RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
Glad to see this getting good reviews.
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The People Vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story - S1 - FX Tues - 90 on Metacritic
- Thread starter Cornballer
- Start date
Cornballer
Member
- NPR review:
- Vanity Fair:The Trial of the Century, as it was known, comes to enthralling life in The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, an irresistible 10-part FX series that marks a new high for its creator, Ryan Murphy. Adapted by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski from Jeffrey Toobin's non-fiction book, The Run of His Life, this fictionalized show is bursting with sharp scenes, pungent performances, and a sense of America running amok.
This is no boring reenactment. Alexander and Karaszewski have crafted something with propulsive thematic energy that goes well past basic retelling. Theyve found a particular nerve in American memory, and they hit it over and over again to different, jangling effect each time. We laugh, were sickened, were frustrated, we cry, we shake our heads and raise our eyebrows with knowing wisdom about how this all went down. Half recollection and half dream, the series casts a spell with a frank, grave faceand then lets slip a smile. Viewers too young to remember any of this will probably not find the series as oddly entrancingfor them it might just be a prodigiously acted and executed legal proceduralbut for those who can recall enough moments and images from those liminal daysbetween analogue and digital, star and celebrityThe People v. O.J. Simpson is like stumbling on an old but mesmerizingly vivid picture of a strange time, when everything changed, and when all of it began. Were we really ever that young?
DontBeThatGuy
Member
it looked good in the marketing, so it's nice to see the great reviews.
Smokey_Run
Member
I didn't expect much to be honest, but now I'll give it a chance.
Cornballer
Member
Yes, Ryan Murphy is an executive producer. He directed a few of the episodes and serves as showrunner, but he didn't write the scripts. He's wanted to do a true crime spinoff of AHS for a while now.This may be painfully obvious but I assume the folks on this are also involved in American Horror Story?
DirtyManos
Member
Oooo, was likely to at least just check out the first episode, but now this might become my goto show if the reviews hold up.
Yes, Ryan Murphy is an executive producer. He directed a few of the episodes and serves as showrunner, but he didn't write the scripts. He's wanted to do a true crime spinoff of AHS for a while now.
Alright, thats what I thought. I'm glad this is getting good reviews cause it being tied to AHS kinda turned me off. In college, everyone loved watching AHS but I just never understood it. Watched the first season and it was ok...always felt like the show was trying to be creepy far more than it ever tried to be good.
DontBeThatGuy
Member
This may be painfully obvious but I assume the folks on this are also involved in American Horror Story?
Ryan Murphy's involvement is why I was immediately skeptical but everything I've seen this far seems well made, well acted, and more serious.
SlaughterX
Banned
Making a murderer missed their chance on this one, but the connections are very similar, even up to the second case that OJ is currently serving a sentence for which seemed like entrapment to me but hey, he took the bait. Just goes to show ya the steps police will take to get you convicted of they have it out for you.
Stabby McSter
Member
You all have probably seen this, but:
I figured some people would rather not be spoiled by a synopsis.
IT'S A PRETTY GOOD EPISODE, GUIZ
Episode 1: From the Ashes of Tragedy said:The murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman lead the LAPD to the home of O.J. Simpson.
I figured some people would rather not be spoiled by a synopsis.
IT'S A PRETTY GOOD EPISODE, GUIZ
WarrenMax007
Member
I wasn't sure if it'll be good. But reviews are positive, so i'm definitely watching it.
Hasphat'sAnts
Member
Seems like a lot of reviews pan Travolta in this as the major weak link, unsurprisingly. For all the "big stars" it seems like most of the positive response is for Paulson and Vance.
Which is fine. They knew what they signed up for when they cast him.
He's hilarious whether it's intentional or not.
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
Wait there will be more than one season?
Yes, but next season will have an entirely new story and characters.
Bubbavelli
Banned
Yes, but next season will have an entirely new story and characters.
I cant even imagine what the next story would be. Maybe some high-profile white collar stuff?
