Some people don’t remember or were too young to realize — after all, it was 19 years ago — the unprecedented disruptions and alterations to normal life this trial and events swirling around it created.
O.J. Simpson chase chased NBA Finals off NBC in some markets http://www.newsday.com/sports/media/watchdog-1.812020/o-j-simpson-chase-chased-nba-finals-off-nbc-in-some-markets-1.5501590
Something else that happened that, to my knowledge, was unprecedented was the secretary of state asking the Simpson trial judge, Lance Ito, to suspend court proceedings on the first Tuesday in November, which was election day and he was worried that people would be glued to their TVs watching the Simpson proceedings and not go to the polls which would result in a low voter turnout.
That request is covered in the Introduction and Chapter 11 (“More Craziness”) of Anatomy of a Trial.
The book is now available in digital format from the publisher, University of Missouri Press, at http://press.umsystem.edu/product/Anatomy-of-a-Trial,1229.aspx, at Amazon.com and at Barnesandnoble.com.
Anatomy of a Trial blog 