Octavia Spencer to Star in TV Series Based on a Novel About the True Crime Podcast Craze 

Apple is reportedly developing what looks to be a good and derivative show, executive produced by Reese Witherspoon and starring Octavia Spencer.

The show is called Are You Sleeping and is based Kathleen Barber’s true crime novel of the same name. Nichelle Tramble Spellman (The Good Wife) will create and write; Sarah Koenig (executive producer of Serial) will consult. Lesley Goldberg of The Hollywood Reporter wrote on Wednesday that the show “challenges viewers to consider the consequences when the pursuit of justice is put on a public stage.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Are You Sleeping marks the first time Apple has chosen to develop a show, as opposed to ordering straight-to-series as it did with three other shows, most notably the one that will star Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston in some kind of morning talk-show drama that I’m pretty sure by the time it comes out will seem tame compared to reality, though one always hopes for the best.

I have so many questions. Like, should I watch this, or should I finally listen to one of those true crime podcasts instead? Is Are You Sleeping a question or a statement? Who did the crime? And will I, and society at large, be implicated?