramatic actors with musicians and comic performers, a combination that suits a film set in the busy, uneasy world of a network television production. Lance Oppenheim directs.
Context & significance
Primetime is a 2026 American film running 103 minutes. To Catch a Predator was a real series of hidden-camera stings broadcast in the mid-2000s, and its mix of investigative reporting, reality-show staging and on-air confrontation made it a fixture of cultural debate about media ethics and public shaming. Oppenheim approaches the subject as scripted drama, concentrating on the people who built the programme rather than on the stings themselves. The film has been strongly reviewed, and it sits comfortably alongside other films about the inner workings of American television.
Watching Primetime on Ktime
Primetime is available on K-Time with a Persian dub and Persian subtitles, so Farsi speakers can watch it either way. Reading this page costs nothing; streaming the film requires logging in with a K-Time account. The service is built in Farsi from the menus to the player, with the Iranian diaspora in mind.