American Crime Story: The People v. O. J. Simpson (FX) (1 Viewer)

[WillG]

While I don't know exactly how faithful this story is sticking to the behind the scenes events, taking it at face value, Clark was off her rocker regarding her instincts for jury selection in this case. I nearly cringed when she expressed that she thought black women would sympathize with Nicole. I liked the defense team barely able to contain thier glee as the jury selection was finalized.

I will say I am also coming around on Travolta as well. He is effectively playing a slime ball and while I can't say whether or not it's truly representative of the real Sharpiro, in the context of this show it's working.

As for Cuba, while he may be a weak link, it's starting to seem like OJ is merely a MacGuffin in his own story anyway. So it's not like the show lives or dies by his performance.

I liked Kardashian incredulously reading Resnick's book "THAT'S not true.....THAT'S not true.....Ok, that's true"

 

[TravisR]

...Vance as Cochran is hitting it out of the park (or spiking it, to more appropriately use a football metaphor).

Yeah, Courtney Vance is doing so good that I'm actually liking Johnny. I think Sterling Brown (Darden) is also doing real good work too and is going to have a lot of more higher profile roles now.

 

[TravisR]

I liked Kardashian incredulously reading Resnick's book "THAT'S not true.....THAT'S not true.....Ok, that's true"

That made me laugh too.

 

[Stan]

Not thread-crapping, but OMG, this thing is awful. I bailed after episode three.

When you have to force yourself to watch something just because it's there, it's time to walk away.

 

[Josh Dial]

I think this show is terrific, with some interesting exploration of celebrities, celebrity status, and American culture (among other things).

I read a lot of criticism on the frequent appearances of the Kardashian girls. Consider as a possible theme how "achieving" celebrity status has changed in the last three decades. Generally speaking, decades ago (OJ's time), celebrities were often famous for special achievements, such as sports or movies or television or philanthropy. Today (the Kardashian girls' time), someone can be "famous" for simply being adjacent to fame (e.g. kids/marriage), or really nothing at all. Now, juxtapose OJ with the Kardashians--has "fame" changed?

Further, consider if and how American (pop) culture has changed alongside the definition of and requirements for fame. Many would say that the OJ trial was the "beginning of the end" of certain aspects of American culture--your new found obsession with fame started here, or at the very least reached a new height (low?). Maybe The People v OJ Simpson isn't just the style of cause, but a clever play on words: it's literally the people (American culture) vs "the OJ obsession."

Anyway, just some of my thoughts. I'm enjoying the show greatly (though as a lawyer, I'm sort of automatically part of a target demo).

 

[TravisR]

I'm enjoying the show greatly (though as a lawyer, I'm sort of automatically part of a target demo).

I have to say that this show presents a better view of lawyers than I thought it would. To me, it shows both the best and worst of lawyers. Marcia Clark seems wonderfully naive thinking that right makes might & that people would weigh the case only on its merit. Christopher Darden knows he's going to be viewed as a traitor but he still does what he believes in. Even Johnny Cochran seems like a good man who, while I disagree with what I know of his tactics in this case, does seem like a principled man who helped his community and fought injustice. Then there's Robert Shapiro who, as I've said, is a reason why people hate lawyers.

 

[SamT]

I heard good things about this and thought to check it out. Watched all 4 episodes in just 2 days. It's so fascinating and well done that I watched each episode with no looking at my watch. Even with best TV shows I do look at my watch from time to time.

I would have given this 11/10 if I could. I do have some reservation about Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s casting but not sure if anyone else could have done a better job. My only regret is to have found this too soon now I have to wait a week for each new episode.

What is the best documentary on this case to check out?

 

[Ken H]

Episode 4

Another winner, and this time even Travolta's performance fit in a little better. As I mentioned before, a part of the fascination for me is that if you didn't know this stuff really happened, you'd never believe it. The interaction as Bailey, Kardashian, and Cochran outmaneuvered Shapiro was priceless.

I don't remember hearing about Ito and the blond cop - what was up with that?

And again the F Bomb was unexpected, but again right on the money.

Interesting to read the mainstream reviews pretty much agree with the consensus here - good performances and entertaining with the exception of Travolta's portrayal of Shapiro.

 

[Ken H]

What is the best documentary on this case to check out?

