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I saw a clip of this week's show and I swear, Malcolm Jamal-Warner, who plays AC, was barely recognizable to me. I think maybe, he might have put on weight/muscles for this role?

Man, MJ-W has weird luck. For years acting next to a rapist, and now he's playing the buddy/stooge of a murderer.

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That was like 20 minutes ago and lasted all of 20 seconds.  Big whoop.

 

I remember this "chase" so well.  Seeing this is bringing back all those memories, but it's crazy seeing it from the "inside" so to speak.

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http://m.la.curbed.com/archives/2014/06/mapping_the_infamous_oj_simpson_chase_20_years_later_1.php

I was interested in where this chase went. So the above link gives you so spots where he went that day.

https://roadtrippers.com/stories/the-oj-chase-route

So Johnny Cochran started pulling the race card immediately. But OJ was afforded many privileges that most weren't

Edited by toodywoody
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I can't believe they spent a whole episode on The Chase. 

 

With that said, my blood was BOILING watching that bullshit. The privilege that money will buy—astounding. 

 

Angry AC was on my last nerve.

Edited by lovinbob
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I dont recall seeing any clips of the real RK, so i dont even have anything to compare it to, but im just simply not enjoying Schwimmer's version of him. He's making RK look like he's a bit "slow" for lack of a better word. I guess he's supposed to be measured and cautious but he's just not coming off as real. I get taken out of the scene every time he's onscreen.

It was cool seeing real tv footage of the Bronco chase. And the breaking in of the Finals. I recall there was some discussion in one of the other threads about this. Interesting that this was actually debated in the NBA telecast room as to whether they should air the chase instead or simultaneously. In hindsight it was a no-brainer but I guess it was unprecedented at the time. Good decision on their part. This was historical.

I think OJ is way too narcissistic to have killed himself. I'll stop short of saying the whole thing was "an act" but I dont think he was ever going to kill himself.

How the hell did Marcia Clark survive the 1990s with all those cigarettes she was smoking. Shit, every fucking scene she's in she's smoking.

Edited by FuriousStyles
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There is a whole transcript of the officer talking to OJ here, and it went on for a long, long time, that officer talked him down quite a bit.  http://simpson.walraven.org/oj-lange.html

 

This was a much better episode, even Travolta brought it.

 

In an interview linked in the media thread, Cuba talks about how grueling the Bronco scenes were for him.  That's also worth a read.

 

Lots of people still smoked in 1994 at the office, at restaurants, I think even on planes and busses. 

Edited by Umbelina
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The infamous chase. I remember me and my parents watching it on TV. That's when my father turned to us and said he killed them. Just imagine if Twitter was around during the O.J Bronco chase.

 

I liked Malcolm Jamal-Warner and glad Ryan liked him enough from the few episodes he did on AHS Freak show to put him on.  Courtney B. Vance is doing a great job.

 

They had OJ asking for Orange Juice. I am surprised it took 2 episodes. 

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Hard to believe there was a time nobody heard of the Kardashians. Oh how I long for those days...

I don't know what repulsed me more: OJ still playing nice guy to the cops, the media already planning his eulogy, or the morons that were actually cheering him on. I get the animosity toward the LA PD, but still...

And who the hell signs a suicide note with a smiley face?!

My friend says that had this happened today, OJ would have been shot and killed in the standoff. I wouldn't have been that torn up to be frank. Phenomenal work from Cuba tonight...but I don't think OJ would have really killed himself. I don't know whether his remorse was genuine or if it was all an act to get everyone to feel sorry for him.

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I think OJ is way to narcissistic to have killed himself. I'll stop short of saying the whole thing was "an act" but I dont think he was ever going to kill himself.

Yep, I remember thinking that 20 years ago and watching it today. I think he wanted to end it all because he realized how much he fucked up his life, but no way could he kill himself. I bet in his mind he regretted that Nicole made him kill her.

John travolta had the best lines this episode. Laughed at him worrying that everyone would blame him. Although, I must say I sign all my suicide notes with a happy face.

Edited by VanillaBeanne
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Courtney B Vance is making me miss Law and Order CI so much.

I have to admit I listened to Sabotage full blast the other day. It holds up well.

