REVIEW: aMERICAN cRIME STORY - THE PEOPLE VS OJ JIMPSON (I don't care if OJ did it!)

​I don’t give a sh*t… just bring on Season 2. Talk about dynamic programming. I don’t give many props to many things because I don’t believe in glorifying mediocrity. But this sh*t was awesome. Way to go FX. Way to go Creator Ryan Murphy (like he can ever do wrong). Way to go writers, directors, cast and crew of American Crime Story: The People vs OJ Simpson. You won. (I’m literally clapping right now).

​So let’s talk about why this show was awesome. Forget about the cast. Of course they can act.  John Travolta, Sarah Paulson, and that damn Courtney B. Vance. Nuff said. Let’s start with casting. Casting is important because sooo many Networks get it wrong (coughs, Liftetime, coughs again but definitely not choking on anything but the terrible casting choices).  Some of the features of these characters compared to the real life people is un-effing-canny. Judge Ito played himself. Kidding… it was Kenneth Choi but watching the credits, I definitely asked myself why there were showing us the same picture twice.
 
I think as the marketing began for this show, we all asked ourselves how FX was going to tell a story that all Americans thought they already knew. How will it extend to 10 full episodes? Answer: Don’t believe them, just watch. What will we see? Answer: Everything! What will we miss? Answer: Nothing! Genius that he is, Ryan Murphy played around a little with the facts of the trial but went straight to the heart of the characters, which is exactly what we at home care about. How were these people’s lives affected by working on this case? How did they feel and how does that affect their judgment?
 
There was a least one moment in each episode where we cared about someone we wouldn’t have/didn’t in 1995. We cringed with Marcia Clark as her looks were dragged through the mud by the media. We battled with Robert Kardashian as he juggled supporting his friend and defending a murderer. We cried with Christopher Darden as he realized our justice system is full of sh*t. And we loved to hate Johnnie Cochran who played that system like a goddam drum (was going to go with fiddle but I see Courtney B. on the drums… just go with it.).
 
But most importantly, Ryan Murphy refused to answer the question everyone wanted a damn answer to. Did OJ do it? He gave us enough evidence to prove that he probably did. But he muddied that with the stories from the defense and the emotions of the American people. But, Ryan, we want your expertise!!! Tell us definitively if OJ did it! Answer: Nope. Much like the justice system, as we learned through Ryan’s tale, we’ll never know. We picked a side and fought for it without even considering another story.
 
Did he do it? Who gives a sh*t? The justice system doesn’t. Just bring on the next season. Any clues on what American Crime Story  Season 2 will cover? According to the Hollywood Reporter: Hurricane Katrina. Off the cuff, I’m not interested just like I wasn’t interested in OJ. However, I trust this writing team. So, I’ll be watching… and in real time, which I don’t do for most shows.

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AUTHOR

Shannan E. Johnson is a former creative executive at The Syfy Channel turned CEO + Head Consultant of The Professional Pen, a script consultancy that develops screenwriters from idea to pitch to become more confident storytellers ready for a professional screenwriting career, and consults with scripted development teams at entertainment companies to streamline their notes process to get to pre-production more efficiently.