If “To Catch a Predator” taught us anything, it was about the hollow authority asserted by a man in a well-cut suit. Between 2004 and 2007, NBC’s pedophile-baiting “Dateline” spinoff captured the imagination of the American public, announcing itself as not just reality-based entertainment but a protective public service — largely on the strength of host Chris Hansen’s suave, smooth presence as he cornered and questioned potential sex offenders with the apparent clout of a cop or lawyer, as the cameras kept rolling. Never mind that he was a mere newsman, or that the show’s manipulations rendered most of its cases impossible to prosecute. “To Catch a Predator” delivered
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