What’s fact vs. fiction in Netflix’s ‘Dating Game’ killer film ‘Woman of the Hour’

It’s one of the strangest moments in television history: A notorious serial killer went on ABC’s “The Dating Game” and won a date with Cheryl Bradshaw. Now streaming, Netflix’s new film “Woman of the Hour,” directed, produced by and starring Anna Kendrick, explores that bizarre moment in history through the eyes of Kendrick’s character, named Sheryl, who survives her interaction with murderer Rodney Alcala as the real-life Cheryl Bradshaw did. So we compared the real-life case of Rodney Alcala with “Woman of the Hour” to determine what’s fact and what’s fiction in the film. One scene in “Woman of the Hour” depicts Alcala working at The Times in 1977, a year before his 1978 appearance on “The Dating Game.” It’s unclear what his position at the newspaper is, but his colleagues seem impressed by him as he weaves tall tales of knowing Warren Beatty and shows off his photography.