Its inclusion here goes with the now-dead people in this show theme that bummed me out last week, even if the Beastie Boys had nothing to do with the case other than being in tonight's episode and two are still with us.

I don't think I watched the whole chase but I watched a lot of it. For you younguns we really did stop and watch. It was riveting and dull at the same time.

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Well that's something I'm curious if it gets addressed. if OJ was innocent - why would he want to kill himself because his ex wife was killed? Like that thing never really made sense to me. They weren't married, they weren't close to getting back together - he has two young kids....

 

Innocent people don't go rushing to shoot themselves.

 

I agree with whomever said - if this was today - famous or not - OJ would have been shot, this AC person too.

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I'm trying to think of someone as famous and beloved as OJ was then today.  I'm blanking.  In LA though, with cameras on all of them, shooting someone that popular STILL wouldn't happen.  IMO of course.  It would be like shooting Johnny Depp, or Morgan Freeman, or Daniel Radcliff, LIVE, on TV.  So, no, I don't think it would happen today either.

 

That chase went on forever.  I think the show was excellent tonight, this could have been boring as hell.  Great cuts in the action to various perspectives as well, from Cochran, to Darden, to Garcetti and Clark, to the crowds, to OJ's family...just all of it was well done.

 

Personally, I haven't minded a single Kardashian reference.  I also think they will lead somewhere, or at least I hope they do.  Sides divided up.

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At the time, I was 100% positive that OJ was going to kill himself.

What evidence did Kardashian have that made him so sure that OJ had killed himself, that he went and told the man's family he was dead. Not just that he (maybe) was contemplating suicide, but that he had in fact killed himself. I am surprised Jason didn't deck him.

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How the hell did Marcia Clark survive the 1990s with all those cigarettes she was smoking. Shit, every fucking scene she's in she's smoking.

 

Well even Betty Francis made it to 1970.*

 

But actually my grandfather smoked fairly heavily from the time he was 12 (the 1930s) and didn't die until 1999, and it wasn't even from smoking-related complications. Some people just get lucky, I guess.

 

Lots of people still smoked in 1994 at the office, at restaurants, I think even on planes and busses.

 

Definitely at restaurants. I was born in '94 and can still remember well into my childhood going to restaurants and my parents being asked for smoking or non-smoking. It really wasn't that long ago but imagine how strange it would be now to see someone light up inside an office or public building.

 

Does anyone know if the K*rd*shi*n family has anything to do with the OJ Simpson trial? I feel like the show has dropped a couple of hints but I just can't tell.

 

I definitely think it's appropriate that they spent one whole episode on the chase and all the different reactions. I remember my high school sociology teacher calling it the most famous low-speed car chase of all time, and how TV stations were already putting together in memoriams. There's a 30 Rock episode that lampshades that phenomenon (which in all honestly does make sense, even if it's a little morbid). I also liked how they used real news footage.

 

Question time from the youth department: did OJ really stop by Nicole's grave before getting on the highway? Also, why wasn't Cowlings ever tried for aiding and abetting a fugitive? Regardless of OJ's guilt or innocence he was still wanted by the police, and that's a felony. Was OJ even ever charged for evading and resisting arrest?

 

*I realize she is fictional but still, homegirl smoked like a chimney.

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I remember watching this so well. My sons and I all had chicken pox, I was taking care of my mother who had a stroke, we had temperatures of 112f and I had no ac in my car or in our apt. The day of the chase, we had gotten Chinese takeout and went home. My friend called me and told me to turn on the TV. I did, and me and my kids sat there and watched and ate Chinese.

I really thought he was going to kill himself right there in the driveway. And the LAPD bent over backwards to be accommodating. Nobody else would have gotten that kind of treatment. I think all the actors are doing a good job. And am I the only one who noticed that John Travolta was listed as the producer?

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I can't get a feel for what tone this series is aiming to set.  At times, it's a straight drama, at other times it's campy and cutesy (overload of Kardashian 'winks' - which, spelling it out and chanting the name...really, show?  OJ asking for OJ, etc.), and yet at other times it's a sharp, satirical commentary (Shapiro's 'everyone will blame ME and talking himself up at the press conference, 'he's being chased by the cops...he's black now...', 'news, entertainment, and sports...OJ gets the big box!', etc.). 

