'20/20' Season Premiere Investigates Chippendales
ABC newsmag starts season 44 Oct. 8

The season 44 premiere of 20/20 on ABC looks into the dark history of the male exotic dance troupe Chippendales, which emerged as a pop-culture phenom in the ‘80s. The episode happens Oct. 8.
“By creating Chippendales, Steve Banerjee found the success and fortune he always craved — but his ambition was insatiable,” said ABC.
20/20 looks at how it says Banerjee conspired to eliminate those who got in his way, including murder-for-hire plots against business associates and a competing male dance troupe, and an alleged blackmail operation against a club patron who sued for racial discrimination.
The two-hour program features interviews with retired FBI agent Scott Garriola, former Chippendales dancer Read Scot and Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, who hosts a Chippendales podcast.
David Muir and Amy Robach anchor 20/20. David Sloan is senior executive producer and Janice Johnston is executive producer.
Discovery Plus debuted a series, Curse of the Chippendales, about the male dance troupe last month.
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Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.