American Crime Story: The People v O.J. Simpson Episodes 1-2 Reviews: Surprisingly Compelling

"American Crime Story: The People v O.J. Simpson" is a ten part series airing on the FX Network. It's from Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk of "American Horror Story" fame (among other things). "American Crime Story" will focus on one incident per season (similar to what "AHS" does). Next year's will be Hurricane Katrina.

"The People v O.J. Simpson" has an all star cast including: Cuba Gooding Jr as O.J., Sarah Paulson as Marcia Clark, David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian, Courtney Vance as Johnnie Cochran and John Travolta as Robert Shapiro.

The show begins with the discovery of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman's bodies. Police call O .J. to notify him of his ex-wife's death. Interestingly Simpson does not ask how she passed. DA Marcia Clark takes the case. She learns that Nicole previously accused O.J. of beating her. Cuba Gooding Jr. does as excellent job of depicting Simpson. He appears emotionally devastated. But is he guilty of two murders?

Kardasian comes off as a loyal and carrying friend. Shapiro appears to be a sleaze ball. To be honest, Travolta's depiction of him frightened me. Those severe eyebrows are super freaky. On a side note, Travolta also serves as executive producer of the show.

The police close in on O.J. He leaves a suicide note and threatens to shoot himself on numerous occasions. Episode 2 ends with the much publicized white Bronco chase down the LA freeways to Brentwood (followed by O.J.'s arrest).

Obviously we have heard this story many, many times. The public's fascination with the "trial of the century" bordered on hysteria. Can "American Crime Story" add anything new? Probably not in the way facts. However, the emotion of the story still carries quite a wallop. The issues of race are as poignant today as they were in 1994-- maybe more so.

Grade: 4 1/2 Monsters (out of 5). The two first episodes were surprisingly compelling. Cuba Gooding Jr is excellent as the emotionally vulnerable (and possibly conflicted) O.J. It's nice to see Sarah Paulson utilizing her acting chops in something other than the horror genre. Will I stick around to watch the entire series? I'm not sure yet but I was impressed with the first two episodes.