 

I dunno - I wish they would've stayed the drama / biting satire path, because the campy stuff just feels out of place.  I get that it was a circus, and I think (and wish) that aspect was addressed in a way that had more gravitas and bite.  It just feels a little too fluffy for such a brutal double homicide and a racially divided event, and the overall tone just feels uneven to me.  Still watching, for sure - lots of good stuff here - I just think it could be so much better.

Edited by lyric
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I realize everyone who hates everything the Kardashians are and stand for are going to harp on the 14 seconds they were "shown" tonight, but really, this episode was about so much more.

I think it's more how artificial their insertion at various points feels rather than them really taking up all that much time. It's a bit of nothing and ultimately not all that important, but I do think people are reacting more to the idea that Murphy & Co. feel namechecking them is necessary. It's not worth getting upset over except in the context that it reminds us that this is being treated like a fictional story in some ways and speculating and embellishing lots of stuff.

 

David Schwimmer has completely won me over. As has the actor (forgot his name) who's playing Darden.

Except he's playing a fictional version of Kardashian. This is the nice-guy version his family has been selling as a memory rather than the kind of slimy guy others occasionally say he was. Edited by Kromm
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I would have thought the K kids would have been a little young to watch the car chase. I'd think that would have been pretty upsetting. If it actually happened.

I was 12 (almost 13) and I had it on in my room. It was a defining moment in American Social History. Truly.

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Sabotage! Loved the music choice.

Did they say AC had the same bronco? Was he a decoy? Did that happen in real life? I was young when everything happened and I don't know the half of it.

Also thought the Kardashian kids were cute. Way better than they are today, that's for sure!

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Eh, the last thing I'll say is that I understand there was no real reason to show them tonight - but maybe to continue to try and humanize RK in relation to OJ. I just don't see how it takes away from the overall story.

And yes, AC worshipped OJ and bought the same make and model of the Bronco. As Sarah says in her recap, OJ really didn't have "friends" as much as "worshippers"...as narcissists tend to do.

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I thought this was a comedown after the premiere. The actual Bronco chase, with the craziness and uncertainty and surreal quality that hung over it, was spellbinding, if you were around back then and watching the news. (I was at work that Friday night, and I remember we all went down to the lounge and watched it, and a coworker kept saying, "He's gonna kill himself.") But a dramatization of it over an hour was...tedious. This was what I was afraid the whole series would be like, an assortment of famous beats hit in the right order (like "This is AC! You know who I am, damnit!"). I haven't given up, but I'm relieved this chapter is out of the way. 

 

The closing music was not original score. It was a piano reduction of this slow movement from a Schubert trio. 

 

Edited by Simon Boccanegra
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Eh, the last thing I'll say is that I understand there was no real reason to show them tonight - but maybe to continue to try and humanize RK in relation to OJ. I just don't see how it takes away from the overall story.

True, but if humanizing RK was contrary to his actual character, then it might not be serving the true story--just a fictionalized version of it.
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True, but if humanizing RK was contrary to his actual character, then it might not be serving the true story--just a fictionalized version of it.

Well...it is a dramtization. I expect some liberties to be made. (If we had emojis I'd insert a tongue face here.)

I also think RK is the closest thing OJ had to a "friend." Make of that what you will.

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The show said AC idolized OJ so much he went and bought an identical Bronco. Creepy.

I also would like to know if OJ was ever charged with evading arrest or anything else related to the Bronco chase.

My annoyance with the Kardashian kids isnt about the amount of screen time, its about the powers that be's insistance on including them in the first place, for ratings I guess? IMO, the "story" is great all on its own and doesnt need gimmicks which is what it is, since those scenes tonight added absolutely nothing to advance the show.

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Well that's something I'm curious if it gets addressed. if OJ was innocent - why would he want to kill himself because his ex wife was killed?

So they could be reunited in Heaven.

 

Does anyone know if the K*rd*shi*n family has anything to do with the OJ Simpson trial? I feel like the show has dropped a couple of hints but I just can't tell.

People always forget about the effect that Kim's admission to killing Nicole and Ron had on the jury.

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I don't think the ratings factor into the Kardashian kids' cameos at all. It's not as though they're the actual adult Kardashians and people are going to tell each other, causing the number of eyeballs to go up. No one is tuning in to see a few seconds of some child actors. It's just Ryan Murphy indulging in some pop-cultural archness. He made them as annoying as possible tonight, shrieking and giggling and spelling their name. 

