The People v. OJ Simpson (2 Viewers)

[jbutler]

Anyone watching? Watching the first episode now and I'm digging it so far. I was just talking with my wife wondering why there hadn't been a longform, professional documentary on the OJ trial. This is hardly a substitute for a good documentary, but I'm still very interested.

Thoughts on the OJ verdict? Like basically every other conviction question lately (Serial, Making a Murderer, etc.), I think he probably did it, but shouldn't have been convicted. I've read that the more one watched of the trial, the more they were likely to agree with the acquittal. I was in high school at the time and we watched the trial during my Economics/Government class. What a joke - and it was an honors class.

Anyway, I would love for the show to be either serious or totally over the top ridiculous. I have a feeling it will tend toward the latter...

 

[TexRex]

Bugliosi wrote a great book on the subject.

 

[jbutler]

Bugliosi wrote a great book on the subject.

Bugliosi's and Dershowitz's books are good to read one after the other or in tandem. I don't recall thinking there was much to admire about Jeff Toobin's book which is too bad since that's the basis for the TV show. Then again, I'm sure they need the narrative rather than the analysis, in which case Toobin's should be fine.

 

[TexRex]

I did a speech on the case on the Friday after the verdict came out on Tuesday. I cited 5 reasons why the prosecution lost. Bugliosi would cite 4 of them in his book, and one I missed. It was a case of the prosecution losing the case more than the defense winning it.

 

[slisk250]

I watched and followed the case closely. If I were judge and jury, he would have fried many moons ago. I'm in the camp that believes the prosecution botched it and he was clearly guilty.

 

[RainmanTrail]

I haven't read the books, but one of the guys that studied the case in great depth believes that OJ may have been covering for his son, and that the son was the one who killed them. Interesting theory if nothing else.

 

[dennis63]

Not watching the show, as I fear it will be what most of TV is today -- ridiculously inaccurate and full of popular cliches.

In November, 1999, I attended our state's homicide conference for detectives. Dr. Henry Lee, the famous criminalist, was there and spoke at length about the case. (He was called by the defense to talk about how the evidence was collected and stored, and, in many cases, how it should have been collected and stored. ) His presentation included many photos of the murder scene and many things that never made it into the trial.

For the record, yes, I am convinced beyond any doubt that O.J. Simpson killed Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman.

But the most important thing I learned at the conference -- the thing I swore I would tell as many people as I could -- is this:

Ron Goldman was a hero.

Blood spatter patterns at the scene tell the story. Ron Goldman could have run away after he was stabbed the first time. He didn't. He went back in, again and again, to fight the person attacking Nicole Brown. He fought fiercely, even after being stabbed, and continued fighting until he died.

If there is one bright light in this whole dark story, it's Ron Goldman.

 

[TexRex]

Rainman, that was a theory at the time of the trial too. The prosecution made so many mistakes. I didn't follow the case as closely as others, but I had an attorney friend who did. We had many discussions about the case. He believed OJ was guilty from the beginning. I wasn't certain, but was strongly leaning that way. I kept telling him the prosecution was not proving their case and was making big mistakes. We were together when the verdict came out and rode back to the office together. We talked about the "dream team" being the shipwreck team -- a horrible defense that would have failed against a better prosecution effort.

I don't think the prosecutors were bad attorneys, I just think they performed poorly in that case. Cochoran was not a criminal defense lawyer and incorrectly stated the standard. Why the prosecution didn't vigorously correct that, I don't know, but I thought it seriously hurt them.

I don't think about the case much these days, and have forgotten many details. OJ actually wrote a book, I think it was called If I had Done It or something like that. It was never published because in it he shared details that only someone who was there would have known.

 

[jbutler]

Really wish SNL weren't such nazis about their online clips so I could post a bunch of Norm Macdonald OJ jokes in this thread.

As for the show, the first episode was pretty great. Not a big fan of Cuba Gooding, Jr., but he did a good job and surprisingly I like Travolta as Bob Shapiro.

I didn't follow the case as closely as others, but I had an attorney friend who did. We had many discussions about the case. He believed OJ was guilty from the beginning.

I love it when people say things like, "I knew XYZ from the beginning!" as if that's supposed to make me confident in the opinion they pulled out of the air and hung onto while they should have been trying to weigh evidence.

 

[manamongkids]

Really wish SNL weren't such nazis about their online clips

Amen, the fact a high quality vault of celebrity jeopardys aren't viewable on demand, especially the turd Ferguson episode is mind blowing

 

[TexRex]

There's a different between weighing evidence and weighing the presentation of evidence. I don't think there was a lack of evidence of OJ's guilt, but it wasn't well-presented at the trial. And when I said at the beginning, I don't mean from the moment the murders first took place. The Bronco chase, OJ's near suicide, and comments he made right around his arrest convinced a lot of people of his guilt.

 

[jbutler]

Bump because the series finished up this week. I thought it was very good overall. While some segments and elements were a little clunky, the cast was so much better than the tone of the series would lead you to believe. I'm still not sure whether it's good and true to the internal world of the case in spite of the tabloidesque feel or if the feel serves the story in a fundamental way.

Maybe it was only the production that was tabloidesque. The lighting, the costumes, the sound design, the music. It was all very salacious. Maybe the performances themselves were just authentic and honest and the juxtaposition of all those things is what resulted in something so compelling.

The above deserves some more thought, but one thing is for sure: all the major players deserve real kudos. I can't say who was best among Cuba Gooding Jr., Sarah Paulson, Courtney Vance, and David Schwimmer. Those four were the true highlights for me with all of them turning in killer performances in the finale.

 

[RainmanTrail]

Mark Fuhrman is a now a "crime expert" working for Fox News. Regularly weighing in on cases like the Michael Brown shooting, the Trayvon Martin killing, the Oakland and Ferguson riots, racial tension in Baltimore, etc...

Gotta love Fox "News"

 

[jbutler]

Mark Fuhrman is a now a "crime expert" working for Fox News. Regularly weighing in on cases like the Michael Brown shooting, the Trayvon Martin killing, the Oakland and Ferguson riots, racial tension in Baltimore, etc...

Gotta love Fox "News"

Reminds me of a great Marc Maron line. One comedian was complaining that he "can't say 'tranny' anymore" and Marc said that no one was preventing him from saying whatever he wanted, but he'd just be limited to hanging out with people who say "tranny" and that that would be punishment enough.

 

[Chicken Rob]

Bump because the series finished up this week. I thought it was very good overall. While some segments and elements were a little clunky, the cast was so much better than the tone of the series would lead you to believe. I'm still not sure whether it's good and true to the internal world of the case in spite of the tabloidesque feel or if the feel serves the story in a fundamental way.

Maybe it was only the production that was tabloidesque. The lighting, the costumes, the sound design, the music. It was all very salacious. Maybe the performances themselves were just authentic and honest and the juxtaposition of all those things is what resulted in something so compelling.

The above deserves some more thought, but one thing is for sure: all the major players deserve real kudos. I can't say who was best among Cuba Gooding Jr., Sarah Paulson, Courtney Vance, and David Schwimmer. Those four were the true highlights for me with all of them turning in killer performances in the finale.

I haven't seen any of this yet, but the answer is Sarah Paulson. (I have always thought se was great and I'm incredibly biased).