Shade And Betrayal Come In All Hues Postmortem Review: Shades Of Blue #ShadesofBlue #NBC #Postmortem

Shade And Betrayal Come In All Hues Postmortem Review: Shades Of Blue #ShadesofBlue #NBC #Postmortem

All pictures courtesy of NBC unless otherwise noted 

It's that time again. Excuse me if I get completely off track as I just finished the American Idol series finale and I am still reeling from the crazy goodness of that extravaganza of talent and ridiculousness. But for those of you who didn't know, Jennifer Lopez had more than just American Idol playing on Thursday nights. In fact, I would argue that her second show occasionally eclipsed the talent show in flat-out entertainment value, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

As mentioned in a previous post but bears mentioning again, I was unable to do my 3 week roundup reviews for the first three episodes of new shows for most of the mid-season replacements. That includes this show which I actually wasn't keen on seeing because it was yet another cop show and I thought it'd be another procedural and I am so tired of the case-of-the-week format that has sustained broadcast TV for so long that I want to smash my head against the wall just thinking about it, but I digress. For one, I need my brain to create stuff and live. For two, these walls I have around here have a very nice paint job and I don't wanna mess them up with a splattering of my brains. So, without further ado of this postmortem review, Shades of Blue, you're on deck.

In this Ryan Seacrest-produced NBC drama, Jennifer Lopez plays a tough New York detective that's not completely law-abiding. As a hint of her dealings, she calls her fellow detective/officers/unit her crew instead of the aforementioned police lingo. Fast and Furious has a crew. Ocean's Eleven has a crew. Police... should not be a crew, but as we learn, these cops are dirtier than Linus' blanket.

Heading this crew is her captain played by veteran mob-actor Ray Liotta who looks as if they dug him out of whatever grave he was in and pushed him to one of his finest performances really since Goodfellas. Old, graying, pissy with baggage no parent should ever have to carry, he snarls and emotes his way through the role of pseudo-villain as he orchestrates his crooked cops' lives like an involved Godfather. Everybody is supposed to get taken care of under his watch, even Lopez's teenage daughter who flaunts her innocence through much of the show until her mother's secrets catch up to them both.

Joined on the crew are a few other possibly recognizable faces, chief among them being Drea De Matteo who most people might remember from either The Sopranos or Sons of Anarchy. The middle-aged, mom with kids, a job that overworks and underpays her, and a husband that doesn't appreciate her, she struggles to reclaim some sanity and sexiness after discovering her husband cheated on her with some young piece of... well, I mean, you know. Like most of the crew, she has been in it for years and trusts Liotta's judgment.

The crew rounds out with Vincent Laresca who plays Carlos Espada, and fairly newcomers Hampton Fluker as Marcus Tufo (the 30-something black guy) and Santino Fontana of CW's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend fame. Right off the bat I recognized Fontana who plays the best friend/possible love interest if only Rebecca would get her stuff together on Crazy Ex, and knew that something would have to give as that show had a full season order of 18 episodes way back in December. Of course I was right as his character dies early into the season. But before we jump to his death, we begin with the addition of one more crucial cast member who kicks off the show.

Michael Loman played by newcomer Dayo Okeniyi of Hunger Games fame is a detective rookie just assigned to Liotta's unit. The trusted one, and the only one currently without a partner to call her own, Lopez is assigned to show him the ropes, get him acclimated to his new duties as a detective and ease him out of his role previously as a beat cop. Things go sideways on their first call-in during the opening minutes of the series premiere when they burst in on some black drug dealers and the young cop caps one of the guys. Quick-triggered, as it turns out the thing the man had in his hand wasn't a gun but a video game controller. He just murdered the guy in cold blood. From the outset, the show doesn't shy away from the controversial subject of police misconduct and influence in minority communities. This is made all the worse because Loman is black. 

Instead of following his own instincts, he allows Lopez to take the reigns at covering up the crime in a very Training Day-esque scene-staging. "You heard a call for help, you went in, he shot at you, you shot back." This becomes a very important part of the series as it helps build Loman's character as the by-the-book, repentant cop. Not only does he, over the course of the series, go to the man's funeral and nearly confesses to his family, but he grows an immediate distrust of his fellow detectives in the precinct. He isn't part of the crew yet, and doesn't know of the underhanded criminality they routinely employee to grease their own palms. In any case, his erratic behavior not only leads to some of the other detectives disciplining him like an unwanted stepchild (they had to handcuff him and put him in the back of the car to keep him from confessing at the funeral) but it also earns unwanted attention for Liotta and Lopez's crew from Internal Affairs as well as the FBI.

"Who came in the door first, Loman?" 

For clarity's sake, Loman's actions did bring more heat from the FBI onto the crew, but the Feds already had their eye on Liotta for a while. And there lies the show's major conflict. Looking at the most involved and trusted, yet the one with the most to lose, the FBI pursue Lopez's character. Enter Special Agent Robert Stahl and his Asian partner who really isn't given much to do outside of give him side-eyes and tell him that he's getting too close to Lopez before she ultimately ends up sleeping with him in the season finale. The deal? Stahl and his partner tell Lopez that she must now serve as an informant for them to bring down her boss and her crew in exchange for some form of immunity and protection for her teenage daughter.

Special Agent Stahl

See, they also have something over her head that Stahl abuses behind the Asian woman's back. They know that the girl's real father is actually a criminal who went down for a crime ten years ago. As it turns out, not only did he not do it, but he was framed for such a crime by Liotta and Lopez. Why? His imprisonment served as her ultimate escape from a physically and emotionally abusive man who beat her so bad for two years that she nearly lost the baby (her daughter) when he pushed her down a flight of stairs. While he isn't set to see parole in a few years still, Lopez has yet to even tell her daughter that this man is her father; in fact, she's lied to the girl for years and told her varying lies that her father either ran away and abandoned them, or that he's dead. She wants to keep her daughter innocent and safe from even knowing this evil man. They catch Lopez trying to deal some illegal stash to an undercover agent which they can bring her in for at any time. Cornered, she has to navigate the treacherous waters of betraying her "family" while not letting the FBI take out the people who trust her.

Lopez's daughter; Totally believe she's her daughter. Lopez is old enough to be her mother in real life

You interested yet? While this show is not anywhere near the sophistication of Scorsese's The Departed or the Asian film on which that was based Infernal Affairs, the atmosphere does call back to those two films--a mole in a trusted organization trying not to get caught while doing their own dirt. As said before, it also mixes elements of Training Day into the mix as Loman continues throughout the series to pursue real justice even if it comes against his fellow officers. Just remember, however, that while those are very potent films involving crooked cops and undercovers, this does play on NBC broadcast TV which does needfully water down the premise, while maintaining a great level of drama.