Edited by Simon Boccanegra
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I'm assuming the Kardashian's are in for a couple of reasons.  Robert is kind of a key person in all of this, he did have kids.  His wife is besties with Faye Resnick, and we've already seen previews of her on the show.  She can't exactly talk to herself, so Kris is there.  Kris was also friends with Nicole.  They were all young moms together.  There are some other reasons I think they are in there for the future shows.  We can talk about it in the Glove Don't Fit thread if anyone wants to speculate with me.

 

I think AC was OJ's best friend.  They went to school together, grade school on up.  OJ got AC to get his GED so he could try playing college ball.  They've known each other forever. 

Edited by Umbelina
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Okay. I was around when this chase happened. I saw it; saw how people were cheering for OJ. I know how it ended. So why, why, was my heart pounding as I watched its dramatization tonight?

 

I only have one nitpick. When Kardashian read OJ's suicide note almost 22 years ago, He put on his glasses to read the damned note. I'm sorry, if they're trying to show as much accuracy as they can, down to mannerisms and tics and behavior, then they should get everything right--and this was something we all saw. Yes, I'm anal sometimes.

 

But I have to wonder if the group of people around the Brentwood house, who did everything but climb onto the Bronco was embellished, because...I have no words. There was just one guy who yelled out murderer, right?

 

Listening and seeing Brokaw and Rather, really brought it back to me, as if it was just recently. Very scary. And here I thought I would not get sucked in, and yet have been.

 

But, I did have to laugh at the end, when Schwimmer's Kardashian, held up/supported Cuba's OJ, because, in the show, his Kardashian is taller, and in real lfe, OJ was taller and heavier, and I just can't imagine real life Kardashian being able to hold the real OJ up. 

 

Good episode tonight.

Edited by GHScorpiosRule
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Okay. I was around when this chase happened. I saw it; saw how people were cheering for OJ. I know how it ended. So why, why, was my heart pounding as I watched its dramatization tonight?

 

I only have one nitpick. When Kardashian read OJ's suicide note almost 22 years ago, He put on his glasses to read the damned note. I'm sorry, if they're trying to show as much accuracy as they can, down to mannerisms and tics and behavior, then they should get everything right--and this was something we all saw. Yes, I'm anal sometimes.

 

But I have to wonder if the group of people around the Brentwood house, who did everything but climb onto the Bronco was embellished, because...I have no words. There was just one guy who yelled out murderer, right?

 

Listening and seeing Brokaw and Rather, really brought it back to me, as if it was just recently. Very scary. And here I thought I would not get sucked in, and yet have been.

 

But, I did have to laugh at the end, when Schwimmer's Kardashian, held up/supported Cuba's OJ, because, in the show, his Kardashian is taller, and in real lfe, OJ was taller and heavier, and I just can't imagine real life Kardashian being able to hold the real OJ up. 

 

Good episode tonight.

I too remember the Bronco chase very well and watched the whole thing. I am in Canada, and even here, people thought he was innocent.  Well mostly guys and sports fans.  When the news came that OJ's ex-wife was murdered, I immediately suspected he must have done it, but my husband and all his friends could not fathom that OJ Simpson could be a cold-blooded killer.  He was a sports icon but also an actor and had TV commercials.  And very liked and likeable.  Until we saw the real OJ.  Anyway, this is all to say that the people who were cheering him on in the slow speed chase were probably like my husband and his friends, and really believed there was no way he could have done it.  At that time, we the viewers wouldn't have known about the blatant evidence they had against him (I don't recall that, in any case).

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Boy, that was tedious. And was OJ playing the victim or what? I'm sure Cochran saw the advantage of it at the time. And that line about OJ being a battered husband because he cut his hand while killing his wife? Hilarious. I now think that the ham and cheesiness of the production is intentional. Murphy seems to be aiming for a true crime farce like Fargo or Gus Van Sant's To Die For but the result just isn't that good.

 

The closing music was not original score. It was a piano reduction of this slow movement from a Schubert trio.

 

That piano piece always reminds me of David Bowie in The Hunger.