The one I find the most fascinating isn't about the criminal case, but the one now on A&E about the civil case with all the video taped depositions - O.J. Speaks: The Hidden Tapes

http://www.aetv.com/shows/oj-speaks-the-hidden-tapes

 

[JohnMor]

Episode 4

I don't remember hearing about Ito and the blond cop - what was up with that?

That was his wife, a supervisor at the LAPD. There was a controversy because she signed off on that document that she didn't know any of the cops involved. But later it came out that she supposedly had been Mark Fuhrman's supervisor at one division and had repeated run-ins with him. There was time when it appeared Ito might have to recuse himself over it. But nothing really ever came of it

 

[Sam Posten]

Once you get past the characters of OJ, Fuhrman and Kardashian not looking anything at all like their real world counterparts you realize the show is outstanding and just spooky how close the others match them. Clark, Darden, Cochrane and Bailey are amazing matches.

I LOVE Cuba Gooding Jr as an actor but choosing him for OJ was a major miss.

 

[mattCR]

Vance is nailing Cochrane. It is the stand out performance here.

 

[ScottH]

I think Vance is the only stand out performance here. The others range from abysmal to meh. The guy playing Darden is okay but he hasn't done much (at least so far). OJ, Clark, Shapiro, Kardashian seem nothing like their real life counterparts. And if I have to hear David Schwimmer say "Juice" one more time I might pull my hair out. Although "Uncle Juice" did make me chuckle. No way they called him that!

 

[JohnMor]

Best episode yet. John Singleton's direction was top notch. Really getting a sense of the stresses behind the scenes, especially with Darden and Clark. Loved Robert Morse as Dominick Dunne.

 

[Hollywoodaholic]

Another really good episode.

At first I got the idea Cochran was trying to sabotage Darden when he whispers to him to stay away from being the one to address Fuhrman on the stand, but then I guess it was actually a legitimate warning from a former mentor.

The whole scene of Cochran re-doing O.J.'s house to 'African-ize' it was fantastic. Those are the kinds of details that give this series more insider stuff than we saw from just watching the trial. The manipulations and counter-moves are so tailor made for a great mini-series.

The Dominick Dunne scene with all his wealthy white celebs and friends gossiping about the trial was also perfect - especially if you followed his Vanity Fair articles during the trial. Spot on. And great to see Robert Morse.

The final reveal on Fuhrman's World War II 'medal collection' was the perfect foreshadowing, as well. My father brought back Nazi memorabilia from his experiences in World War II - a banner, an officer's cap, insignias, etc., but it's certainly impossible in the atmosphere of this trial that anything like that would only be considered to have 'historical value.' Especially when your last name is Furhman and you're an authority figure formally in uniform.

 

[Chip_HT]

What is the best documentary on this case to check out?

Not the best for the case, but I enjoyed ESPN's 30 for 30 "6-17-94". It intercut footage of all of the various sports events going on that day, primarily the Bronco chase, and also Arnold Palmer's last golf game, as referenced by Darden's dad in episode two. What stuck out for me was how there were so many helicopters and cameras, that all of the feeds were getting superimposed.

 

[SamT]

Another great episode. Only 4 left.

 

[SamT]

Just watched a BBC documentary from 2000. Wow, this is way way more complicated than what one might think. It's unfortunate that they don't talk or address the other leads that came up in this series (in American Crime Story).

In the BBC documentary, they talk about his son, Jason Simpsons as a suspect with a violent past. They talk about a person following Nicole that was arrested and says he was offered money to kill her. They talk about drug rings.

They say, the struggle was so violent that the attacker should have bruises. Yet O.J. had no bruises except the one cut.

The other interesting bit was the civil case. The shoe blood patterns belonged to a very limited shoe that O.J denied owing but some photographers publish pictures of him wearing that shoe.

They talk about blood under Nicole's nails and on her back that were dismissed.

Again, unfortunate that they don't address all these in the series, they are following just one view.

 

[JohnMor]

Interesting article on the great Sarah Paulson:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/03/f...older-women-holland-taylor.html?smid=fb-share

 

[ScottH]

They are really portraying Darden to be a complete incompetent dope in this, which is surprising considering I remember thinking during the trial he was the only one that seemed to have any sense.