'Happy Face' looks at ripple effects of true crime

NEW YORK — The new Paramount+ series “Happy Face” has all the elements of a gripping true-crime yarn: A serial killer, his estranged daughter, a race to get an innocent man off death row. But perhaps the most intriguing part? How it examines the warping nature of true crime itself.

“I was less interested in the specific psychology of a serial killer or glorifying the murders or seeing violence against women on screen," says Jennifer Cacicio, executive producer and showrunner. "I just feel like we’ve seen that. I was very interested in making a true-crime show told through a different lens.”

“Happy Face,” which began airing Thursday, is inspired by the true story of Melissa Moore, whose father was a prolific serial killer infamous for drawing smiley faces on letters to the media and prosecutors. She was just 15 when he was captured.

Decades later, as an adult with her own children, she finds herself drawn back into his orbit as she sets out to save an innocent man for a crime her father committed. She also has to tell her daughter the truth about her grandfather.

A female point of view

Starring Annaleigh Ashford and Dennis Quaid, “Happy Face” is told from a female point of view and looks at how a shameful secret can echo through generations. It's also about the push and pull of infamy, with horrendous crimes somehow remaining an alluring draw.

“There’s a lot of crime dramas out there that I think are very male-centric. It’s either about the cops are the cool guys or the criminals are the cool guys, and it’s all about kicking in doors. I’ve written on those shows and they’re fun and they serve a purpose. And I think that I really wanted to try something different,” Cacicio says.

“What is it like for the rest of the family when there’s this shameful secret and this series of crimes and these acts of violence and what are the ripple effects on everybody involved?”

Ashford, who earned a Tony Award nomination playing a serial killer on Broadway in “Sweeney Todd,” plays Moore with tenderness and anger, saying she was interested in exploring generational trauma.

“It’s one of the worst nightmares,” she says. “The worst nightmare of all is having a family member be a victim. And then the second worst nightmare is having a family member be the perpetrator. So what would you do if you’re a parent or your sibling or your spouse or your child committed an atrocity?”

The TV pitch for ‘Happy Face’

Moore previously shared her story in the bestselling memoir, “Shattered Silence” and the 2018 "Happy Face" podcast, reaching out to her father's victims and advocating for other family members of killers. Cacicio was one of a number of writers interested in telling her story for TV.

Cacicio approached Moore with this pitch: “If you want someone who’s a straight-up journalist, who’s just going to tell exactly the story of the podcast, you should let someone else do it,” she told her. “There’s also an opportunity for it to be a bigger story that’s asking some questions about true crime.”

Cacicio and Moore, it turned out had plenty in common. They were the same age, and both the oldest of three kids. Both had close relationships with their fathers, who hid other lives — Moore's was a killer and Cacicio served time in prison for drug dealing.

“Obviously, the crimes are different, the circumstances are different. But I think, in my family, it was something we didn’t talk about and it was something I didn’t want my friends to know,” says Cacicio.

“A lot of it was really personal to me. And I think that’s what made her trust me — that I really understood the feelings, even if I didn’t necessarily understand the specific circumstances.”

Quaid plays Moore's father, but unlike other roles he's taken that involve a living person, he had no intention of meeting the prisoner. He didn't want to glorify the killer but also “Happy Face” isn't that kind of show.

“This is told from Melissa’s point of view, and I think it’s actually truer than his point of view, because I think she knows him much better than he knows himself,” he says. “I think he shows emotions like a little boy who’s trying to talk himself out of a whipping.”

Cacicio says it's time we took a look at the explosion in popularity of true crime, in which women are often the victims but women are also the chief consumers.

“Are we obsessed with these stories because we’re trying to protect ourselves in case the worst happens?” she asks. “I read somewhere that it’s an act of normalizing your own experiences, because usually it’s whatever you’re watching is worse than what’s happened to you. So it kind of like makes you feel better about your own traumas.”