The story pushes forward at a good pace as we learn that practically before Lopez can even get out of FBI custody, Liotta knows that there is a rat in his crew. His suspicion arises from strange behavior from some of his underlings coupled with chatter he's hearing from the IA's and DA's office and a failed job. Turning to his right-hand woman, he goes to Lopez to voice his frustrations, turning the heat up on her as she is very close to being caught. Panic intensifies when she suggests that they give everybody a lie detector test (call Maury! Call Maury!), only to have him turn to her as the first participant. She takes the test, cheats and passes but doesn't remember that she has a tell he ID'd way back in the day when he helped frame her daughter's father for a murder she accidentally committed as a uniformed officer. She brushes her hair behind her ear. Even seeing it, he pushes it to the back of his mind in favor of easing his thoughts. He doesn't want it to be her as he knows he'd have to kill her if it was, and she's like a surrogate daughter for him. Talking with his wife, he reminisces about his daughter's suicide. He feels partially at fault for it because he told her she was a waste of space before she decided to take her life. Still, he might have to do what he's gotta do.

Her daughter's father.

Meanwhile, as Lopez "helps" Liotta try to uncover the rat, two major things happen: Liotta gets a call from another crooked cop in IA he's good friends with (there's a twist there that I'll let you have all to yourself) about a big "job" coming their way, and Lopez's ex's cellmate gets out of jail. Tackling the cellmate first, as soon as the man gets out he goes to see his new girl, and decides that he's over not seeing his child (from his old girl). He kidnaps the child and is ready to escape but is confronted by Liotta. All the time he's out he lets bits and pieces about the frame-job that Lopez did years ago. Honestly, I'm probably remembering a little of it wrong as it gets slightly confusing in the early episodes. Just realize that he's got info that can possibly get Lopez's daughter's father released as the man is innocent.

At the same time, Fontana is internet-dating a Brazilian woman and begins taking Portuguese lessons from a prostitute he and his partner Marcus busted a few weeks earlier. Secrecy is not his friend here as the meetings are quickly suspected of being handler meetings by Liotta. To help clear Lopez from further suspicion, the FBI helps concoct papers that says the guy is an informant, which leads Liotta to pursue him for questioning. But before he can get to Fontana, Stahl and his Asian partner pick the guy up and offer him protection from his boss. He doesn't take it, escapes and meets up with the rest of his crew at a construction site where the ex-prisoner/kidnapper has taken the child. While Liotta watches, he manages to free the child and wrestle the gun from the guy. The man goes over the side of the railing and falls to his death. Liotta confronts Fontana with the forged papers about him being an informant before pushing him from the building, too. Not a full splat, Liotta has to kill the boy a second time later in the hospital minutes before Lopez can get there and save him.

With the first casualty on their hands, Stahl and the FBI want to get Liotta fast before more people die. Lopez tries to cut a deal where they can capture him doing this big job Liotta has on good word will be huge. He nearly turns the job down when the man behind the curtain sends him, as his first mission, a kidnapped man in a trunk. The hook: the man is the significant other of an armored truck dispatcher. The trucks move evidence mostly for law enforcement. A huge movement of drug money ceased by the DEA in a recent raid will be coming soon and this unmet puppeteer wants Liotta and his crew to rob the truck. So, they hold the kidnapped guy ransom against the dispatcher who is supposed to make sure that no one sees the truck going off its route.

The FBI wants to catch Lopez's crew in the act of taking the money. However, because Agent Stahl has a very bizarre obsession (we're talkin' buying and dressing a prostitute as Lopez) with Lopez, she manages to sex him into a deal where she and her crew have immunity, and only Liotta goes down. Guilt ways on her, but this is the best she can do.

Not satisfied, or jealous of her partner's sexual exploits with Lopez, Stahl's Asian partner goes to the courts and submits some evidence the FBI has on Lopez's daughter's father which exonerates him of the crime. He's released immediately on the basis that he won't sue the city of NY. Dangling free, he goes to her to immediately contact this daughter that he's always known about but who knows little about him. Now Lopez has to deal with this just as she, Liotta and the crew prepare for the robbery. Her daughter talks to the man, comes to hate her mother for keeping them from each other (she found out about him before he got out of prison) and sees none of the violent tendencies of which her mother speaks.

Meanwhile, Lopez sabotages the FBI's gotcha when she learns that Stahl never really went to his superior with the immunity deal for the rest of the crew outside of Liotta. She tries stalling their vehicle so they can't come and removes her wire so the FBI can't listen or track her. All of this backfires. Not only does the crew arrive at the heist of the parked armored truck, but rookie Loman arrives, too, as he was doing some other police work that led him to the truck. Also, the Asian FBI agent is left to watch the building where the puppeteer's men were keeping the kidnapped man. No movement all day, they raid the storage locker after the heist only to realize that the man has been dead for quite some time.

Lopez quarterbacks everything but convincing her rookie that they have to do the heist to keep Internal Affairs off his back (the heist is a payoff to a crooked cop), proves difficult, especially after two people get shot in what was supposed to be an easy job.

Some Serious Stuff Just Went Down 

The money then goes missing only to appear again as a bargaining chip for Lopez, then Liotta, who both negotiate deals where they separately turn themselves in and return the money in exchange for immunity for the rest of the crew. We end with Stahl having accepted Liotta's deal before Lopez's, making for a helluva cliffhanger. But the final frame is electrifying as Lopez is confronted one last time by her daughter's father who has returned with a gun after she tried paying him to stay away from their daughter. While I would normally spoil it as I've done in my other postmortem reviews, I'll hold off on that this time. Why? Because this series, unlike many of the others I've done is not an anthology (from what I know) and it has already been green-lit for a second season. Which means you can catch the whole season OnDemand or at NBC.com and determine if you want to tune into a second season sometime next year.

What's my grade? I give this one a solid A-. Since when can Jennifer Lopez actually act? Like, when dat happen? It's crazy how this year is the comeback year of both Jennifer and Ben Affleck from that embarrassment that was Gigli over a decade ago (acting wise). She sizzles on the screen with bits of Enough, Selena and something completely new that she's finally dug deep down to put on screen. Her performance is helped by veteran Ray Liotta who, while sometimes turns in a subpar performance, is given a meaty enough role not to phone it in like he's been doing for the last dozen years. The writing can be a bit crisper, but then again who am I to talk? The plot twists and turns in plenty of great ways that may give you pleasant reactions of "wow" and "didn't see that coming." Best of all, unlike my initial thoughts, it isn't another case-of-the-week series. Don't misunderstand, that element is there; however, unlike many of the new series trying to break free from this format, employing a more involved overarching tertiary plot (think The Blacklist, Minority Report, Limitless, Second Chance, etc.), here the secondary plot is the focus while the weekly cases are edged toward the back. You won't care as much about the guy trying to take over the new drug territory so much as you will Lopez trying to keep from being caught by her boss. The only problem I can see from this format is the possible trouble a second season will have with keeping the drama alive with a new tension.

Should you be watching? Yes. For one, if you haven't overdosed on your supply of gorgeous women with Kerry Washington, Jaina Lee Ortiz (Rosewood), and Kaley Cuoco heating up the TV airwaves weekly, then adding Jennifer Lopez to that can't hurt. Also, as said, this is the best acting Lopez has ever done, and it's already coming back for a second season. Not the gritty True Detective that HBO has given us, it doesn't take nearly as many prisoners as one might expect broadcast television to take. In this day and age where every protagonist drifts toward a morally ambiguous center, Lopez's Harley makes a great female addition to the haul of uniquely flawed characters.

