The first season of American Crime Story, titled The People v. O. J. Simpson, revolves around the O. J. Simpson murder case, as well as the combination of prosecution confidence, defense witnesses, and the Los Angeles Police Department's history with African-American people. It is based on Jeffrey Toobin's book The Run of His Life: The People v. O. J. Simpson (1997).[1]
On the morning of June 13, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ron Goldman, are found stabbed to death outside her Brentwoodcondominium. Brown's ex-husband, O. J. Simpson, an NFL player, broadcaster, and actor, becomes a person of interest in the case. Deputy district attorney Marcia Clark discovers that Simpson had physically assaulted Brown multiple times during their marriage. As defense attorney Johnnie Cochran challenges Christopher Darden for not standing up to his race as a prosecutor, the LAPD questions Simpson, who gives vague responses and fails to establish a timeline for the day prior to the murders. Clark becomes further convinced that Simpson is responsible, while Robert Kardashian talks Simpson into hiring litigator Robert Shapiro as his new attorney. At Kardashian’s house, he finds a suicidal Simpson with a gun, and attempts to calm him down. LAPD officers arrive to take Simpson into custody. When they discover that Simpson is missing, Kardashian realizes he has left with longtime friend and fellow NFL player Al Cowlings in Simpson's white Ford Bronco.
In the aftermath of Simpson's disappearance, District Attorney Gil Garcetti issues a statewide manhunt, while Shapiro and Kardashian discover Simpson's suicide letter. Shapiro holds a press conference to save face, with Kardashian reading the letter to the press. A driver on the I-405 spots Simpson in his Ford Bronco and notifies the LAPD, leading to a low-speed chase that is broadcast on TV. Simpson orders Cowlings to drive him to Brentwood and prepares to kill himself, but Kardashian calls him and asks that he surrender. Simpson complies and emerges from the car before being taken into custody for the murders.
With Simpson in custody, Shapiro begins assembling his defense team, while Clark confirms to the media that Simpson is to be prosecuted for the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. He is eligible for the death penalty under California law. Garcetti later chooses to recommend a life sentence, because of Simpson's wide popularity as a sports and celebrity figure. Clark reveals the evidence, the glove, and the blood trail to the media; many reporters (and Clark herself) believe that the case will be an easy win. A TIME magazine cover that appears to feature a darkened image of Simpson raises issues of racism in the media. Shapiro signs F. Lee Bailey onto the defense team, who recommends hiring noted attorney Alan Dershowitz. Dershowitz mentions they could argue that the DNA found at the crime scene could have been tampered with. They make this a key to the defense, after learning that Mark Fuhrman, the LAPD detective who found the glove that is key to the prosecution's case, has frequently made racist comments during his career. Deciding to frame the defense with the argument that the LAPD is systemically racist and has framed Simpson for racial reasons, Shapiro talks to Jeffrey Toobin, a reporter from The New Yorker. He publishes this exchange as a front-page story. Simpson, after meeting with Shapiro, Bailey, and Kardashian, reluctantly agrees to hire Johnnie Cochran as the final member of his defense team. Meanwhile, the prosecution is forced to move onto the attack after most of their key evidence is leaked to the media. They fear Shapiro's plan for the defense.
Simpson's "dream team" bears down on the trial, with Shapiro adopting a strategy of resisting and objecting to every motion by the prosecution. The defense suffers from internal dissent, as Shapiro struggles to retain his position as lead defense attorney, despite Cochran's being clearly more qualified for the position. The defense builds their case of racism. Eventually, Bailey, Cochran, and Kardashian stage a minor coup while Shapiro is on vacation, and convince Simpson to endorse Cochran as the lead attorney. Judge Lance Ito is called to preside over the trial, and the process of jury selection begins, with both sides seeking a racial composition favorable to their own agenda. While both Clark and Cochran believe that whites are biased against Simpson and black men are biased in his favor, they each have different theories about why black women would be unsympathetic to him: Clark believes they would be sympathetic to Nicole as a battered woman, and Cochran believes they would resent Simpson for marrying a white woman. Their speculation proves inaccurate, as all potential black female jurors align with Simpson as much as do their male counterparts, denouncing Nicole as an unfaithful white gold digger. Clark has to confront her lack of appeal to jurors of all backgrounds, although she had previously successfully represented battered African-American wives. Faye Resnick's book is published during this period, which details Brown Simpson's lifestyle and relationship to Simpson, and detracts more potential evidence from the trial. As Clark and her team realize the increasing difficulties with the case, she and Garcetti decide that they need to add a black lawyer to the prosecution in an effort to buffer the effect of the charismatic and beloved Cochran. She calls on Christopher Darden, and he joins the prosecution team, surprising the defense.
