American Crime Story

[smitten]

I think it ended around 11 or later in the Central Time Zone? Dan rather said "we'll get you straight to your late local news." Which meant it was delayed from its usual slot at 10. I didn't watch the whole thing because it was really freaking boring after a while and I was 17. I was used to World's Wildest Police Chases!! at this time at this one I think never went over 35mph(?)

I got home around 3pm (1pm LA time) I want to say from a shopping trip to Iowa City, and they had broken in to broadcasting when he was on the run and no one knew where he was.

When I walked in, my parents were both riveted to the TV. In what seemed like a matter of minutes they found him on the freeway and had helicopters, police cars following him and we heard he had the gun. Everyone really thought he was going to kill himself.

It was hours. But I may not be remembering the exact ones correctly.

[scarlet]

Yeah, it was definitely after 9 PST when it ended because it was full-on dark and this was mid-June so it stayed light quite late. I think maybe the Bronco chase started being broadcast sometime around 6?

I have to say, I'm loving the way Sarah Paulson is playing Marcia Clark. The steady build-up of being flabbergasted/frustrated/irate over how the case is progressing is already evident in just 2 episodes. And John Travolta was better last night than in the first episode.

[Baby Fish Mouth]

I really enjoyed the white Bronco chase set to the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage." But I'm not sure how many more unnecessary shots of the Kartrashian kids I can take.

[Martini Girl]

Does Lucifer's Home Girl have something on Ryan? I can't understand why they'd be included in the mini-series. Seriously. I'm sure Ryan could have told the story w/out mentioning Robert's family repeatedly. Do the Kardashian's have that much power and I'm just in major denial?

I swear... they are every other story on the Daily Fail. I truly believe they are inescapable at this point.

[Deleted]

Yeah the Kardashian kids stuff is a little too nudge, nudge wink wink for my tastes but otherwise I am suprised by how good it is. I can't believe it is a Ryan Murphy show. It is so well balanced, I really like both Johnny Cochrane and Marcia Clarke. I think a lesser show would have villanized one of them more.I think all the actors are aces except for Cuba Gooding Jr. He's not terrible but it feels like more of an imitation then a real character. Like he is trying so hard to get the voice right that everything else about him rings hollow. And ironically I think he looks the least like his real life counterpart.

I was in university when this all went down. I followed it at the time but not obsessively. I remembered the big beats but not the small details. So it is filling in a lot of the blanks right now. I didn't really get the whole fascination with the case at the time, I'm not American. But I do understand it better now.

Vulture has some good coverage. If you are interested in how close it is to reality they are fact checking every episode. Here is episode two. The stuff about S.W.A.T. is nuts.

And an interview with Marcia Clark. She seems to have a pretty clearheaded view of the past now. I feel for her, she definitely got the brunt of the ridicule at the time but at least it was before social media. It would've been ten times worse today. Oh and her hair was a perm!

[save lilo!]

I remember being home alone when the chase was happening, so it has to have at least started before 6. I had no idea who OJ was, I only really understand the trial references now because of pop culture and jokes. I'm amazed that they managed to get the freeways empty to film this sequence. I'm really enjoying this, and think Cuba is doing a rather good job! Also I laughed out loud at a few moments, including the Bronco commercial quip.

[Deleted]

I think all the actors are aces except for Cuba Gooding Jr. He's not terrible but it feels like more of an imitation then a real character. Like he is trying so hard to get the voice right that everything else about him rings hollow.

That's a good description of a narcissist, so Cuba Gooding might have accidentally gotten it right in that respect. If you look at old footage of O.J. with 20/20 hindsight, he comes off as fake and hollow.

And an interview with Marcia Clark. She seems to have a pretty clearheaded view of the past now. I feel for her, she definitely got the brunt of the ridicule at the time but at least it was before social media. It would've been ten times worse today.

I'd like to think this is one of those past events that would actually have turned out better than worse. I don't think the demonization of every woman involved in this case would be so easily accepted, and the overwhelming evidence would have mostly negated the cries of racism as far as this particular case was concerned. I was surprised by how strong the case was without the DNA. I wonder if the prosecution would have had a better chance if they hadn't presented the DNA evidence at all.

[laboria]

Things I learned this week:
1. The Kardashians were the most affected by this trial, because I have barely seen OJ's kids and family, but they have been in every episode.
2. I had forgotten all the lawyers he had, but it came back to me as they said the names
3. They went to a race based defense almost immediately, and that's why Cochran was there; guess I thought OJ and Cochran were tight like he and Kardashian were
4. Darden was not a practicing lawyer either? Marcia said something about him coming out of the basement.
5. People and OJ thought he had transcended race? I've seen rumblings that OJ didn't consider himself black before this, but Marcia made reference to it too with the jury of his peers.

[scarlet]

Feb 17, 2016 10:41:02 GMT -4 laboria said:

Things I learned this week:
3. They went to a race based defense almost immediately, and that's why Cochran was there; guess I thought OJ and Cochran were tight like he and Kardashian were
4. Darden was not a practicing lawyer either? Marcia said something about him coming out of the basement.
5. People and OJ thought he had transcended race? I've seen rumblings that OJ didn't consider himself black before this, but Marcia made reference to it too with the jury of his peers.

3. I read on another board that this isn't being portrayed accurately and that Cochran was involved in the defense from the get-go, but I'm too lazy to suss that out.
4. He was a practicing lawyer at the DA's office, but he wasn't doing trial work.
5. One of the things I just learned, via Marcia Clark being on The View, is that before the jury was brought to OJ's house as part of the trial, his defense team replaced all the pics of OJ with white people with pics of him with various black people to make them believe he was heavily involved in the Black community.

And hello flirtatious chemistry between Marcia Clark and Sterling K. Brown. Also, I couldn't help it, I laughed at Sarah Paulson's "motherfucker!" to reading that Cochran was involved in the case. Also, I'm getting contact bronchitis from her constant smoking.

[Deleted]

his defense team replaced all the pics of OJ with white people with pics of him with various black people to make them believe he was heavily involved in the Black community

If prosecutors pulled shady shit like that, a defendant would have an excellent chance of winning a new trial on appeal. But if defense attorneys do it and the defendant is acquitted, it has to be water under the bridge. Normally a judge should be the one who keeps attorneys from "cheating" at trial, but from what I remember, Judge Ito was so concerned with his celebrity persona that it was impossible for him to make sound decisions.