What do you think? Have you seen Shades of Blue? If not, do you think you'll tune in after this review? If you have, did you like it and what was your favorite part of the season? Are you excited for it to come back for a second season? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend. #AhStalking

If you’re looking for a scare, check the YA novel #AFuriousWind, the NA novel #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  the bizarre horror #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic and adult, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out NOW exclusively on Amazon; season 2 coming this summer. If you like fast action/crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.

Until next time, "Oh? That's a very interesting... outfit for a first date."

'You like it? It's kinda embarrassing but I actually had my dog pick it out for me.'

"Oh? Hm. You know dogs are colorblind, right?"

Silence.

P.S. Thank god dogs don't much care about TV... or do they? Even if they did watch the show and couldn't tell the colors, I'm sure they'd be just as ticked as me that a show called Shades of Blue rarely ever shows anyone wearing blue, let alone multiple shades of it. Zero fashion sense. I'll think of a better sign-off next time.

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So The World's Ending, Huh? Eh! I'm Cool Wit' That. Postmortem Review: You, Me and The Apocalypse #Postmortem #NBC #YMATA

So The World's Ending, Huh? Eh! I'm Cool Wit' That. Postmortem Review: You, Me and The Apocalypse #Postmortem #NBC #YMATA

All pictures courtesy of NBC unless otherwise noted 

Greetings, everybody! I'm back once again with another postmortem review of a show that went off the air at least a week ago and that few people watched, and that you probably couldn't give a damn about, so you know this review is gonna be good. As mentioned in one of my previous postmortem posts, since I didn't get to do a 3 week roundup on many of the new mid-season replacement shows, I decided that because many of these shows will only have 10 episodes and wouldn't normally have an extra back-order of episodes anyway, why not do a full review of the entire season. On deck next: You, Me and The Apocalypse.

Sigh! Where to begin. First, I guess I should commend NBC for trying something different in the last few years as far as the foreign acquisitions and rights department goes. If you haven't seen this show or don't know what I'm talking about, let me tell you. This show is a co-production between the American arm of NBC's parent company and a British TV production company. For those who don't know, which is virtually everybody because next to nobody here in America bothered watching it, NBC tried a very similar setup with Amy Poehler's brother's show Welcome To Sweden for not one but two surprising summer seasons. The show was made both for American and Swedish audiences, and was broadcast both in America and Sweden. Mixing familiar American comedy stars with Swedish stars, that show was an even harder sell as half of it was spoken in Swedish and highlighted the cultural differences of a fish-out-of-water American in a foreign country. Ultimately, it got canceled late last summer in the middle of its second season as American audiences could never adjust to the difference in humor, filming styles and the language barrier (half of the show was subtitled, which a great swath of filmgoers have yet to adjust to).

NBC, being the brave company they try to be, forged on with this idea, this time doing the same thing with You, Me and The Apocalypse (#YMATA), this time hoping that a mid-winter start, even more recognizable stars and a prime Thursday spot would help the British dramedy adjust to American judgment. So, did it? Does it hold up to American standards of comedy and storytelling? Well, while I can see this becoming an oft-used trend in the next decade rather than adopting British versions of shows (example: Graceland), I think NBC's experiment in foreign relations is off to a rocky start.

We begin each episode with the same scene to setup the premise of the show, which is also explained in the very title and gets redundant really quick. An asteroid is hurtling toward earth and will hit at any moment, destroying all life as we know it. The only people who may survive this catastrophe have huddled together in an underground bunker. The narrator of this madhouse (and a madhouse it is) explains to us how crazy the people within the walls of the bunker really are. From there, each episode focuses on one of the group, diving farther into their personal story while still maintaining a healthy glance at every other characters' back-story leading up to their encapsulation in the bunker. Following me still? I know, that was worded poorly but I'm not gonna fix it to make sure you were paying attention, because it gets weird and hella tangled from here. Bear with me as this thing's got a lotta characters and they're all important.

We re-begin with our supposed narrator, Jamie. A very, very... very average looking white British bloke, he starts each day by creating a video for his video blog to his missing wife. Seven or so years ago, he got married to a beautiful black woman who subsequently disappeared within one year's time. He knows not where she is, if she was captured, killed or the like. He only hopes that he finds her one day because he is madly in love with her still. He works at a bank in Slough. The manager, he has never fulfilled his potential and is afraid to leave because of his sweet mother and because he fears he might miss his wife's return if ever she came back. Well, before the world learns of this deadly asteroid, all the feces hits the fan in his life when he is brought into a federal office on suspicion of being someone else. As it turns out, he has a twin brother. Not just a twin brother, but the best kind of twin brother, an evil twin brother. Whoa! Like, yeah. We all want an evil twin brother or sister, right? Naturally, he had no idea.

Yeah, I'd probably search for her forever, too. 

Revelations keep coming (see what I did there? Biblical reference) when he finds out that not only does he have an evil doppelganger roaming the world, but that his missing wife is with this guy. His thoughts: She thinks he's me. He returns home to talk to his mother about it and gets even more mind-blowing news when he learns that his mum is not really his mum. She found him somewhere and figured, "A baby? You mean I get to have the responsibility of looking after a tiny human all by myself, watching them grow up, being there for their heartaches and pain, getting all the blame for if and when they turn out to be a crap human being, and possibly not having them really give a damn about me in my old age? Hells yeah!"

And then the news hits. And we switch from his story over to one of the recognizable stars. Jenna Fischer of The Office (American version) fame returns to TV in this show. Here, she plays a prisoner brought in on charges of having hacked the NSA in the USA or maybe it was the FBI. It was one of them. Hm? I really need to start paying more attention to shows I don't particularly care about. Anyway, she goes to what looks like a max security prison where, in her first day, she unknowingly makes friends with a Nazi played by another recognizable star Megan Mullally of Will and Grace fame. Apparently Brad Pitt's Inglourious Basterds character branded her on her forehead as she proudly wears a swastika smack in the center. Fischer pleads for mercy as she is not the person who actually hacked the Pentagon(?) and just wants to see her dying husband again. He's got some disease and it's all sad and crap because he's bedridden. Turns out, her son was the hacker but she had to take the wrap because... family (oh yeah. I'll be using that again very soon). She hasn't even had a fair trial but with her new buddy the Nazi ,she will survive the prison.

And then the news hits. And we switch from her story over to the story of a White House scientist adviser. This bespectacled American gent advises the president that he has two plans to ensure the survival of the human race. His first plan is to Armageddon the hell outta that asteroid. We're seriously talking Bruce Willis going down in flames to Aerosmith's "Don't Wanna Miss A Thang" while that big sucker blows up to smithereens, and Ben Affleck can come all the way back to earth to make as many Batman films as he wants. The second plan is a bunker full of young women chosen from the billions on earth and supplied with enough food, water and a DNA bank to carry on human diversity. Working with a black general who sounds like he is from Britain but is supposed to be an American, the plan does not involve any men being saved, including the president, though the commander-in-chief doesn't fully understand that and thinks that the leader the new world will need is him, because... ego.

I'm a Science adviser guy. 