In 1982, while working as assistant DA for LA County, Cochran is pulled over and almost arrested in front of his children by a racist police officer for no reason. He barely avoids being taken into custody before the officer understands who he is. Cochran is inspired to return to private practice by this incident.
In 1995, the Simpson murder trial begins. Darden attempts to sway the jury from assuming racist implications in the case. Cochran delivers a fiery and moving rebuttal, humiliating the prosecutors. Clark assigns Darden to interview Mark Fuhrman and coach him on how to speak during the trial as a credible witness. Darden gets a bad feeling about Fuhrman, strongly suspecting him to be a latent racist, as suggested by his murky history, but Clark disregards his suspicions. Darden feels increasingly conflicted about his role in the case. Meanwhile, Cochran redecorates Simpson's home, expressing an image of him as being more proud and promoting an African-American identity than he did, in order to prepare for a jury tour of the property. After the defense introduces new witnesses, illegally, William Hodgman suffers a panic attack and faints in court. Clark nominates Darden to replace him as the co-leading prosecutor. A new obstacle emerges for the prosecution, when Fuhrman is shown to have a collection of Nazi memorabilia.
Clark is going through a bitter divorce. The media regularly criticizes her attitude and appearance, and she becomes overwhelmed by this sudden celebrity status. Television networks interrupt daytime programming for coverage of the trial. Darden and Clark bond at the office after-hours with drinks and dancing. A reporter from the Los Angeles Times confronts Cochran about alleged past domestic violence against his first wife. Clark gets a different hair style in an effort to lessen criticism about her appearance, but it is not well received. Bailey cross-examines Fuhrman, repeatingly asking him if he has used the word nigger in the last ten years to describe African Americans, which Fuhrman strongly denies. Darden consoles Clark, who bemoans being turned into a public personality like the flashy defense lawyers.
Shapiro begins to doubt Simpson's innocence and tries to convince the other lawyers to agree to a plea deal, but none will consider debating it. Kardashian finds that he does not believe Simpson's account because there are no other suspects. In addition, he is disturbed by Simpson's behavior and his lack of interest in finding out who murdered Nicole and Ron. Meanwhile, Clark travels to Oakland with Darden for a friend's birthday, showing their increasing closeness. Back in court, Simpson tries on the leather gloves (found at the scene of the crime). After he seemingly struggles to put on the gloves, they appear to be too small to fit him.
The members of the jury start to go stir-crazy and deal with cabin fever during sequestration. A few are excused for having lied on the questionnaire or having had some kind of connections with Simpson. The defense and counsel begin to focus on getting alternates who they believe will vote in Simpson's favor at the time of the verdict. After the glove debacle, people begin to believe in Simpson's evidence. But when Clark presents the DNA evidence in court, doubts arise again. Even the ever-faithful Kardashian begins to suspect Simpson's story, while Cochran and Shapiro seem unconcerned. Defense DNA expert Barry Scheck counters the DNA evidence by suggesting that it was mishandled or planted. This was early in the use of DNA evidence, and most people did not understand how conclusive it was.
Following a tip from a private investigator, Bailey and Cochran travel to North Carolina, where they uncover audio tapes of Fuhrman recounting stories of having tortured, killed, and framed black suspects for fun. The defense fight for the tapes to be played for the jury despite their irrelevance to the case. But among the people who Fuhrman attacks in those tapes is his superior, police Captain Peggy York. She is married to Judge Ito. In pretrial proceedings, she had denied having any connections to Fuhrman, so that Ito could preside over the case. A mistrial is barely avoided. Ito ultimately allows certain excerpts of the tapes to be played to prove Fuhrman's perjury about not having made racist comments. After Cochran calls Fuhrman back to the stand, the officer refuses to answer any more questions, including whether or not he deliberately planted any evidence to frame Simpson. Clark is dismayed by his poor performance.