Cornballer
Member
It will focus on Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. There's a few quotes about it earlier in the thread.I cant even imagine what the next story would be. Maybe some high-profile white collar stuff?
Cornballer
Member
Series premiere tonight:
From the Ashes of Tragedy
The murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman lead the LAPD to the home of O.J. Simpson.
DontBeThatGuy
Member
It will focus on Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. There's a few quotes about it earlier in the thread.
Cool, focusing on Hurricane Katrina could very interesting. I do hope more shows start doing what True Detective, Fargo and now this are doing. Refresh every season, which doesn't mean you can link them up in some way but bring in new blood and a new direction. it can really tighten up the storytelling significantly when going down that route.
Cornballer
Member
More reviews:
Sioux City Journal said:Both Paulson and Vance are Emmy-worthy. The miniseries is, too, primarily because it makes us care about a story that once seemed impossible to escape.
USA Today said:Against all odds, this tightly written, sometimes stunningly performed 10-part drama avoids all those pitfalls, capturing the tenor of the time and breathing life into the participants. Not to mention re-creating a crackling good courtroom drama that fiction can only envy.
Rockandrollclown
lookwhatyou'vedone
Am I the only one that thought this was a movie instead of a series? I've seen a ton of commercials for it and just always thought it would be a like a movie of the week kind of deal.
Cornballer
Member
It's an anthology series. The first season will consist of 10 episodes and covers the OJ trial. Next year will have a different cast and follow a different true crime story.Am I the only one that thought this was a movie instead of a series? I've seen a ton of commercials for it and just always thought it would be a like a movie of the week kind of deal.
ABC is also in a second season of a similar anthology series titled, "American Crime". Though their's aren't derived from true cases, I wonder if this will cause some confusion. The first season showcases some amazing acting and I would encourage those who are interested in this one to check that out as well but I digress...
FX has a great track record so I'll give this a shot.
FX has a great track record so I'll give this a shot.
Stabby McSter
Member
The first episode starts
For anyone curious what the first episode covers
soon after the murder happened to all the way when OJ starts fleeing in his Bronco.
For anyone curious what the first episode covers
Cornballer
Member
Stabby McSter
Member
Should I read up on the OJ case before watching this? I was young when it happened so I really don't know much about it.
Personally, I say you don't have to.
Cornballer
Member
Poniewozik for the NYT said:The show acquits itself well. Despite the audiences knowledge that the former football star Orenthal James Simpson will be found not guilty (history is not a spoiler, sorry), the series is absorbing, infuriating and, yes, thoroughly entertaining.
Washington Post said:The People v. O.J. Simpson isnt flawless, and it probably wont stand up to the sort of factual scrutiny that still swirls around its subject matter, but it is ambitiously imagined, surprisingly responsible and practically unerring in tone and pace.
Should I read up on the OJ case before watching this? I was young when it happened so I really don't know much about it.
Probably not necessary. If anything, if you're interested in the trial after the show, there's plenty of material to read at that point.Personally, I say you don't have to.
I get the impression that Ryan Murphy isn't really involved other than the name/branding "American 'X' Story" and having his name there to boost recognition. By all accounts it looks like the people writing it and everything have everything in order.Ryan Murphy's involvement is why I was immediately skeptical but everything I've seen this far seems well made, well acted, and more serious.
Cornballer
Member
A couple more:
Collider said:American Crime Story still has to live, to some extent, in the shadow of the real events it portrays, but so far it seems to navigate the weight of those memories and cultural touchstones in a highly engaging, incredibly frustrating, and occasionally wonderful way.
The Atlantic said:Viewers over a certain age will know everything that’s coming—at least the broad strokes of the media storm and nebulous political debate that played out around the Simpson trial in 1995. But Alexander, Karaszewski, and Murphy find newly relevant angles on how celebrity, and white America’s discomfort with confronting its legacy of racism, influenced the madness that would unfold. The show’s twin stars are its two most principled, admirable figures: Clark, who cannot believe that the American public would support an admitted wife-beater who fled his own arrest, and Johnnie Cochran (Courtney B. Vance), a celebrated litigator with years of experience fighting a justice system he knows is twisted and broken beyond repair. They’re diametrically opposed in the courtroom, and yet the show manages to get the audience rooting for both of them.