And we switch again from his story to another story of a Vatican priest played by the biggest star and current Grinder Rob Lowe. Let me stop and say that the incestuousness of TV right now is at an all time. Jenna Fischer was getting around, spreading her talent everywhere she could. Because after this started, two weeks later she appeared on The Grinder playing Rob Lowe's ex-girlfriend who wanted him to give up acting before he became The Grinder. Then a week after that, she appeared on Debra Messing's show Mysteries of Laura, who we all know is friends with and worked for years with Megan Mullally. Get yours, Fischer! Back to Lowe, he plays the 12th angry guy in the room (you better get that reference; that's too classic not to get. That's high school classic) when considering sainthood for people (Mother Teresa is used as an example). With the apocalypse on the horizon and no Jesus return in sight, he is given the new task of finding and possibly debunking claims of people being the Messiah around the world. He is paired with a young, black (oh yes, the chocolateyness in this cast is important) nun who has her own doubts about her faith and whether being a nun is what God wants from her. This mission is the perfect place for her doubts as they embark on an international journey to debunk fake messiahs.

Nice sunglasses, svelte figure. Yeah, I'm kind of a hot priest. 

And then we switch back to Fischer's prison and that's when all hell breaks loose. After the comet is announced (I know a comet is technically different but I got tired of using asteroid), the prison goes nuts as there is only a month left before the world ends. Suddenly, the prison doors open and people escape. Fischer and Nazi escape together only to be picked up by the hacker that broke her out and lo and behold, the White Horseman that rescued her is Ariel, Jamie's evil twin. He's a computer hacker and halfway worships Fischer for hacking the CIA(?). He has plans for the both of them and worst of all, doesn't believe the government's "lie" that the world will soon end. Yes, he is dumb. Yes, he is a conspiracy theorist with an odd but very real and understandable fear of germs. While this fear is not always utilized in the show, it does come into play every so often.

Ariel and a buddy of his break Fischer out of jail and Megan (Nazi lady) comes along with them against Ariel's wishes. They eventually ditch her and Fischer's rescue turns into a kidnapping because she only wants to see her son but Ariel wants her to teach him all of her hacking tricks of which she has none. Only when he finds this out do they split, she gets away and Ariel guns for her son.

Ariel the baddie... with a total germ phobia. 

Cut to his brother Jamie back in Great Britain. Still in shock from the many revelations laid upon him in the last few days, he and his best friend (a black guy with a funky afro; again, the blackness is strong in this show. Me likey. And it's a hint at the big twist) embark on a journey to find his wife, but to do that they have to find Ariel and to do that they have to find his birth mother. The hunt for his birth mother leads him to an old house where he runs into Ariel's second white girlfriend who nearly kills him because of the whole twin thing. She tells him where his real mom is--a mental institution and he and his friend go to rescue her. The most interesting thing here is that out of all the characters that play a role in this show and don't die immediately, this woman is the only one who shows up for a few minutes and then is never mentioned again. Just had to point that out for viewers. Anyway, they rescue the mum from the institution because she would have to know where Ariel is, right? Not only does she say that she didn't give Ariel up and leave him in a parking lot like she did our venerable hero Jamie, but she continues talking with him and knows Ariel hates Jamie. Why? Because he heard about Jamie throughout his childhood. Why? Because their birth mum believes Jamie is the savior returned, yeah, that guy Jesus. Awww snap!

Cut to the priest and the black nun roaming around the European Union looking for real messiahs and debunking them. Still paying attention? OK, because it's about to get intense and I'm not slowing down. They review many different would-be "Christs" for the church and Rob Lowe even tries to stop a man who was a priest abuse victim as a child from jumping off a building. People are losing their minds and clamoring for any faithful thing bolted to the ground. They go to a cult in Spain where the leaders are worshiped as new messiahs (plural), and forced to get married under their law in order to enter into the kingdom of paradise here on earth--a requirement for entering after death--only to realize it's a sex cult. Nope! Not for them. 

There's a woman who helps people in her town and feeds the poor and takes care of the sick but it turns out she just steals free food and medicine from shipping containers filled with the stuff but that sits and would rot because of improper approval for the food. There's even a little girl in a hospital who is about six or seven years old and wears a giraffe costume all the time. The locals think she is Jesus returned because she's been able to predict certain things for people and generally makes them feel good, but her mother--a black chick--argues that she's a kid and that's what kids do. They say funny stuff that sounds deep and smile a lot, making people feel good. She tells the nun something about four horsemen before Rob Lowe helps sneak her and her mother out of the hospital away from the crowd. All of them are denied by him as being the new Messiah.

And back to Fischer who partners once again with the Nazi to get across country to her son before Ariel does. They run into trouble through their rich shenanigans as they sneak into people's house, steal clothes, outwit and escape the FBI trackers and try contacting her brother. Even Megan Mullally's husband Nick Offerman of Parks and Rec fame makes an appearance as a cross-dressing hillbilly in the middle of nowhere. He comes to realize that Fischer has a sizable bounty on her head which he plans to collect because it's his patriotic duty... and, you know, the money can buy him a lot of nice dresses. Still the two escape and manage to go to Megan's house where the same thing happens with her White Power husband and kids who seek to turn her new friend Fischer in for the reward. Well, Fischer manages to escape with the sneaky help of Megan and is back on the road.

Unfortunately, we switch back to Ariel's plan to find that he's got the kid already. He wants to force the kid to tell him the secrets and first starts by playing nice, which quickly devolves into death threats. Only when his chubby, hairy friend tells him that the apocalypse is real--info earned from a hack into credible scientists' computers--does Jamie start plotting. He figures that if it's real then the government has a backup plan to keep humanity going. Whatever it is, he wants in. Get ready for your first twist because here it comes.

"Girl, that sound crazy as hell!"

We hop over to the government workers storyline where he is bulling forward with the plan to Deep Impact the meteor (yes, now I'm calling it a meteor. I know the difference between a meteor, meteorite, and meteoroid. Don't roll your eyes at me. Yes, I know it's significantly smaller than an asteroid, but still... I'm usin' it) and nuke it into oblivion. But he's also working with the president to prepare the bunker. Well, it turns out that the black general he's been working with is not just his workmate but his boyfriend. They've been white house gay for quite some time and even live with each other in a nice, modern-chic apartment. But then one day, he suddenly gets a call from his sister who tells him that his nephew is in trouble because he may have been kidnapped by a crazy hacker dude. Whaaa! That's right, he is the brother of Fischer's character and the uncle of the great hacker who bypassed the DEAs(?) security and is now being held captive by Ariel. As it just so happens, no sooner does he learn this then does he learn that she has broken out of jail and is a wanted fugitive, and has Ariel contact him about trading the boy in exchange for a spot in whatever life-saving thing they have planned. A calculating scientist, he isn't cold-hearted. Even against his boyfriend's wishes, he decides to go and save the boy for his sister's sack, even though he swears he can't do anything about the reward on her head. In the last minute the black guy comes and helps his boyfriend save the teenage boy from the evil grips of Ariel, leaving the White Horseman fiend for dead in some museum place. But Ariel doesn't die. Instead he's picked up by a mysterious woman. You ready for the next twist, because it's a doozy? I'll give you one paragraph to let your mind percolate before I tell you, as we cut to...

