‘Facts’ Wanting in ‘Crime Story’

I fear trying to keep up with all the reviews, observations, punditry about the FX miniseries based oh-so loosely on the 1995 O.J .Simpson murder trial is going to become a round-the-clock effort. My email inbox is crammed with Google News Alerts I set for O.J. Simpson way back in 2008 before my book, Anatomy of a Trial, was published.

Here are some excerpts in one from yesterday:

Excerpt 1)  “…three categories: those who remember all the details of the trial, those who don’t know anything at all, and those who (like me) remember enough to be delighted by the references and cameos, but have forgotten enough that the bizarre truths become freshly frustrating. But it’s exactly this story’s bizarre nature that makes Ryan Murphy’s ambitions new anthology series refreshingly not like a Ryan Murphy series at all. It is, perhaps surprisingly, understated and played straight (almost), being based off of Jeffrey Toobin’s nonfiction book The Run of His Life. The facts speak for themselves,”

So much flies in the face here, such as:

• “those who remember all the details of the trial”   Who the heck can do that? I was there every day and even I can’t remember every detail. I took notes when court was in session and during every meeting I had with the trial judge, Lance Ito, which was daily and generally several times a day. And I kept daily written and audio journals.
• “those who … remember enough to be delighted by the references and cameos, but have forgotten enough that the bizarre truths become freshly frustrating.”   Many of the ‘bizzare truths’ weren’t. They were misrepresentations of events, people and/or intentions. There were, indeed, bizarre truths about and related to the trial, but they were not reported by the media.
• “Ryan Murphy’s ambitions new anthology series”   Anthology?
• “ Jeffrey Toobin’s nonfiction book”   Not nonfiction. Nonfiction-fiction hybrid.

Excerpt 2) “Speaking of parody, there are a few winking moments included in the series that work through a knowing hindsight, like Judge Ito’s (Kenneth Choi) preoccupation with celebrity…”

Judge Ito’s (Kenneth Choi) preoccupation with celebrity…”  Not!   I am well aware of how he was portrayed by the news media. Most of it was misrepresented to flat out not true. The best way to understand Ito and his ‘preoccupations’ is to read Anatomy of a Trial.

 

Excerpt 3)  “…the trial essentially being conducted to the public nightly through Larry King Live.”  Again, Not! Ir boggles my mind how people can make such specious and ridiculous assertions. King having members of the media who were covering the trial, legal pundits and people associated with the trial participants, no matter how faintly, on his show was a far cry from conducting the trial there. Saying/writing such a thing is just ignorant.

No, Mr. Ryan, That Didn’t Happen. Neither Did That.

It’s no surprise to me that the director of a TV-drama-series about the 1995 O.J. Simpson trial that’s set to air next year “didn’t know half the stuff (that occurred). I’m like, ‘That happened? That happened?’” Ryan Murphy is quoted as saying in a USA Today story.

That’s because the book it’s based on contains “stuff” that didn’t happen.

I guess that’s why it’s a drama. Sort of the difference between nonfiction, which is what Anatomy of a Trial is, and a novel,

Frustrating for me and others who know is that dramas such as this upcoming TV series will not serve the public good, but will only perpetuate the misinformation, misperception and distortions that occurred both during and following the trial.

 

 

Will Simpson Miniseries be ‘Nightmare Fuel’?

I’m not eager to promote the mini-series or the book, but both epitomize the mutation of the Simpson case and trial to fit the needs and agenda of the story teller. The mini-series has yet to air, so I can only imagine how it will morph, distort, sensationalize and mislead, particularly considering that the executive producer is Ryan Murphy who co-created the , co-creator of miniseries/nightmare fuel American Horror Story miniseries, which is described in this New York Observer story as “nightmare fuel.’ 

My primary problem with the book it purportedly based on makes an assertion based on hearsay, that is not true. I know, because I was present during the incident involving Larry King that’s related and the author wasn’t. I describe it on page 64 of my book, Anatomy of a Trial.