Edited by numbnut
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I don't know. Cuba in the backseat of that car was really scary and emotional. I felt anxious even knowing what was going to happen. I thought it was really well done. I mean, when he got out the car, clutching his picture and waving dumbly with his head bowed, staggering around and saying I'm sorry as 50 millions guns were trained on him well, I felt a little sad for the guy! Watching this after recently seeing the 30 for 30 doc about the chase made for a good pairing.

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The closing music was not original score. It was a piano reduction of this slow movement from a Schubert trio.

 

That piano piece always reminds me of David Bowie in The Hunger.

 

It was also famously used (the whole trio arrangement) in the Kubrick film Barry Lyndon. I've never actually seen Barry Lyndon, but I know that because...well, "famously."

 

Boy, that was tedious.

 

Well, there are at least two of us! It made me wish I had watched the 30 for 30 again instead. 

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I lived in Germany studying abroad in 1994 and I called my mom once a week on Sunday nights.  Our phone calls were normally very quick, but the Sunday after the Bronco chase, she spoke at length, trying to tell me what was going on. (We're from Western New York, where OJ was an icon because of his days with the Bills.) But without the visuals of this chase, I didn't get it at the time.  I think that's why I can't get enough of this story and couldn't wait for tonight's episode.  

 

I liked the references to all the sports events happening on June 17, 1994, including Arnold Palmer's final round at the US Open at Oakmont, mentioned by Darden's father, and Game 5 of the NBA Finals.  I highly recommend Brett Morgen's documentary June 17, 1994, which highlights the busyness of that day in the sports (US Open, NBA Finals, World Cup in America, the Rangers' parade for winning the Stanley Cup) and then in the middle of all that, here's The Chase.  

 

And for the person upthread who hoped for the prank call, me, too, just because it added to the theater of the absurd.

 

 

 

 

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I don't know. Cuba in the backseat of that car was really scary and emotional.

Sure it was. Although what went on in that car is mostly unsubstantiated. What he did or didn't say to AC. What he did or didn't say to Kardashian on the phone (well that first convo--the later one was in front of the authorities). Edited by Kromm
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I don't think the ratings factor into the Kardashian kids' cameos at all. It's not as though they're the actual adult Kardashians and people are going to tell each other, causing the number of eyeballs to go up. No one is tuning in to see a few seconds of some child actors. It's just Ryan Murphy indulging in some pop-cultural archness. He made them as annoying as possible tonight, shrieking and giggling and spelling their name.

Robert Kardashian sat at the defense table in the courtroom every day of the trial. OJ stayed at his house inbetween the murders and the car chase. RK appeared on television to read the suicide note. For those who followed the case, he was a key figure. I think it's normal that his kids would watch and react, as many others did. It's no more random or strange than Chris Darden's dad to me. The K kids knew OJ and Nicole personally, had vacationed with them, etc.

To me, they are not famous people even now. I hear the name, but I know very little. It doesn't seem odd that they are a small part of this show. Their father was a big part of the trial.

Has nothing to do with "pop culture."

Edited by SFoster21
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I think it's normal that his kids would watch and react, as many others did.

There's a difference between showing that and the Spelling Bee/Contrived Cuteness we got shown. It's not acknowledging they exist that's generating eyerolls. It's that it's being done in a way that calls attention to who they eventually became--that winks at it.

And for the person upthread who hoped for the prank call, me, too, just because it added to the theater of the absurd.

I was very very disappointed they didn't show it. It was a core "image" people remember about that day and unlike a lot of the stuff we DID see actually verifiably happened!
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I liked the references to all the sports events happening on June 17, 1994, including Arnold Palmer's final round at the US Open at Oakmont, mentioned by Darden's father, and Game 5 of the NBA Finals. I highly recommend Brett Morgen's documentary June 17, 1994, which highlights the busyness of that day in the sports (US Open, NBA Finals, World Cup in America, the Rangers' parade for winning the Stanley Cup) and then in the middle of all that, here's The Chase.

But no mention of David Hassalhoff!

And for the person upthread who hoped for the prank call, me, too, just because it added to the theater of the absurd.

I don't remember what that was about.

I think I was one of the few people in America who didnt see the Bronco chase. We had just gotten home from vacation and I was exhausted after a long car ride with a toddler. So I went to bed very early that night.

Edited by Cara
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