The priest and the nun. Going about their business, technically married but not stressing over it, they continued their search for the new Messiah. Well, while on their search the priest sees a woman die on TV in what many people in the world deem a cruelly hilarious way to die--a literal ton of bricks from a building fall on her and crush her to death as she is spouting off gobbledygook about the end times. Is it funny and unexpected? Yes. Did they have to make cruel jokes about it, make it into a gif and put hilarious Three Stooges/Scooby-Doo cartoon music to her death? Well... no. But did that make it funnier? Sadly, yes. Now I feel ashamed of myself. The priest recognizes the woman as his one and only booty call from way back in the day before he joined the priesthood as a young lad. Though it's not his official duty, he feels he needs to go to the town to pay his respects. So, he and the black nun go there and try to visit her grave/funeral to pay their respects. You ready for this? Here we go.

The woman in question is Jamie (and Ariel's) birth mother. She died shortly after Jamie brought her back to Slough and went to his bank for whatever reason outside of which she died, LOL--so ashamed. So ashamed of myself. As it turns out he was Jamie's father the whole time but never knew he had any offspring, let alone twins. The moment he went into the priesthood, he pretty much abandoned any connections with his family. It gets more intense as I will be jumping around here. Ariel awakes to an old lady who has him strapped to a hospital bed and is about to steal his blood. She has been tracking him. "Why?" "Because I need your blood. So I found you through your uncle." Huhh? He was raised by the crazy lady who believed his brother was the Messiah. He knew of no uncle. Oh, but he has one. In fact, he has a Fraternal twin uncle and aunt, the very same who are currently a White House science adviser and an escaped domestic terrorist prisoner on the run with her Nazi buddy. That's right, everybody's frickin' related. To clarify, Rob Lowe as the priest is the older brother to Fischer and the gay scientist dude. He is also the father of Jamie and Ariel, unbeknownst to him. Ariel was admiring and kidnapped the hacker who happens to be his young cousin. Now, the old lady who has him strapped to the bed is actually his extravagantly wealthy grandma who faked her death after killing her husband in the 80s. Yes, this is all part of the plot because... family.

But it gets better because remember how I made a semi-big deal about all the black people? Well, as Priest Rob Lowe is about to leave with his black nun pseudo-wife, Jamie tells him about how he lost his wife years ago and that she was spotted last with his brother Ariel. As it turns out, he shows the photo to the nun and she realizes that the giraffe-costumed kid from the hospital has a mother who happens to be Jamie's wife. Aww snap and aww snap again! Not only is Jamie's wife currently still alive and not with Ariel, but she has a kid who could potentially be his or Ariel's. Step back and look at the map and you'll see that this white half-American, half-British family is essentially the Kardashians as far as taste in partners go. Jamie married a black woman, who he later finds out knew, was raised with and quasi-loved Ariel. They're little bi-racial black baby (though, to be fair the girl looks more Hispanic than anything) is running around half-predicting the future for people. The priest is now currently married (though half-unwillingly) to a black nun, both of them realizing that they do have romantic feelings for each other and sex it up before returning to the Vatican where they wrestle with their faith and whether they should continue their calling or flounce their vows to be with each other before it all ends. The scientist guy is in love with his gay black White House general. Wanna guess what race Fischer's sick husband is? Well, he looks Middle Eastern, so... yeah. But he might be mixed with some Black, so you never know. But to jump ahead a little, Jamie's adoptive mom throws caution to the wind and marries his best friend, the funky-haired black guy. So yeah, the whole family has Jungle Fever, save for the rich old white lady.

I'm your daughter, daddy. 

Speaking of the old white lady, she happens to have a very rare blood disease and needs new blood from a family donor to stay alive. She also has a bunker ready for the apocalypse--well, would ya look at that. Ariel convinces her that his blood wouldn't be nearly as good for her as her great grandchild's the giraffe girl, as her blood is even younger and fresher. She agrees because she is just as evil as he is and she lets him go to find the little girl. His plan is not only to get the girl but his girlfriend/Jamie's wife back. As it turns out, he and the black woman were somewhat hooligans. 

He learned all sorts of criminal trickery and became a hacker to play a game on Jamie. Knowing he always had a twin and hearing how perfect Jamie was and how blessed he was and his importance made him super jealous, so much so that he set out to ruin the man's life in as many ways as possible. He hacked into his records to make sure he didn't get into any of the colleges he wanted, he made sure the man felt less than special at any turn. In his most devious plan, he sent his own girlfriend to go and seduce Jamie, make him fall in love, get married and then willfully disappear and break his heart. Problems arose when the girl actually did fall in love with him after realizing he was a good, honest person. When she discovered she got pregnant just after their wedding, she fled not because that was part of the game but because she didn't want to have her child used as a pawn. But Ariel still found her after that and kept her under his control for a while before she could escape with her daughter. Both Ariel and Jamie have been looking for her ever since, but she watches Jamie's videos-to-her every day with her daughter and tells her that Jamie is her father. My mind was blown after that.

Now, to start wrapping this up, as you can guess now as the show makes no secret about it during its repetitive starting scene, most of the family makes it into the bunker. From the time you learn that Jamie has a twin (twins running in the family) the question arises of who narrates the show from the bunker at the end. For me, it was kind of a giveaway the entire time, which actually made me a little upset, but I digress. Also, Rob Lowe's priest doesn't make it as he is murdered by other Vatican priests, but don't worry his now pregnant black nun wife gets in. Also, Fischer's sick husband plays hero as someone must close the bunker door from the outside, so he doesn't make it either. He was sick and dying anyway so it wasn't a great loss.

What is my grade? I will actually give this one a B+. I know, that seems very high doesn't it, especially for a show that I barely gave a damn about and only halfway paid attention to while watching. But I will qualify this rating by saying that it definitely isn't for everyone. Here's the thing: I grew up watching a few British comedy shows, so I understand and appreciate their sense of humor. I get it. The shows are also filmed differently over there and you can definitely tell, so you might have to adjust to that. It's like that weird too-real-for-life HD thing but it's not actually HD. Sometimes it can look like it's filmed on a personal family camcorder. And even I'll admit that it took me quite a while to start paying attention to this show in any meaningful way. But with that said, I enjoyed the acting performances from most of the Brits and Americans. A lot of the humor is more shake-your-head-worthy than LOL but you might still get a few good chuckles. But the plot does keep you on your toes and plays all the contrivances very tongue and cheek like most British humor. They know it's ridiculous and aren't ashamed of it, which is what makes it so fun. It's a love story about family and revenge... and the apocalypse. In this day and age of everyone talking about the end of the world, what more could you want?

