All are punish'd.
"The Staircase was television’s finest achievement of 2005, and the fact that most people have not seen it might, in the past, have been a source of frustration to a critic. And imagine the poor soul who learned about this televised wonder only by reading the critic’s year-end summary. Fortunately, we live in a new era, and The Staircase, which originally aired on Sundance Channel, lives on in DVD. I’ll wait here while you order it." --Aaron Barnhart, The Kansas City Star/TV Barn
Netflix it. Buy it. The Staircase is the most riveting documentary ever made.
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"Lestrade's cameras pull us farther into the legal system than Law & Order or Court TV ever could, and the result is chilling." --Joy Press, The Village Voice
"A truly remarkable work of art." --Dana Stevens, Slate
"Regardless of what you think of Peterson's innocence or guilt when the final episode ends and the verdict is rendered (don't worry: no spoilers here), you won't be able to forget this engrossing and ultimately tragic story." --Heather Havrilesky, Salon
"The Staircase is an intense look at family dynamics, Southern politics, prejudice, faith, secret lives, and a blow poke." --Gillian Flynn, Entertainment Weekly, on her #4 TV series of 2005
"My verdict: The Staircase is one of the best TV programs I have ever seen. Billed as a true-crime miniseries, it's a cinematic fusion of reality show, legal drama and portrait of a man whose life is on the line. Along the way, it offers plenty of tabloid-worthy twists. But in the hands of Oscar-winning filmmaker Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, The Staircase indulges the titillation value while rising to the level of art." --Fraizer Moore, AP