“The Mortician” documentary series debuts Sunday on HBO
Here’s what a press release from Warner Brothers/Discovery says about the new series titled “The Mortician” that is scheduled to be premiered on Sunday on HBO:
“THE MORTICIAN chronicles a trusted family-owned funeral home that hid behind a façade of decency and propriety to take advantage of loved ones at their most vulnerable moments. In the early 1980s, David Sconce, scion of the Lamb family, took over the family business and sought to exploit the deceased in numerous ways to expand their earnings. Driven by profit, the Lamb Funeral Home in Pasadena, California engaged in years of morally questionable and inhumane practices.”
Even though I was in business in Minnesota at the time I do not remember this case that happened in Southern California. I guess you could chalk that up to the actions occuring in the pre-internet days and news, if chronicled on the network television stations did not last there long as news broadcasters had to make room for the next news of the day. It makes one realize what a different world we live in today when events can be archived for immediate access online.
In any regard, according to the Warner Brothers/Discovery press release that you can read here, the three-part series will be broadcast on three consecutive Sundays — June 1, June 8, and June 15.
Here’s another exerpt from the press release, “The scandal shook Southern California and as members of the Lamb family stood trial, the funeral industry took heed, bringing about tighter regulations and allowing for greater transparency into the business of death.”
David Sconce was originally sentenced to five years in prison for his part in the dealings of the Lamb Funeral Home.
One of the articles that I read about the Lamb Funeral Home is that it documented 194 death calls and only a couple of years later it documented 8,173 death calls.
Related Article — A Mortuary tangled in the macabre. Los Angeles Times – publish date – 1988
Related Article — Convicted mortician David Sconce defends his criminal mass cremations, “doesn’t put any value” in the deceased. People Magazine publish date – May 19, 2025
Related — Book about the case. “A Family Business” available from Amazon.
Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily
Funeral Director Daily take: In one of the articles I read a lady makes this comment, “Trust is foundational for funeral directors. The unfortunate reality is, like any other occupation, there are some bad apples.”
That comment is true. . . and unfortunate. I know hundreds, maybe thousands, of great compassionate funeral directors who do everything they can to make a family’s circumstances easier. They give of themselves, take time away from their own families, make financial sacrifices for those they serve and yet. . . the bad apples make giving the profession a great name difficult.
There is no doubt, as hard as we work to uplift the profession. . .the “hits” just keep on coming to us by those we originally know as colleagues. I’m guessing that if this series gets any traction at all we will once again hear negative things about our chosen profession.
On watching the series: Angie and I are in the process of weaning ourselves from cable tv to full streaming options. However, because of the bandwidth issues that sometimes occur in rural America we continue to have Spectrum cable tv at our Minnesota home, along with some streaming options.
We don’t purchase HBO streaming but in a search found out the series will run concurrently on Max. As a perk of our Spectrum cable Max is one of the free streaming channels that we receive. I’m not sure what other streaming services will carry the programming, but you can click here to see the information and a trailer from the Max website.
More news from the world of Death Care:
- Carlton County Board of Commissioners — Green cemetery moratorium. (MN)
- Oklahoma Governor’s veto shuts down agency responsible for funeral regulations. KOSA – National Public Radio (OK)
- Matthews International opens state-of-the-art development centre in Germany. Best Magazine (United Kingdom)
- Why UConn alum Donald Beverly is “trying to change the world” with new business venture. CT Insider (CT)
- Why American flags are folded into triangles at veteran + service member funerals. The Moose92 FM Radio (ME)
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The late Ron Hast was the first journalist/funeral director to expose Lamb Funeral Home, and nearly paid for it with his life. Hired thugs beat him quite severely.
On the east coast, specifically, Carolina Biological Aupply, was always providing animal specimens for high school biology labs, suddenly became the largest source of human body parts that were illegally taken from bodies that were to be cremated at Lamb’s ridiculously low price. Also, a private mortuary service in the North Carolina Research Triangle area, also became involved in the same practice.
Lester Sandlin had his funeral service license suspended in North Carolina for harvesting body parts and selling them, but little more was done.
I appreciate your concern about a series that doesn’t reflect well on the profession even though it only looks at one very small group of bad actors. However, the vast majority of people have a great appreciation for the funeral homes and funeral directors in their communities for the critical role they play at the most difficult times.
Unfortunately this will be just another smear on our honorable profession.
Most often when we’re depicted in movies, TV series or documentaries it’s in a negative light. Or in a smarmy, shady and secretive fashion.
I will not be watching.
Another challenge to overcome when meeting families….just what we need when families today are less likely to value what we do.
Swell. A modern day Six Feet Under with the addition of social media. The good news is that we all know from last experience, that HBO sticks to the facts and never, ever embellishes to drive ratings. I feel bad for the folks at Lamb FH in Huntington Valley, PA. They might get some interesting telephone calls.