Should you be watching? Well, that's the question, isn't it. Unlike Second Chance or The Family, I feel as if this series was far more of an event series than anything ready-made for a second go-around. I have trouble seeing it coming back for a second season and still maintaining all the wackiness that made the first season so enthralling. Yes, they can be trapped in the bunker while the world doesn't end or they could get out of the bunker during an apocalypse that actually isn't that bad, but I can't think of how they'd make it as entertaining, so I can't recommend you watch it in hopes of having a second season, especially since the ending can be interpreted somewhat as a cliffhanger. But if you watch it solely as an event series, a miniseries that told a nice little story and is contained in those ten episodes, you might enjoy it. You can find it currently on NBC OnDemand on most cable and satellite providers, as well as on NBC.com and probably on Hulu very soon. Just don't expect it to return to the airwaves anytime soon.

What do you think? Did you see You, Me and The Apocalypse? If so, what did you think? Was it funny with its British humor sensibilities or did you not like it as an American viewer? Or did you think the whole thing was contrived and cliche and you hated it? Or did you not see it at all? If not, do you think you'll take a look now? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend. #AhStalking

If you’re looking for a scare, check the YA novel #AFuriousWind, the NA novel #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  the bizarre horror #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic and adult, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out NOW exclusively on Amazon; season 2 coming this summer. If you like fast action/crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.

Until next time, "So, I had a revelation last night."

'Oh yeah?'

"Yep. God spoke to me."

'What'd he say?'

"He told me to stop being an ass about things."

'God knows his stuff.'

P.S. No, that doesn't just go for religious people. That goes for everybody. Chill out, people. Sometimes, it's not the end of the world if you don't get your way. Speaking of which, why am I not more popular by now? Get on that, people! I'll think of a better sign-off next time.

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Is It 1994 Again? Why The Hell Is Everybody So Obsessed With OJ? Postmortem Review: American Crime Story Season One #AmericanCrimeStory #PeoplevsOJSimpson #FX #Postmortem

Is It 1994 Again? Why The Hell Is Everybody So Obsessed With OJ? Postmortem Review: American Crime Story Season One #AmericanCrimeStory #ThePeoplevOJSimpson #FX #Postmortem

All pictures courtesy of FX unless otherwise noted

That's right, ladies and gentlemen. I'm back with yet another postmortem send-up of a show that I failed to do a 3 week roundup on. As said before but bears repeating, I was so busy earlier in the year that I was unable to get to do all of my reviews for all the many mid-season shows that premiered from January to February. I am trying to catch up as I finish a project (writing sequels is hard, dudes and dudettes) and have a one week lull before I start work on The Writer (#TheWriter) season 2. But before all of that summer craziness hits, lets look at one of the best shows of the winter mid-season addition, American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson (#ThePeoplev-OJSimpson).

The gossip-worthy, salacious tabloid fodder that captivated the world returned 22 years after first shifting the American paradigm of journalism, sensationalism and the modern celebrity. For those who lived through this news (which is probably most of the shows viewers) the chase, legal accusation and trial of OJ Simpson AKA The Juice man AKA Juice transcended categorical barriers that long tried to pin celebrities into being just one or two things. It called into question our nation's racial animosities and maturity on the subject of hate, prejudice and bigotry. It forced us to relive and review the police brutality and subsequent LA riots of two years prior. And it forced us more than ever to realize that our sports heroes, just like us, are not only human but exceptionally and uniquely flawed. Every issue that surfaced during the trial and divided people even more than Batman v. Superman has not only stayed relevant 22 years later, but has molded and formed our opinions on fame, sports, race and even politics still today. And it all started with two dead white people and a black guy who maybe did it.

Admittedly, this might be difficult to review because of the proximity of the actual trial having occurred in comparison with the show. At times, it'll feel as if I'm critiquing the trial more than the show, but trust that I am going purely on what the show has shown us. Also, realize that I am trying to keep any bias out of this on whether or not he actually committed such a crime. Honestly, I never really had an opinion about it, which sounds crazy but is nonetheless true. Again, I am just going by the show.

We begin with the show's advertising. The commercials started by showing people's backs. This, in turn, is how much of the first episode is spent, looking at people's backs as they ran to and fro gathering evidence. Starting with OJ leaving for his trip to New York, we jump immediately into the crime. A neighbor and his dog wanders onto Nicole Brown's property and finds her and the pizza guy both dead. I didn't pay all my attention to the case when it happened back in '94, but I can tell you that I always thought she was found dead inside the house and not outside on the stairs. I also thought that she was found closer to the back of the home rather than the front, but I could be wrong and it's neither here nor there.

Predominantly visual, it relies on little dialogue to communicate the drama, a pro-trick on the writers' behalfs to let crucial scenes speak for themselves without staking claim to either side. There is no confirmation nor denial of a possible police conspiracy to frame OJ, or if he did it. When the cops do come, they gather all the evidence and special care is taken to show things like the glove, the droplets of blood on the Bronco, the statue that OJ had in his yard, the familial feel to Nicole's home and the flashy nature of OJ's--all stark images that serve to conjure an emotional roller coaster. The Bronco was parked askew from the curb as if he had rushed to get home after possibly committing the murder. Kato Kaelin makes an appearance in OJ's pool house and plays closer to a doofus than the real actor might have liked (after that he virtually disappears from the narrative but that's forgivable). OJ is alerted that his ex-wife has been found dead and the most captivating image of the episode is shown: OJ, played by Cuba Gooding Jr., sitting with his back to the camera as he slumps forward just slightly and curls his shoulders and arms inward toward his chest. Even from the back it makes him look both vulnerable and as if he could be hiding something. Without the face, it's too hard to tell--a very smart aesthetic.

Cochran / OJ Simpson / Marcia Clark

From there, we are introduced to the real main players in this courtroom soap drama. While I will acknowledge that OJ plays a big role in earlier episodes, later it is mostly between the lawyer teams on either side, which reduces Cuba's role to a B-level player in my opinion. As an aside, I want to point out now how dissatisfied I am with the makeup and wardrobe department on their lack of artistic creativity taken in regards to Cuba Gooding Jr. To me, he doesn't look anything like the Juice nor does he do a good job of acting like him to me either. While his performance isn't bad, it reminds me more of the character that OJ played in the Naked Gun movies rather than the real OJ, or even worse... Cuba Gooding Jr. himself. This I cannot blame wholly on Cuba as in an interview he said that the directors and producers didn't want him to try mimicking OJ in a true-to-life performance, but rather wanted him to capture the emotion behind the character.

Judge Ito

Chris Darden

With that said, I think that everyone else on the show, from John Travolta's Shapiro, Sarah Paulson's Clark, Courtney B. Vance's Cochran, Kenneth Choi's Judge Ito or Sterling K. Brown's Darden, not only give award-winning performances but look the part, too. In fact, there were times when I literally saw Vance as Cochran in the previews and forgot that it wasn't actually Cochran. He is convincing in manner and tone and is the best part of the series, with Paulson's Marcia Clark pulling in right close behind him.

To backtrack, for those that don't know the breakdown of the case or series. OJ is suspected of killing Nicole Brown Simpson, his ex, and her suspected new lover before fleeing back to his house and eventually across country. While evidence is gathered in the first episode, one of the LA county prosecutors Marcia Clark is given point on the case before they even have a legitimate suspect. They pull OJ in for questioning for formality sake. The questioning goes... strangely to say the least. He tries both to be charming and simple, while being evasive and innocent. Pre-arrest, public chatter starts about who did it and if Juice is a possible suspect, already dividing the country into two distinct camps. Fearing something bad, OJ seeks comfort from his family and friends, one of them being the now famed Robert Kardashian Sr. (I'm guessing he's the senior. Don't know how many of them there are). A past lawyer, he hasn't practiced law in a long time and even when he did, he didn't practice any kind of criminal law. He and Juice both know of another good lawyer for OJ as a precaution.