On the last day of proceedings, Simpson declines to take the stand and instead makes a brief statement. He asserts his innocence and desire for the end of the trial, so that he can return to his 2 kids. Following just 4 hours of deliberation, the jury delivers a "not guilty" verdict, prompting both jubilation and shock across the country among different ethnic groups. A lost Kardashian vomits in the sink, and breaks down in tears from a mixture of shame and fear when collecting OJ from prison. A mortified and exhausted Marcia Clark and Chris Darden reckon with the verdict. Although they are dumbstruck with the whole process, both acknowledge that it was delivered out of vengeance for the racism within the LAPD. With Gil Garcetti and the victims’ families, they hold a press conference; Marcia holds up, but Darden breaks down and embraces the Goldmans as they stand beside him. Later, a victorious Johnnie returns to his former protégé, Chris, and attempts to be magnanimous. Chris, however, tells Johnnie that his manipulation of their suffering and exhausted community to acquit a guilty celebrity has meant nothing. African Americans will, he affirms, continue to be arrested, beaten and killed. Johnnie’s own personal shame is finally visible. Meanwhile, O.J Simpson returns to civilian life, but many people view him differently than before. His family and Cowlings welcome him home with open arms, but most of his old friends have severed all ties with him. He is ostracised by his predominantly white neighbors in his wealthy enclave. They believe that he is a murderer who got away with his crime. His favorite establishments ban him as a customer. At his celebration party, Simpson reads aloud a note declaring his intent to find Ron and Nicole's killer. He sees Kardashian leaving the room. The series ends with a saddened and lonely Simpson shown going into his backyard, where he gazes at a life-size statue of himself in his prime. He has avoided prison, but paid a large price for freedom: his friends, fame, and respect.
"Ain't No Sunshine" plays over the closing credits that show the fates of the main characters and end with a dedication to Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman.
Production
Development
On October 7, 2014, it was announced that FX had ordered a 10-episode season of American Crime Story, developed by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, and executive produced by Alexander and Karaszewski, as well as Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. Murphy also directed the pilot episode. Other executive producers are Nina Jacobson and Brad Simpson.[12] Co-executive producers are Anthony Hemingway and D. V. DeVincentis. All 10 episodes were expected to be written by Alexander and Karaszewski.[1][13] The series was previously in development at Fox but since moved to the company's sibling cable network FX. Murphy and others wanted to create an unbiased account of the trial by doing “certain takes guilty, certain takes innocent” according to Cuba Gooding Jr so that they would have a “plethora of emotions to play with”.[14]
In October 2015, FX released its first promotional trailer for The People v. O. J. Simpson, showing an Akita dog whining, walking from its residence onto a sidewalk to bark, then walking back to its residence, leaving behind bloody paw prints.[26] Later that month another teaser was released, wherein the first actual footage of Travolta as Shapiro was shown. In the teaser, Shapiro is about to ask Simpson (whose face is unseen) if he is responsible for the murder of Simpson's ex-wife. In the next short teaser that was released, Simpson (again unseen) is taking a lie detector test.
In November, two new teasers were released. The first shows Simpson writing his attempted suicide letter, while a voice-over by Gooding Jr. narrates. The second shows the police chasing Simpson's white Ford Bronco, while dozens of fans cheer for him.[27]
The first full trailer was released in December, along with a poster for the season. The trailer included Simpson sitting in the childhood bedroom of Kim Kardashian and contemplating suicide while Robert Kardashian tries to stop him.[28]
Reception
Reviews
The People v. O.J. Simpson received acclaim from critics. The review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes gave the season an approval rating of 97%, based on 89 reviews, with an average rating of 8.74/10. The site's critical consensus read, "The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story brings top-shelf writing, directing, and acting to bear on a still-topical story while shedding further light on the facts—and provoking passionate responses along the way."[29] On Metacritic, the season has a score of 90 out of 100, based on 45 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[30]
Many critics singled out many cast members for the performances, particularly Paulson and Vance.[31][32][33] Dan Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter praised the performances of Paulson and Vance, writing: "As Clark's discomfort grows, Paulson's collection of tics seem more and more human, [...] Vance's Cochran is sometimes hilarious, but he has a dynamic range such that he's occasionally introspective and always intelligent as well."[32] Brian Lowry of Variety praised the casting of the smaller roles, particularly Connie Britton as Faye Resnick and Nathan Lane as F. Lee Bailey.[34]
