Stream It Or Skip It?

Trophy Wife: Murder On Safari is a three-part docuseries, directed by Dani Sloane, takes a look at the 2016 murder of Bianca Rudolph, Larry Rudolph’s wife; her body was found in a cabin in Zambia while she and her husband were on one of their frequent trips to Africa to hunt big game. In 2023, Larry Rudolph, a Pittsburgh-area dentist who starred in commercials for his successful chain of dental offices, was convicted of Bianca’s murder, and his mistress, Lori Milliron, was convicted of being an accessory after the fact.

Opening Shot: As we see a leopard hunt its prey in Zambia, we hear a phone call between Larry Rudolph and Lori Milliron. As the leopard drags the carcass of its latest kill into a tree, we see flashes of a crime scene.

The Gist: In the series, Sloane talks to both Rudolph and Milliron, who are serving sentences in federal prison, as well as Rudolph’s son Julian, Milliron’s daughter Stephanie Moroz, as well as people who worked with Rudolph at his original practice as well as at Three Rivers Dentistry, the business he started after being booted out of his original partnership for taking under-the-table work after he supposedly was on disability — the tip of his finger was bitten mostly off by a crocodile — and couldn’t practice dentistry.

Larry Rudolph’s skills as a charmer and a playboy-type of figure is examined in the first episode. He certainly had a Jekyll-and-Hyde kind of personality, as many of the people who worked for him were berated by him on a regular basis. His disability scheme showed how well he could lie and cover up his way to collecting scads of money, and Three Rivers Dentistry became a root canal mill after he started the practice. Milliron, a hygenist for Three Rivers, became as much a business partner as she was a romantic partner to Rudolph, and she wasn’t the first person he cheated on his wife Bianca with, despite all of the evidence showing that he and Bianca had an idyllic family life with their two kids.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of?: While there are some stylistic elements, including swirling backgrounds in still shots and a pulsating score that remind us of Ren Faire, Trophy Wife: Murder On Safari is more like other ABC News Studios docuseries like Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit.

Our Take: The story of Bianca Rudolph’s murder isn’t all that complicated, which is why we found the pacing of Trophy Wife: Murder On Safari is such a frustrating watch. Larry Rudolph had to choose between his wife of 34 years and his mistress; he killed his wife, covered it up, then claimed millions of dollars in life insurance based on her death (he was also convicted of wire fraud because of this). Stretching this story over three 40-minute episodes means there is a lot of time to fill, which leads to some strange storytelling choices.

Instead of starting with the murder then going back to talk about what led up to it, as well as how Larry Rudolph and Lori Milliron conspired to cover it up, we get the story of how Rudolph became a well-known figure in the Pittsburgh area, how much of a schmuck he was to people he worked with, and how much he liked to cheat. Yet, somehow, the timeframe goes back and forth in short bursts, even though Bianca’s murder itself doesn’t even come up in the first epiosde.

Despite the pulsating soundtrack and swirly visuals, the storytelling feels slow because of this. There are aspects of this case that are actually fascinating and deserved further probing, like how Larry genuinely seemed to love his family life but was compulsive when it came to stepping outside his marriage. Another aspect that is interesting is that, despite the murder taking place in Zambia, the FBI was able to arrest him and bring him up on federal murder charges here in the U.S.

Yes, there are some interesting anecdotes (we’ll talk about one below) about Larry Rudolph that come up during the first episode. And Larry Rudolph’s outsized personality deserved some examination in this first episode. But not getting to the actual murder that’s at the center of this docuseries by the time the first episode ends just made us want to tear out what little hair we still have on our heads.

Sex and Skin: There is an anecdote from Dr. Tim Runco, Rudolph’s former business partner at his original practice, about what one of Rudolph’s girlfriends did to make sure she could prove he was cheating on his wife with her. It’s as gross and shocking as anything we’ve heard on one of these docuseries.

Parting Shot: We see Milliron talking on the phone from federal prison.

Sleeper Star: Runco, with his crazy sexual anecdote and huge cross pendant, is a good candidate, as is Stephanie Moroz, who had nothing but kind things to say about the man who was cheating on his wife with her mom.

Most Pilot-y Line: Almost everyone interviewed for this show worked for one dentistry office or another, and they all had blindingly white, straight teeth. It was a distraction. Oh, and we also weren’t fans of all the pictures of Larry and/or Bianca Rudolph posing with the carcasses of the big game they shot.

Our Call: SKIP IT. Trophy Wife: Murder On Safari looks great, and definitely tries to amp up the drama via visuals and music. But you’re better off looking up the details of Bianca Rudolph’s murder online, because you’re just going to get frustrated with how the story is arranged in this docuseries.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.