On June 12, 1994, Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were found murdered outside their home, and one of the prime suspects was Brown’s ex, athlete/actor O.J. Simpson. However, it wasn’t until five days later that the massive media frenzy really took off, when the world was glued to their TV’s watching that iconic police chase involving a white Ford Bronco. The true crime limited series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story recreates the events of the Trial of the Century that gave birth to our nation’s obsession with reality TV. The series takes viewers behind-the-scenes of both sides of the case during this year-long trial to witness the machinations of O.J. Simpson’s (Cuba Gooding Jr.) crack defense team of Johnnie Cochran (Courtney B. Vance), Robert Kardashian (David Schwimmer), Robert Shapiro (John Travolta) and F. Lee Bailey (Nathan Lane); the prosecution team of Marcia Clark (Sarah Paulson), Christopher Darden (Sterling Brown) and Los Angeles District Attorney Gil Garcetti (Bruce Greenwood); and the judge presiding over the case, Lance Ito (Kenneth Choi). The series is based on the book “The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson” by Jeffrey Toobin, and includes a phenomenal star-studded cast.

I remember watching the original car chase on TV, but while I followed the case, I wasn’t one of the people who was glued to their TV set all day and night to watch this real-life soap opera unfold. However, this series did have me glued to my TV set. Over the course of the 10 episodes, the show does an amazing job of bringing this case to life—it brought back all of those old feelings of frustration and annoyance towards how this whole circus of a trial played out. It’s easy to see the prominent role this case has played in shaping today’s reality TV-obsessed culture. With each episode I grew more and more frustrated with how Cochran was able to manipulate people and turn the whole case into a race thing, completely ignoring the fact that the trial was supposed to be about getting justice for the two people who were murdered and their families.

When I first heard about the series I was skeptical, particularly with Ryan Murphy (Glee, American Horror Story, Scream Queens) as the executive producer. However, I was quickly proven wrong. The filmmakers have taken a very serious approach to the material as these real-life characters and events are brought to life on screen. The series is broken down into ten episodes, each telling a separate piece of the story. The premiere establishes the characters and the events of the murder, while the second episode covers that eventful Bronco chase. Over the course of the other 8 episodes we see O.J. establishing his team of lawyers, the prosecution building their case, the rise of the race card defense and the infamous Mark Fuhrman tapes, the personal attacks on Marcia Clark, the mistakes made by the prosecution, how Robert Kardashian begins to doubt the innocence of his friend, how the jury is affected by all of the media frenzy over the case, the glove that “didn’t fit”, and the verdict and aftermath.

The standout episode to me was episode 6, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia”, where we see how Marcia Clark—who never asked for the media attention—finds herself sexually harassed at work, has her personal life dragged out in public, and her unfortunate clothing and hairstyle choices crucified by the media. Sarah Paulson gives an amazing performance in this episode, for which she is rightly nominated for an Emmy. Also earning a well-deserved Emmy nomination is Sterling K. Brown for his role as Christopher Darden. Darden was placed in a tough position in this racially-charged trial as a black man trying to put another black man in jail, and Brown does a superb job portraying this man’s inner conflict.

I like that the series does not just stop with the verdict and doesn’t make O.J. out to be a hero. Just because he wins his trial, it doesn’t mean he is a winner, and we get to see the aftermath that followed this shocking verdict.

The Blu-ray looks and sounds fantastic, providing a beautiful, clean and crisp picture and rich audio soundtrack with clear dialogue. The Blu-ray contains an interesting 29-min discussion about the case as well as an interactive timeline of events. The discs come packed in a standard 3-disc keep case with a slipcover, and the front of the slipcover unfolds to display a timeline of events (see below).

What’s Included:
Episodes: (8:19:37)

• All 10 episodes of the series:
  Disc 1: “From the Ashes of Tragedy”, “The Run of His Life”, “The Dream Team”,”100% Not Guilty”
  Disc 2: “The Race Card”, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia”,”Conspiracy Theories” , “A Jury in Jail”
  Disc 3: “Manna from Heaven”, “The Verdict”
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Extras:

• Past Imperfect: The Trial of the Century (29:00)
  Filmmakers, cast, crew and consultants reflect on the events of the series and landmark trial. They talk about how the series came about, basing it on the novel “The Run of His Life”, race relations at the time, the casting of the film, their memories of the Bronco chase, recreating this huge event and other iconic moments of the trial, and the racial divide in the reactions to the verdict. Includes interviews with writers/executive producers Larry Karaszewski & Scott Alexander, executive producers Brad Simpson & Nina Jacobson, author Jeffrey Toobin, co-executive producer/writer D.V. DeVincentis, former KTLA field reporter Walter Richards, CBS News reporter Steve Futterman, attorney/former KNBC analyst Manny Medrano, transportation coordinator Hal Lary, director of photography Nelson Cragg, former L.A. Times editor/columnist Jim Newton, KCBS/KCAL anchorwoman Pat Harvey, co-executive producer/director Anthony Hemingway, and actors John Travolta (“Robert Shapiro”), Cuba Gooding Jr. (“O.J. Simpson””), David Schwimmer (“Robert Kardashian”), Sarah Paulson (“Marcia Clarke”), Sterling K. Brown (“Christopher Darden”), Courtney B. Vance (“Johnnie Cochran”), Malcolm-Jamal Warner (“Al Cowlings”), Bruce Greenwood (“Gil Garcetti”) & Christian Clemenson (“Bill Hodgman”). English subtitles are available.
• Facts of the Case: An Interactive Timeline This feature allows viewers to follow the series of events in the case and watch the related clips from the series. After selecting either “Pre-Trial”, “Prosecution”, “Defense” or “Rebuttal & Verdict”, the viewer is presented with an interactive calendar timeline of events. Using the remote, the viewer can step through a detailed, dated list of these events, and view clips of how they were portrayed on the series. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment has also made an online version of this interactive timeline available at ThePeopleVOJOnline.com

Final Thoughts:

Even though everyone already knows how the trial ends and some of the major plot points, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story provides an engaging dramatization of the events surrounding this Trial of the Century. The series features an all-star cast and some really stand-out performances. The Blu-ray audio and video presentations are top notch, but the discs only contain a small selection of bonus material. However, this release still comes Highly Recommended for a gripping eight hours of television.