American Crime Story

[laboria]

Feb 24, 2016 21:00:25 GMT -4 mandasant said:

The Fred Goldman scene was heartbreaking. It brought me back to how emotional he was during the trial, and how Ron's murder really was "a footnote". Very sad. The actor portraying Fred really captured the anguish the Goldmans were going through.

What's weird is that with my limited knowledge during the trial and after, I heard/read about Nicole and Ron about equally. That scene was surprising, but I thought it was a father's grief, not reality. I do remember Ron's family getting less at the civil trial, but that was based, I think, on lost earnings or some scale they use in civil cases. Was the civil trial shown on TV? I feel like something was shown on TV for weeks, then months went by, then something else was shown for months. Maybe the grand jury?

[scarlet]

I don't recall Ron and Nicole being equally represented in the media at all. That scene rang true: it was all about Nicole and OJ and when Ron was mentioned it was in terms of "oh, was he banging Nicole?"/"He was just a waiter"/shots of his modelling portfolio, etc.

I didn't think the Browns got more money in the civil case. Here's a write-up on the amount:

Writing one of the final chapters in O. J. Simpson's long legal case, a civil court jury here ordered him today to pay a financially debilitating $25 million in punitive damages to the families of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman.

The huge award constituted still another pointed contradiction of the much-disputed 1995 criminal court verdict that found Mr. Simpson not guilty of the double slaying that has gripped the nation with its uncomfortable questions about murder, wife battering, racism, celebrity and the quality of American justice.

The same jury had awarded the Goldman family 8.5 million in compensatory damages last week.

link

[Carolina]

I just got caught up with this. Ryan Murphy isn't usually my bag, but this show is surprisingly well done. Courtney B. Vance and Sarah Paulson are killing it and Connie Britton is hilariously trashy as Faye Resnick. Two thoughts-

- I hope the portrayal of Lance Ito is merciless. That man was an absolute joke.

- Where is Denise Brown? IIRC, when all this was going on she was all over CNN, Larry King, Court TV and the like. She had a huge media presence. Occasionally the other sisters made tv appearances, but it was primarily Denise.

[smitten]

I don't recall them being equally represented either. What we did hear about Ron was all character assassination stuff: he was just model, went to gay bars, was stalking and/or sleeping with Nicole, couldn't get a real job, etc...

Everyone hated Marcia Clark. Looking back on it, it was very misogynistic. 'If she'd been prettier, nicer, etc maybe she would have won.' People actually did openly call her bitchy.

I also don't remember the in-fighting in the defense team. I always thought it was equally Cochran and Shapiro. I don't remember anyone else talking.

Courtney B Vance needs all the awards for his performance. It's like I'm watching Johnnie Cochran.

[Atreides]

Feb 25, 2016 12:28:55 GMT -4 Carolina said:

I just got caught up with this. Ryan Murphy isn't usually my bag, but this show is surprisingly well done. Courtney B. Vance and Sarah Paulson are killing it and Connie Britton is hilariously trashy as Faye Resnick. Two thoughts-

- I hope the portrayal of Lance Ito is merciless. That man was an absolute joke.

- Where is Denise Brown? IIRC, when all this was going on she was all over CNN, Larry King, Court TV and the like. She had a huge media presence. Occasionally the other sisters made tv appearances, but it was primarily Denise.

Denise Brown is played by Jordana Brewster. She was seen briefly at Nicole's funeral ("I can't believe he showed up!"). I assume we'll see more of her in the episodes to come. Sadly, that's the last we'll see of the glorious Connie Britton and her glorious hair.

[Carolina]

While I'll definitely miss glorious Connie and her glorious hair, it makes sense that we won't be seeing any more of her. She really didn't have a huge presence in the goings on, though, no doubt, that won't stop the writers from shoehorning in Kris Jenner (no offense to Selma Blair) whenever they can.

Jordana Brewster is great casting for Denise Brown from a physical standpoint, hopefully she'll be able to match her self-assured, righteous anger as well. As I said before, I would expect to see a fair number of scenes with her because she was the primary representative of the Brown family and had a huge media presence.

[angelaudie]

Strangely enough I don't really mind Kris Jenner's presence in the series. She was one of Nicole's closest friends and she was married to Robert Kardashian. It's no secret Kris and Robert Kardashian clashed during the trial and it caused Robert a lot of grief. So far the scenes she's appeared have made sense.

I got a kick out of Connie's portrayal of Faye Resnick! Though like Marcia Clark I do have to wonder why on Earth Faye thought the book was paying tribute to Nicole. Nicole's family still bemoan Nicole's image of a Hollywood party girl but really Faye is a big reason why that image took hold.

I was also wondering about the lack of Denise Brown. I was beginning to wonder if the writers somehow completely forgot about her. Glad to hear she will be seen more prominently later.

The scene with Fred and Kim Goldman was heartbreaking. And sadly I have to agree. Ron Goldman did become the forgotten victim.

[Atreides]

This show is forcing me to side with Kris Jenner, which is just wrong. I think this is one of the signs of the Apocalypse.

[Deleted]

I am dying to watch this, but only have Netflix and hulu.

angelaudie, can you elaborate more the clashes between Robert and Kris Kardashian during the trial? I remember Robert as being totally loyal to O.J., but I wonder if that changed at all. I don't remember Robert's role in all of this as much as I do Shapiro, Cochrane, Dershowitz, etc.

I know O.J. tried to trash her name plenty of times, but I thought Denise was a strong, intelligent advocate for Nicole. I don't know if I would think the same thing now, but she fought for people to understand that Nicole was a victim of domestic violence.

[Baby Fish Mouth]

Kardashian was basically O.J.'s handler. He was an attorney, but he hadn't tried a case in years. He was there to hold O.J.'s hand and act as a liaison between O.J. and the other attorneys. I think Kris Jenner sat with Nicole's family during the trial, and she's said there was a lot of tension in her family.

When I watch the video of the verdict being read, I think it's obvious Kardashian had doubts about his innocence. And he openly expressed doubts in 1996.