History Series / TheDeliberateStranger

* DaylightHorror: Ted's abduction of two women from Washington's Lake Sammamish Park takes place in the middle of a glorious mid-summer day, as does his attempted abduction of Carol [=DaRonch=], his abduction of Caryn Campbell, and his kidnapping of Kimberly Leach.

* WoundedGazelleGambit: Ted attempts to lure a woman away by claiming to be injured and in need of help. She declines, and later sees him try with someone else. Much later, she recognizes when she sees the news.

The series centers on the crimes of Theodore Robert Bundy, better known as UsefulNotes/TedBundy, specifically his activities around 1974 to his ultimate capture in 1978. Bundy was a handsome, charismatic man who campaigned for local politicians and volunteered at a crisis hotline, but what nobody knew was that this seemingly nice, clean-cut guy would turn out to be one the most notorious serial killers of all time.

* FearsomeFoot: From the opening sequence and throughout the MiniSeries, we get a repeated scenario--a pretty young woman walks past, the camera pans down to the ground, a pair of men's feet enter the frame, depicting their owner as slowly stalking the girl. . . and cue GoryDiscretionShot.

* HarmfulToHitchhiker: One scene has Bundy picking up a young woman hitchhiking. By now, his SerialKiller tendencies have been well established, so it's safe to say she's doomed.

''The Deliberate Stranger'' is a two-part 1986 TrueCrime MiniSeries produced and directed by Marvin J. Chomsky and starring Creator/MarkHarmon, Frederic Forrest, Creator/GeorgeGrizzard, Ben Masters, Creator/GlynnisOConnor, and Creator/MEmmetWalsh. The teleplay by Hesper Anderson is based on the book ''Bundy: The Deliberate Stranger'' by Richard W. Larsen, who is portrayed by Grizzard in the series.

''The Deliberate Stranger'' is a two-part 1986 TrueCrime MiniSeries produced and directed by Marvin J. Chomsky and starring Creator/MarkHarmon, Frederic Forrest, Creator/GeorgeGrizzard, Ben Masters, Glynnis O’Connor, and Creator/MEmmetWalsh. The teleplay by Hesper Anderson is based on the book ''Bundy: The Deliberate Stranger'' by Richard W. Larsen, who is portrayed by Grizzard in the series.

See also 2002’s Film/TedBundy, the Ann Rule book and later TV movie Literature/TheStrangerBesideMe, and 2019’s Film/ExtremelyWickedShockinglyEvilAndVile.

* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: Ted is a textbook example.
* WouldHurtAChild: Ted’s last victim, Kimberly Leach, was only twelve.

* InMediaRes: The movie begins with the abduction of [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Georgann_Hawkins Georgeann Hawkins]] (though hers and nearly every other victim's name was changed for the movie), eliminating Bundy's first four or five murders.

The series centers on the crimes of Theodore Robert Bundy, better known as Ted Bundy, specifically his activities around 1974 to his ultimate capture in 1978. Bundy was a handsome, charismatic man who campaigned for local politicians and volunteered at a crisis hotline, but what nobody knew was that this seemingly nice, clean-cut guy would turn out to be one the most notorious serial killers of all time.