Travolta and Gooding's respective portrayals of Shapiro and Simpson were met with mixed reviews by critics. Brian Lowry of Variety called Travolta "awful" in the role, adding: "Yes, Shapiro spoke in stiff, measured tones, but the actor's overly mannered line readings turn the attorney into a buffoon, in sharp contrast to the more nuanced portrayals around him."[34] Nicole Jones of Vanity Fair called his performance "campy and calculated".[35] Dan Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter also criticized his performance, calling it "a mesmerizingly bad performance from the eyebrows down." He also wrote that "His unnecessary accent varies by episode, and Travolta's laser intensity feels arch and almost kabuki at times, turning Shapiro into a terrifying character from the next American Horror Story installment, rather than a part of this ensemble."[32]
Maureen Ryan of Vanity Fair, conversely, became more impressed with Travolta as the season progressed: "I started in the realm of puzzled disbelief, arrived at amusement, and ultimately traveled to a place of sincere appreciation. You simply can't take your eyes off Travolta, and that is a form of enchantment."[36] Elisabeth Garber-Paul of Rolling Stone also called it "arguably [Travolta's] best performance since" Pulp Fiction.[37] Robert Bianco of USA Today wrote that Travolta's was the show's "broadest performance".[38]
Dave Schilling of The Guardian panned Gooding's performance, writing: "his whiny, gravely voice sounds absolutely nothing like the real O. J. Simpson's deep, commanding tones."[39] Michael Starr of New York Post also was highly critical of Gooding's performance, saying that he "portrays Simpson as a hollow, sad-sack cipher who speaks in a high-pitched whine and sleepwalks in a fog he never shakes after being arrested for the brutal double murder of ex-wife Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman. He's a forgettable, annoying presence in what should be a showcase role for Gooding—who, to be fair, is reciting lines written for him, so he can only do so much with the material."[40]
On the other hand, Joe McGovern was more positive on Gooding's performance, writing that his casting "takes a risk and pulls it off."[41] Elisabeth Garber-Paul of Rolling Stone described his performance as "an unnervingly believable take on a potential psychopath with teetering sanity."[37] Nick Venable of Cinema Blend also opined that Gooding's turn as Simpson "could indeed get him on a shortlist of Emmy nominees."[42]
In spite of the mixed reviews for their performances, Gooding and Travolta received Emmy nominations. Travolta was also nominated as one of the producers of the show in the Outstanding Limited Series category, which he ultimately won. Gooding's nomination was criticized by some reviewers.[43]
Reaction from individuals involved
Mark Fuhrman, who is portrayed by Steven Pasquale, refused to watch the series and called his portrayal untruthful. In an interview with New York Post, he said, "The last 20 years, I have watched the facts dismissed by the media, journalists and the public simply because it does not fit within the politically correct narrative. At this late date, FX is attempting to establish a historical artifact with this series without reaching out to any prosecution sources. In a time when Americans read less and less and investigative journalism is on vacation, it is sad that this movie will be the historical word on this infamous trial. After all, it was 'based on a true story.'"[44]
Marcia Clark praised the series and called Sarah Paulson's portrayal of her "phenomenal".[45] During an interview on The Wendy Williams Show, Clark admitted that she watched the series with friends "to keep me from jumping off the balcony", and that she was emotionally unable to watch the series' recreation of Fuhrman's testimony. Clark also said her sons were only able to watch the first episode.[46] Clark went to the Emmys with Sarah Paulson, who won that night for her performance.[47]
The families of Brown and Goldman expressed anger at the show. Nicole Brown's sister, Tanya Brown, lashed out at the cast members for what she saw as a lack of consultation with the families.[48] Ron Goldman's father, Fred Goldman, expressed numerous criticisms of the series even though they were portrayed sympathetically. Among them was his statement that the series did not devote enough material to his son, who is only depicted on the show as a corpse. He expressed concern that the generations of people who were too young to understand the events at the time would assume the series' depiction of events was accurate. Goldman's family also criticized the series for not depicting the murders, as they believe that Goldman died trying to save Brown from her attacker and that he was the man who eyewitnesses heard shouting that night.[49] Goldman's sister, Kim, criticized the series for sympathetic portrayals of Simpson and Kardashian, despite the fact that in real life, Kardashian had admitted to having had actual doubts about Simpson's innocence and eventually severed his ties with him.[50]
