I was wrong about The Life & Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson
the true crime that's worth your time
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The crime
The June 12, 1994 murder of Nicole Brown Simpson (and Ronald Goldman).
The story
It's possible that my positive opinion of The Life & Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, which premiered its first half on Lifetime last night, stems from ankle-high expectations that the property could only ever exceed. Here's my response to the announcement about the series a month ago:
It's not that I won't watch/cover it and it's not that I don't think we should center Nicole (and Ron Goldman) in case coverage -- obviously. But between the timing of it and the superfluity of it as well (You're Wrong About, OJ: Made In America, Sheila Weller's book, I could go on), this feels a bit icky.
SDB in the Best Evidence news carousel, 5/2/24
I stand by that take, which was the most sensible reaction given the information available at the time – but I'm not unhappy to walk it back, either. The Life isn't a must-watch, for those of you who Simply Can't with anything OJ anymore, but it does bring new things to the conversation.
Granted, it brings a bunch of old things, too. The problem with the case is, and has always been, the dark star of OJ Simpson himself bending all the narrative light towards him and away from the victims, partly because, to put it bluntly, he survived and they didn't; and because he had household-name fame of decades' standing, and their name recognition proceeded from him having killed them (and…from him specifically having killed them); and, in Nicole's case, because she met OJ at age 18 and he promptly and thoroughly dominated her story right up until he ended it, and beyond.
All that, and the undeniable magnetism of OJ, makes it very challenging to push him into the background of a Nicole biopic, even with the best intentions. I said this about OJ: Made in America when it came out and it's true of The Life too, that basically OJ's charisma is how we got here and why we can't leave.
To its credit, The Life feels like it understands the infeasibility of cutting OJ out of the picture entirely. The doc is
produced by Bunim/Murray Productions for Lifetime and hails from the teams behind Lifetime’s acclaimed documentaries, with Jesse Daniels (Surviving R. Kelly), Melissa Moore (The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard), Rit Saraswat (Surviving R. Kelly: Part II), Brie Miranda Bryant (Where is Wendy Williams?, Janet Jackson, Surviving R. Kelly), Kim Chessler (Dance Moms) and Julie Pizzi (Vanderpump Villa) as executive producers.
That collective c.v. knows how to structure non-fiction, and is probably realistic about the watchability balance it needs to strike between somber testimony and glittery gossip and b-roll; The Life feels well proportioned in that way.
It also boasts extremely impressive access – all three of Nicole's sisters; OJ's first wife Marguerite's sister, Veterdata Jones; Kato Kaelin; Kris Jenner; Lawrence Schiller; Faye Resnick – which adds perspectives we haven't heard a hundred times, from people who feel less rehearsed than some case commentators have started to. Schiller sighs after recalling a police visit to the street his family and the Simpsons shared in a beach community, "Sometimes the aftermath of an event is more telling than the event itself." Jones remembers that, even as a child, she could tell that OJ's "fame had created someone else." Kaelin says that Sydney and Justin Simpson would hide out in his room during their parents' arguments. I hadn't heard these memories from these people before, and I had seen some of the video – everyone alive has, by now – but a lot of it is exclusive from the family and friends, much more than I expected.
Variety's Addie Morfoot did an interesting interview with Denise, Tanya, and Dominique Brown about the project, which started out with Sydney and Justin more involved; the sisters talk about how the series evolved, their initial reluctance to include Resnick, and more. That conversation might give you a better sense of The Life and what it's trying to do, which I think is to finish or publish a story that got cut short. Even without that context, though, The Life is a compelling and informative tribute to Nicole. Give it a look.