My review of the first episode of the new OJ Simpson series

[VikingMan]

Cuban Gooding cast as OJ seems strange because he looks and sounds nothing like OJ but he does a good job acting so will give it a few more episodes to make up my mind. John Travolta is creepy as fuck playing Robert Shapiro because.....well because John Travolta is creepy as fuck. The casting for Christopher Darden and Marcia Clark is brilliant. That Ross whiny dude from "Friends" who plays Robert Kardashian is ok I guess. Not sure who the black dude is who plays Johnie Cochran but he does a good job as well. Kato is ridiculous but so was the real life Kato so I guess his casting decision was decent.

The level of detail the production uses as far as locations is amazing. They recreated the crime scene and right down to the gate at the entrance to Nicole's condo in Brentwood as well as OJ's estate. The overall production quality of the show is excellent especially for TV standards.

I just watched the first episode and will watch the 2nd episode in the next day or two as I am looking forward to it. I highly recommend this series based on the first episode.

By the way for anyone who is is clueless as to why OJ is such a big deal....he rushed for over 2,000 yards one season.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2,000-yard club is a group of seven National Football League (NFL) running backs that have surpassed 2,000 rushing yards in a season.[1] These seven rushing seasons rank as the highest single-season rushing totals in NFL history,[2] and reaching the 2,000-yard mark is considered a significant achievement for running backs.[3] No running back has yet achieved this feat twice. The first 2,000-yard season was recorded in 1973 by Buffalo Bills running back O.J. Simpson. He is the only player to have surpassed 2,000 yards in a 14-game season, as all others occurred in 16-game seasons; he finished the season with 2,003 rushing yards, averaging six yards per carry and an NFL-record 143.1 rushing yards per game.

[VikingMan]

OJ running highlight reel. OJ Simpson.avi - YouTube

[Paul Markham]

Great TV, look forward to seeing the next episode. Will they take the story to his guilty verdict and imprisonment?

By sticking to real life, they can't drop into the format of picking out the usual box of plots.

Writers who do this ruin many TV shows. It seems marketing men are sitting behind them saying "We have to have a contrived family situation, that includes, second marriage, or strained marriage, ex-girlfriend or wife, troubled children because Dad works long hours, etc". Even if it has nothing to do with the main plot.

[mineistaken]

Originally Posted by VikingMan

OJ running highlight reel. OJ Simpson.avi - YouTube

Side topic, from the guy who has no idea about rugby/american rugby: what is so cool about these runs? Seems to me that it all depends of how the defenders take their positions, if they take bad positions the runner can escape them, if they take good positions then the runner is toast.
As for the runner (besides being fast and strong) - it seems like the important skill is to visualize defenders positions and be quick to calculate how they where they will be positioned every split second after the previous split second?

Ignorant post for some fun Just funny how i guess these runs are supposed to be something wow for those who know sports and nothing much for those who don't. While lets say in basketball or real football even those who do not know the sport would recognize wow factor from dunks' high reel or from fantastic goals' high reel.

Ps: this is not American football bashing post, just some random thought/observation.

[blackmonsters]

Originally Posted by mineistaken

Side topic, from the guy who has no idea about rugby/american rugby: what is so cool about these runs? Seems to me that it all depends of how the defenders take their positions, if they take bad positions the runner can escape them, if they take good positions then the runner is toast.
As for the runner (besides being fast and strong) - it seems like the important skill is to visualize defenders positions and be quick to calculate how they where they will be positioned every split second after the previous split second?

Ignorant post for some fun Just funny how i guess these runs are supposed to be something wow for those who know sports and nothing much for those who don't. While lets say in basketball or real football even those who do not know the sport would recognize wow factor from dunks' high reel or from fantastic goals' high reel.

Ps: this is not American football bashing post, just some random thought/observation.

[VikingMan]

Also that guy from the Cosby show was cast as Al Cowlings and he does a good job driving OJ and talking to the cops on the phone which is hilarious.

911: What is your emergency?

AL : This is AC with OJ

911: Who? (while every human in the country is watching the entire thing unfold on life TV)

AL: damnit how dumb can you be? I have OJ in the back seat with a gun to his head that is who this is!

[woj]

Originally Posted by mineistaken

Side topic, from the guy who has no idea about rugby/american rugby: what is so cool about these runs? Seems to me that it all depends of how the defenders take their positions, if they take bad positions the runner can escape them, if they take good positions then the runner is toast.
As for the runner (besides being fast and strong) - it seems like the important skill is to visualize defenders positions and be quick to calculate how they where they will be positioned every split second after the previous split second?

Ignorant post for some fun Just funny how i guess these runs are supposed to be something wow for those who know sports and nothing much for those who don't. While lets say in basketball or real football even those who do not know the sport would recognize wow factor from dunks' high reel or from fantastic goals' high reel.

Ps: this is not American football bashing post, just some random thought/observation.

it looks easy cause the guy is good at what he does... there are plenty of professional football players who would be happy to achieve even half the yards Simpson did, so clearly it's not as easy as it sounds...

[mineistaken]

Originally Posted by woj

it looks easy cause the guy is good at what he does... there are plenty of professional football players who would be happy to achieve even half the yards Simpson did, so clearly it's not as easy as it sounds...

It does not look easy, on the contrary it is difficult to imagine how number of defenders can not catch one runner (not ball passing players trying to avoid being caught, but one non stop runner). Makes me think it is more of defenders' fault than runner's achievement.
Of course it is probably both.

[L-Pink]

Spoiler alert: The black guy did it.

[J. Falcon]

That show is amazing. I watched the second episode yesterday and it was just as good. Agreed about the attention to detail: they even got the smiley face on the OJ "suicide" letter right. So far it's been great. Travolta as Shapiro is very believable, and Cuba is doing a pretty good job also.

SMALL SPOILER

I laughed my ass off during one part in particular.

The OJ chase was in full gear, and these black dudes were BBQing in their front yard and watching the whole thing on TV. One old dude was saying how OJ had moved out of the neighborhood after making some money, and that he lived like white folks lives, basically saying he was no longer black. Then one of the younger guys says: "Well, the cops are chasing him... he's black now!!"

That was hilarious.

[Penny24Seven]

Originally Posted by mineistaken

Side topic, from the guy who has no idea about rugby/american rugby: what is so cool about these runs? Seems to me that it all depends of how the defenders take their positions, if they take bad positions the runner can escape them, if they take good positions then the runner is toast.
As for the runner (besides being fast and strong) - it seems like the important skill is to visualize defenders positions and be quick to calculate how they where they will be positioned every split second after the previous split second?

Ignorant post for some fun Just funny how i guess these runs are supposed to be something wow for those who know sports and nothing much for those who don't. While lets say in basketball or real football even those who do not know the sport would recognize wow factor from dunks' high reel or from fantastic goals' high reel.

Ps: this is not American football bashing post, just some random thought/observation.

LOL nobody has ever done it so must be the people just missed him all those times