Natalia Grace · Elizabeth Holmes · Anna Delvey

Plus: Leslie Van Houten's parole chances

A long-ago Best Evidence “why hasn’t this been adapted yet” has gotten the ID treatment — but is the docuseries worth your time? The short answer is sort of, as the case remains engrossing and enjoyably twisty, but the (far too long) show gets bogged down in repetitive details.

This publication first picked up on the case in 2019. That’s when a paper in Lafayette, Indiana, published a solid explainer headlined “Did Michael, Kristine Barnett change Natalia Grace's age and abandon her? Here's what we know.” It’s the kind of servicey packaging smart publications do when a local case starts to gain national footing, as this one began to when Michael and Kristine Barnett were charged with child neglect for — as officials said at the time — abandoning their reportedly underaged daughter in an apartment and leaving the country, all the while claiming she was actually an adult with a growth disorder adopted from Ukraine under false records.

We followed the case since, and I even held my nose and set my DVR for the Dr. Phil episode featuring the Barnetts’ adopted daughter — named Natalia Grace — that aired in 2019.

Let’s be clear what we’re dealing with when we talk about TCCoNG: press releases make no mention of the folks behind the camera, making it obvious that this is house brand stuff, not prestige-level true crime content. It’s intended to be serviceable, journeyman fare, an aughts-era Honda Civic of a docuseries, able to get you across town on time, but without any razzle-dazzle.

I say all this to appropriately set expectations, because many viewers might just stumble on this on HBO’s Max streaming service, where it’s currently offered up in splashy fashion, see it’s six full episodes long, and think it’s an HBO-level series. It isn’t!