Ryan Murphy's new serialized TV program, following the approach of American Horror Story, debuted this week. It's officially called The People vs. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story. Based on his previous work and the casting and photos of the actors in their characters (David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian! Cuba Gooding, Jr. as OJ! JOHN TRAVOLTA AS ROBERT SHAPIRO!!!), I was expecting a campy, so bad it's good piece of guilty pleasure television.
Instead, episode 1 was really good, and showed some of the human tragedy involved and not just the tabloid gossip. OJ and Nicole Brown Simpson's kids calling home and tearfully leaving a message on the answering machine as crime scene investigators are in the condo was a bit heavy-handed, but it reminds you that there were actual lives involved here, and Nicole and Ron Goldman's murders had an impact outside of the media.
Marcia Clark has been humanized, as well as Christopher Darden. Schwimmer as Kardashian seems to be completely on OJ's (or, as he's constantly referred to, "Juice") side, until he seems to realize that maybe his friend really did kill two people. Travolta chews the scenery and is entertaining.
It should be pointed out that the show was written by Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, who did Ed Wood and the People vs. Larry Flynt.
I can't wait for the next episode.
Instead, episode 1 was really good, and showed some of the human tragedy involved and not just the tabloid gossip. OJ and Nicole Brown Simpson's kids calling home and tearfully leaving a message on the answering machine as crime scene investigators are in the condo was a bit heavy-handed, but it reminds you that there were actual lives involved here, and Nicole and Ron Goldman's murders had an impact outside of the media.
Marcia Clark has been humanized, as well as Christopher Darden. Schwimmer as Kardashian seems to be completely on OJ's (or, as he's constantly referred to, "Juice") side, until he seems to realize that maybe his friend really did kill two people. Travolta chews the scenery and is entertaining.
It should be pointed out that the show was written by Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, who did Ed Wood and the People vs. Larry Flynt.
I can't wait for the next episode.
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