re: The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story series long thread

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So I definitely understand what's going on and the whole story, etc. But since this all happened before my time, I guess I can't really appreciate the magnitude of it when it was happening live. Would one of you older folk mind comparing what it was like if it were modern day.

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The trial was intensely covered almost every day for like 9 months not too long after the Bronco chase that had preempted an NBA Finals game. It helped spawn this anoying fricked up 24 news cycle we have now. It interrupted Rockets Knicks final during MJ's retirement when was trying to hit curveballs.

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Would one of you older folk mind comparing what it was like if it were modern day.

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It's sort of hard to give a direct parallel - OJ wasn't just a famous ex-football player. He was a heisman trophy winner, 2,000 yard rusher, NFL HOFer, a MNF host, and then one of the most trusted and famous commercial stars and a fairly big time movie star.

I truly can't think of a current retired athlete who was that decorated on the field and now has a robust entertainment career. Probably the closest is Dwayne "The Rock Johnson".

So imagine the Ferguson riots happening in whatever city Johnson currently lives in and what kind of effect that would have on the climate of race relations and police perception in that town. Johnson's ex-wife is brutally murdered and a good bit of evidence points in his direction. Police issue an arrest warrant and he agrees to turn himself in but instead, he runs.

What follows is a slow speed car chase covered by every available camera - from handhelds, to broadcast trucks, to news helicopters - and every single channel interrupts their live broadcast - including and NBA finals game and a world cup match on American soil - to cover it live. For hours.

The trial last a year and is broadcast 8-5 live on all news channels. Spawns Court TV. Makes a bunch of lawyers famous for their commentary (Greta Van Sustern for one). Before and after the daily proceedings, all news shows are devoted to whatever the storyline of the day is from the trial. "Larry King Live", "Inside Edition", "Hard Copy" and all shows like it are 100% about the trial. All the gossip magazines are all about the trial.

When the verdict comes down the country literally stopped what they were doing in the middle of a work day to watch the jury's decision. (I was 3 weeks away from my wedding day and was at our reception venue to approve the final menu and we paused our meeting to go into the pro shop bar to watch).

I won't belabor this any longer with how the country reacted to the verdict but it literally consumed every media outlet for 18 months.

The murders were June 12/13 (around midnight) 1994.

OJ was arrested June 17, 1994.

Jury selection begins November 3, 1994 - it takes till December 8, 1994 to select all the jurors.

Jurors are sequestered January 11, 1995.

Opening statements January 23, 1995.

First witness called January 31, 1995.

Closing arguments begin September 26, 1995.

Jury begins deliberations October 2, 1995 and tell the judge they have a verdict that same day.

Verdict announced October 3, 1995.

To put it in a personal perspective, I graduated undergrad in May 1994. I was starting grad school in August on 1994 so I was working part time in Tuscaloosa and taking it easy for the summer before grad school started. I was glued to the TV all summer when the murders and arrest and pretrial stuff went down. The trial went on my entire time in grad school - I finished my master's degree in August of 1995 and then moved home for two months to finish my final wedding plans for October of 1995. When I remember grad school - especially because I was in communications/PR - the OJ Trial is the backdrop for a lot of my memories of that year.

TLDR - it was a big fricking deal