Meanwhile, Cochran is doing a lot of work both on TV and in the courtroom. After just returning to the county's office, he and his old, uh... let's say friendly rival/nemesis Chris Darden discuss the influence of race in their jobs. Cochran is a private attorney and Darden will be working for the DA's office. Cochran tells him to keep his wits about him because like it or not he is playing a game in which his blackness is something that will never go away, nor be ignored, and may actually be manipulated. So long as he is the one manipulating it, he should be fine, rather than playing an uncle Tom to "these white people."

Then comes the actual arrest warrant. To the DA's and police offices' credit, they try to keep OJ's arrest low-key by having him turn himself in by noon on June 17, 1994. In a dramatic twist that has been damned as patently false by many of the people involved, the scene plays out with OJ writing a slew of suicide letters to his family, friends and fans, before threatening to blow his brains out in Kim Kardashian's childhood bedroom in Robert's mansion (note: At this point in time, Robert and Kris have been separated and divorced for some time). The kids are with their mother, but it still drives home the heart-pounding drama of the day. After a doctor checkup deemed necessary by John Travolta's Shapiro, OJ decides to run instead of go to the station. His reason: He just wants to visit his momma before he goes to jail and/or possibly dies. And this is what leads to the infamous white Bronco chase.

Interestingly, what some may have forgotten (I know I did) was that he was neither driving the slow-moving vehicle, nor was the white Bronco his. The Bronco in question belonged to his best friend who was such a Stan for him that he bought an identical Bronco to OJ's because, you know... friendship.

And here gave birth to the 24hr news cycle, especially influenced by celebrity. While, yes, there were news channels that already existed and tried to report the news all day, most of them did not get anywhere near the ratings they get today as most people didn't care to hear nothing but bad news (all news is generally bad) all day. Also, because of fledgling ratings, many of them didn't stay on 24hrs with news programming, often filling the late and early morning hours with paid programming infomercials. CNN had only started in 1980 and still took over a dozen years to live up to its revolutionary label, earned by showing this breaking news over countless hours as every station preempted their programming to show the biggest and craziest sports story ever. A few years ago, ESPN, in their wonderful 30 for 30 series, documented this one day in history. A total of six (if I remember correctly. You can check me on that) front page news stories happened that day including the NBA Finals, and a huge LA earthquake, but this led everything, and ended with a standoff in his driveway with the police. From then on, the court of public opinion was set: you either knew that OJ did it, that he killed that young and beautiful white woman; or you thought he was an innocent man being railroaded by the system. And after looking at the amount of police time and dollars wasted on pursuing him through the empty highways of SoCal, anyone could be inclined to believe the latter.

And then things dig in. As an aside and shameless plug (hey, it's my blog. I should be able to plug whatever I want), my novel A Negotiation of Wounds follows the vitriolic, poisonous and corrosive manipulation and power that public opinion has on celebrity's lives. In my book, two high-powered LA lawyers try negotiating through a contentious divorce between a former model and her movie producer husband. They sink to new lows that rival Amazing Amy from Gone Girl and the characters from War of the Roses just to get their clients the settlement they want. The pressure to stay perfect in the public's eye can make you accept a lot more than you otherwise would.

Back to the show, I mention my book (#NegotiateWounds; A Negotiation of Sorrows out soon) because the show plays heavily into the narrative the different sides build around the OJ case. The fame-whoring but smart lawyer that Shapiro is, he begins to build a team for OJ that includes the recently bar-re-instated Robert Kardashian, Shapiro's mentor F. Lee Bailey and a few others. It isn't until a few episodes in when Cochran and his team are finally added as the last pieces, and this only happens when they realize the kind of jury they could possibly get and the fact that Cochran is better at dealing with a more "urban, downtown" audience. Plus, Cochran wins and is able to control a narrative most effectively. He's the showboat that they need to get the black vote, basically, as OJ is whiter than Casper outside of skin tone.

On the defense's side, Marcia pairs with senior attorney Bill Hodgman, and adds Chris Darden later in the trial after Hodgman has an unexpected in-court breakdown. For some reason Darden at first seems not to realize that they have him on the case as the token black guy. He quickly realizes just how much of a shiny Sambo he is when they don't listen to him on countless things and assign him the job of crossing their most feared but "important" expert witness, the extremely racist cop Detective Mark Fuhrman--one of the investigators on the night of. I have to mention that Steven Pasquale in the role of Fuhrman I thought was quite good. Remembering him from his days on Rescue Me, I am glad to see he still has a working relationship with the execs at FX and hope to see him on future American Crime Story installments.

Anyway, this show has tension coming from every nook and cranny, whether it be between the two teams or in-fighting amongst the teams, it's there. Darden argues they shouldn't put Fuhrman on the stand because he's racist. Cochran argues that they shouldn't settle and that even if Shapiro stays on as lead attorney, Cochran should be the one doing much of the talking and not Shapiro. Clark thinks that she has an open and shut, slam dunk, close the book 'cause it ain't no mo' words to read easy case. Neither side has any other suspect to consider nor do they look for one. Instead, they twist what they got.

A wrinkle that comes into the case later-on is that the Japanese judge, Lance Ito is married to an LAPD officer who happens to be a superior over Fuhrman, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. This, they both know, will be the biggest case of his life; career-defining. And so the stage is set.

A battle of perception and presumption, everything is called into question. Marcia Clark, despite her best behavior, is seen as having little appeal as a female and as a lawyer. Words like: bitch, cold and unlikable carelessly fly around in focus groups and the media. She undergoes two haircuts and starts to play the game of smiling more to look softer, more feminine.

Lest ye think this is solely a game that is enforced on women, think again. Not only does race, racial equality and racial police profiling factor heavily into this trial, but Darden and Cochran unabashedly go after each other in comparing and contrasting their blackness. Darden is seen as a coon for the prosecution, jumping, dancing and cracking-wise whenever his white lady boss orders it. "Yessa, Massa, I'll put the racist white cop on the stand. I's talk to him real nice like, too." Of course this backfires in two ways: not only does Fuhrman prove kryptonite for their case later in the process, but because Darden hasn't been listened to, he takes initiative on his own (slyly prodded by F. Lee Bailey) to make OJ do the infamous glove fitting. Face. Palm! Face. Palm! This comes after Marcia tells him not to do that. In this way, the show displays a very unique perspective on interracial relations between different sexes, too. The oppressed white woman still won't listen to or take advice from the black man, just as he grows fed up with the same old oppression and rhetoric that pushes him into society's corner in the first place. Both are supposedly second class, yet neither listen, and still within that paradigm, they show a great deal of sexual chemistry toward each other. And while the show never makes the footprint in the sand, they do heavily hint that Darden and Clark have a bedroom relationship of some sort, but just as in real life, this is neither confirmed nor denied. Looking back now, I wonder if the producers intended this to be a microcosm of OJ and Nicole's relationship? Hm?

