Dateline had a certified hit on its hands with "To Catch a Predator," the game-show program where Chris Hansen and Perverted Justice invited would-be kiddie pervs to their camera-laced house, where handcuffs were the door prize. Then Dallas prosecutor Louis William Conradt Jr. had to go and kill himself when NBC's cameras and police officers showed up at his house to arrest him when he failed to show for his sex appointment with a 13-year-old boy, and the backlash ensued: Media moralists' criticism grew louder with calls for lax journalistic ethics and there was the little matter of Conradt's sister Patricia in July suing NBC Universal in a $105 million lawsuit. Now, a resolution.

And both parties are calling it "amicable." As could be expected, NBC has settled with Patricia over her claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress and violation of civil rights, but that came only after a federal judge ruled the case could move forward, thanks to Dateline so aggressively going after dramatic footage in the middle of a police operation.

And while a seven-figure payment (we doubt Patricia received more than $10m, but what do we know?) won't dent NBCU's bottom line, the damage was already done: The 12th and last installment of "Predator" aired in December, and Dateline's signature hidden-camera franchise is now focused on nailing other types of predators. Except those efforts — like the time Hansen & Co. tried to expose shady financial advisers targeting the elderly — have also been met with mixed reviews and criticism. And, most damaging of all, yet more charges of lax journalistic ethics.

[LAT]