ESPN is running its fourth and fifth installments of its riveting five-part documentary series “OJ: Made In America” tonight. Oddly, all five installments are already nesting, commercial-free, on ESPN On Demand.
There are people running around saying “OJ: Made in America” is even better than FX’s excellent “The People Vs. O.J. Simpson.” Those people are what we call right. It turns out The Juice is actually more interesting than the lawyers in his murder trial, and the documentary gives one even greater insight into what happened that one famous night in 1994 Brentwood.
My initial thought? “How stupid to air the ESPN series so soon after the FX series! Will people want to revisit Simpson when we’ve just had 10 hours of the same?”
It turns out the answer is yes. The two projects turn out to be perfect companion pieces, the new one placing Simpson in a much broader context. The angle at which “Made” approaches Simpson feels nothing like a repeat of "Vs."
Even if you couldn’t give two shits about football, I implore you to check this series out via ESPN, On Demand or otherwise. Just make sure you can spare eight hours to finish it; once you get ten minutes in, you’ll likely find it impossible to turn it off.
“OJ: Made in America” was deservedly the most watched program last Saturday.
Saturdays, April 30-June 11, 2016
(Adults 18-49; repeats in gray; previous weeks in parentheses)
0.9 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) OJ Made in America
0.8 (0.4) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Copa America
0.6 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) American Ninja
0.6 (0.6) (---) (0.7) (0.7) (0.7) (0.6) Dragon Ball Z
0.6 (0.6) (0.6) (0.5) (0.7) (0.8) (0.8) 48 Hours
0.6 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Futbol
0.5 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Hunter X Hunter
0.5 (0.5) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Maya & Marty
0.5 (0.5) (0.5) (0.5) (---) (---) (---) MLB Baseball
0.5 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Mobile Suit Gundam
0.5 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Samurai Champloo
0.4 (0.3) (---) (0.4) (0.4) (0.4) (0.4) Naruto Shippuden
0.4 (---) (0.3) (---) (0.4) (---) (---) NCIS LA
0.4 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) One Piece
0.3 (0.3) (---) (---) (---) (0.3) (0.4) Cops
0.3 (0.3) (---) (---) (0.3) (---) (---) Full Frontal
0.3 (0.3) (0.3) (0.3) (0.3) (0.3) (0.4) House Hunters Reno
0.3 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Parasyte
0.3 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) People’s List
0.3 (---) (0.3) (1.0) (---) (0.7) (0.4) SportsCenter
0.3 (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) (---) Thundermans