Speaking of race as a broader topic, the series speaks from the voice of the race issue quite similar to how most people saw it during the time. Be not fooled, while there were plenty of other scale-tipping narratives to follow, be it celebrity vs. normal person, spouse vs. spouse, man vs. woman, or even abuser vs. victim, all of which the show touches, there is no bigger card played than that on race, the story of whether or not this big black man could kill this little, innocent white woman. And it is for this specific reason that the show is perfectly timed in the American conscience and pop culture.

To do another plug of one of my books The Provocateur, in it the titular character is quick to point out that change is somewhat of an illusion. Nothing really changes or progresses, but rather, we are all in a loop which we choose not to see. Everything is cyclical. It is only our current levels of intellect that allow us to placate ourselves in the illusion that things have progressed from one level to the next. There is no greater example of this than this show about a country-dividing legal case that happened 22 years ago that, outside of costumes and other fad styles (soon to make their own comebacks) is not only relevant but could literally play out the exact same today and nobody would find it shocking and it would still have the same effect. In fact, when considering what Ryan Murphy and the other creators have said of the show and how they want to base each season on a new crime (not necessarily always a courtroom drama, however) the case most similar to this that comes to mind quickly is the Trayvon Martin case. Majority Blacks may side one way, and whites another. Just as the Provocateur emphasizes, what we see as change has roots wholly in perception. Twenty-two years ago they argued about the dangers of a black man in a world in which he seemingly doesn't belong--a rich, gated community/higher society--and they do the same thing today. There is the bias of cops, black or white, against brown and black-skinned people, which plenty of people are quick to say is none existent or in our past. The Provocateur argues that somehow even the most liberal and educated of us all tend to forget the things of the past, or of the distant past in favor of the most recent suffering.

So while we are quick to push a post-racial or progressed America, we can't forget that we still have an entire generation of Baby Boomers who were born into racial and political turmoil that saw people killed and treated like animals mere 50 years ago. Or that we were quick to divide down a racial line a mere 22 years ago when assessing whether a black man killed his white ex-wife or not. Because for all the progress we've supposedly made, it's similar to a line said on one of my other shows, Rosewood, recently (and I paraphrase): A black man killing an Amber can get life or even the death penalty, but turn Amber into Shanique-Diamond and he might be able to get 5-8 years in the pen.

Be not chastised by those comments as this show is brilliantly written and even better acted. Even considering the overall insanity of the case itself, the show serves to ratchet up the drama to new heights one might have thought impossible in '94 and '95. The very definition of riveting, American Crime Story, you are. It is funny when levity is needed, hits all the proper sentimental and quiet beats, and actually makes you feel as if you finally have been welcomed into the inner-working of what went on during that landmark trial. And best (or worst) of all, it reminds us of just how dominated by the trial and the events surrounding this murder that today's pop culture still is. Faye Resnick, Nicole Brown's best friend at the time, still makes the occasional guest appearance on Bravo's Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. CNN's coverage and other networks' news coverage spawned the media news cycle we see today (Fox News was birthed in '96). We are more obsessed with the culture of celebrity than we've ever been before and want to know not just the trouble are favorite stars get into, but the run-up that led to such a downfall.

Even networks like ESPN and NBCSports find time between their wall-to-wall sports coverage to talk ad nauseam about domestic violence allegations of the biggest male athletes, their home stories, their rises and falls off the court, and pass judgment on whether they should be commended for being an elite player in their profession because of what they may or may not have done. Most of all--and I'm gonna get flack for this, but I don't give a damn--it reminds us that the biggest reality star(s) currently in the public eye The Kardashians, are not famous because of their own talent. But nor are they famous because Kim released some sex tape years ago involving a current B-list R&B singer (I say that even being a Ray J fan; swag swag!). No, she is famous because a young white woman who died younger than she ever will, was violently murdered possibly by her ex-husband... and her father potentially helped to clear a possible murderer of the charges. Brings a whole new morbid meaning to dying for fame, no?

David Schwimmer as Robert Kardashian / John Travolta as Robert Shapiro

My grade? You really haven't been paying attention? It's clearly an A. Any series that can give me anticipatory chills about how it'll end when I've known the ending for a full score of years already has to get an A. They based their view of the series off of a book, which I'm going to hope also is just as riveting. This is quite possibly both Sarah Paulson's and Courtney B. Vance's finest performances after years spent in Hollywood and acting. Most importantly, while it seeks to entertain it never loses sight of the most important thing in all of this circus: Two lives were extinguished far before their time. It ends the season on the two best images of the deceased. RIP.

Nicole Brown / Ronald Goldman

Should you be watching? Of course. Catch this on FX OnDemand on most of your cable and satellite providers or you can buy the DVD and they should also have it soon on other broadband distributions. It is a one season, contained story and the start to a new anthology series like American Horror Story. With that said, remember that each show's tone is different. Don't expect this to play like Mr. Robot, Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones. It's captivating in its own unique way. Also, don't confuse this with ABC's American Crime. While they may deal with similar issues at times, it's vastly different. Expect the two shows to compete against each other come award season.

What do you think? If you didn't watch the show, why? Could you just not muster a single damn to care anymore about OJ? Or did it interest you but you didn't know when it was on so you didn't watch? If you did watch, how did you feel about the show? Did they get right the things you wanted them to get right? What about the added-in drama in certain instances? Just because the glove didn't fit, did they really have to acquit? With that said, and since this is a show that seems to want to stick with following true crimes, what real crime case would you want them to cover next that has happened in America? Trayvon Martin, Laci Peterson, Amanda Knox, Jonbenet Ramsey or something else, maybe older? With NBC already having Aquarius which chronicles the Manson family case, and having just greenlit an anthology on the Menendez brothers, I doubt they'll do either of those but maybe. What crime interest you? Let me know in the comments below (hint: click the no comments button if you see no comments).

Check out my new 5-star comedy novel, Yep, I'm Totally Stalking My Ex-Boyfriend. #AhStalking

If you’re looking for a scare, check the YA novel #AFuriousWind, the NA novel #DARKER, #BrandNewHome or  the bizarre horror #ThePowerOfTen. For those interested in something a little more dramatic and adult, check out #TheWriter. The full first season is out NOW exclusively on Amazon; season 2 coming this summer. If you like fast action/crime check out #ADangerousLow. The sequel A New Low will be out in a few months. Join us on Goodreads to talk about books and TV, and subscribe to and follow my blog with that Google+ button to the right.

Until next time, "Dudes better come correct wit' dey mustaches, man. It's flagrant disrespect to come 'round here with a little bitty ol' pencil thin 'stache. If the 'stache ain't thick, you get beat wit' a stick."

P.S. OK, that has got to be the stupidest sign-off I've ever written. What the hell was that? To be fair, I did fall in love with Johnny's mustache. Y'all realize that Steve Harvey got the Johnny Cochran right now? Craziness. See, I told you... still a modern-day influence 22 years later. I'll think of something better next time.

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