Cornballer
Member
RogerEbert.com said:Overall, this is not a piece designed to expose the truth behind the OJ Simpson case. Its more about how exposed the case was in the first place. Its also just flat-out entertaining television, filled with strong performances from top to bottom and razor-sharp writing.
.Denver Post said:The casting is terrific.... There are numerous surprises, including how riveting the tale is in this telling.
Cornballer
Member
Vox.com said:In some episodes, it's really good, and even when not everything clicks, it's relentlessly addictive, returning the primacy to a story that was ceded to the tabloids long ago. The miniseries digs deeper than you'd expect, poking at the messy intersections of race, gender, and class that so much TV still shies away from, and it will remind you, time and again, of bits and pieces of the trial you'd completely forgotten about.
LA Times said:[Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski] and their fellow writers do a good job getting the information out, (mostly) without making the dialogue too obviously expository; it happens at times, but it almost can't be helped. As producer and sometimes director, Murphy keeps the production pretty level-headed-- not documentary naturalism, exactly, but close enough for respect.
.Salon said:If there is just one thing that The People v. O.J. Simpson is, its maddening. Fascinating and involved and nuanced and sympathetic, too.
Cornballer
Member
Stabby McSter
Member
I guess the next three episodes' synopsises is out too!
Episode 2:
Episode 3:
Episode 4:
Episode 2:
The Run of His Life
With O.J. Simpson missing in the white Bronco, Robert Shapiro and Robert Kardashian deal with the fallout, as the D.A.s office and LAPD scramble to save face and find him.
Episode 3:
The Dream Team
Marcia Clark announces that O.J. Simpson has been charged. Robert Shapiro seeks advice from F. Lee Bailey and comes up with a provocative strategy. As Shapiro starts putting together The Dream Team, he must convince O.J. to hire Johnnie Cochran.
Episode 4:
100% Not Guilty
Johnnie Cochran brings an energy that transforms the case. As jury selection gets underway,the prosecution and defense seek out the assistance of jury research experts, who come back with some surprising results. Meanwhile, Faye Resnick publishes a tell-all book,complicating the court proceedings.
Cornballer
Member
EW said:An enthralling recollection of a tragic mess with a long legacy, The People v. O.J. Simpson fits our moment like a glove.
.Philadelphia Daily News said:A frequently fascinating look behind the scenes of a case whose mix of celebrity, race, and money still resonates.
djplaeskool
Member
Wow. As someone who remembers this entire saga fairly well, I'll have to check this out.
Did not expect these reviews.
Edit: Saw the edit in the OP.
Did not expect these reviews.
Edit: Saw the edit in the OP.
Cornballer
Member
CorrectIf I'm reading this right, it's like American Horror Story, where Season 1 is the OJ Trial, and subsequent seasons will be other incidents?
Ahh, I thought this was a one off special. Nice to see it's a whole series.
Me 2, I think I will record it and watch it all in one go
RatskyWatsky
Hunky Nostradamus
ABC is also in a second season of a similar anthology series titled, "American Crime". Though their's aren't derived from true cases, I wonder if this will cause some confusion.
American Crime
American Crime Story
I think it will cause a lot of confusion, especially because both are also anthology series. However, it helps that American Crime Story will have subtitles every season - I've already noticed that most people are just referring to it as The People VS. OJ SImpson, instead of American Crime Story.
Cornballer
Member
Also note that this is scheduled for about a 1:20 runtime tonight.
teruterubozu
Member
Where's Christopher Darden? No Darden-Clark affair, no sale.
Cornballer
Member
He's in it.Where's Christopher Darden? No Darden-Clark affair, no sale.
Cornballer
Member
It's starting now. FX is also running repeats of the premiere immediately following the first run.