On Tuesday’s episode of Ryan Murphy’s The People Vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, one of George Carlin’s “7 Dirty Words” was spoken – which marks a first for prime time television. Sarah Paulson, playing a scarily accurate Marcia Clark, upon learning that high-powered attorney Johnnie Cochran was joining the Juice’s legal “dream team”, said, “Cochran…motherf—er.” Of course, the Internet lost it’s damn mind. FX is home to some pretty crude comedies, including It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and You’re the Worst, and I’m kind of surprised that the word hasn’t been said before.
Since cable networks aren’t regulated by the FCC (like the big networks), they can pretty much do what they want. Comedy Central did beat FX in airing the f-word, as it runs unedited stand-up specials after 1:00 a.m. It’s not that the show needed any shock value to draw an audience, it’s a hit. Of course, there is one person who isn’t very fond of the show.
Also on this past week’s episode, we got to see the kiddie versions of the E! network’s bread and butter – the Kardashian clan. If the show is to be believed, we have a hostess at an L.A. restaurant to blame for the Kardashians becoming a “thing.” In the opening scene of this past week’s episode, family patriarch Robert (played by David Schwimmer, who is surprisingly good, especially because I never liked Ross on Friends) takes his kids out for Sunday brunch at a crowded L.A. hot spot. When he approaches the hostess stand, he’s recognized as “that O.J. guy” and his family immediately get a table. After they’re seated, Robert hits the kids with this piece of knowledge, “We are Kardashians. And in this family, being a good person and being a loyal friend is more important than being famous. Fame is fleeting. It’s hollow. And it means nothing without a virtuous heart.”
I feel like People vs. O.J. is doing a little too much “shoehorning” of the Kardashian family into the proceedings, it’s really my only criticism. Otherwise it’s a great show, especially considering that we all know how the story ends. The casting is incredibly spot-on and I am still hoping John Travolta’s eyebrows get special recognition at next year’s Emmys.
Photo credit: FX, Fame Flynet, WENN
I hate that the Kardashian’s are in this as well, but I believe Ryan Murphy is throwing major shade at them so I kind of like it too!
That’s what detracts from it to me, that Murphy and co are doing the whole wink-wink, nod-nod in reference to the Kardashians.
I think that is the first time I have heard the f-word on regular tv. As an aside, it is really lame the way they keep putting the Kardashians on.
Haven’t watched yet. Sarah may play Marcia accurately but looks nothing like her, bad wig for the worse hair poor Marcia had. I’ve seen all the footage on that trial and by the end Marcia looked like death warmed over. Those words from Robert K. seem accurate…too bad the little Kardashians didn’t listen more closely to the fame is fleeting and hollow part. Seems if accurate, he had scruples which is why he and Kris probably divorced.
After seeing the AHS Hotel episode where Evan Peter’s character is having sex with a dead girl while still slashing her up, mother-f doesn’t bother me at all.
I know. Seriously? Nobody says a word about that and motherfvcker gets attention?
That swearing and nudity are off limits but what you just described is OK shows how f’ed up the system is. And it’s not just cable, all those crime procedural shows on the major networks are extremely violent and graphic.
I am shocked at how well done this series is, and how much I love Travolta as Shapiro and Schwimmer as Kardashian, and Paulson is a total star. But yeah, the Kardashian kids are totally shoehorned in.
Same here. Why do I think this show is pretty great? And Courtney B Vance as Cochran? Stellar! The Darden guy is totally believable too.
-TheRealPinky
Yeah – too much Kardashian kiddies interjected into the show, but I do enjoy the major shade a bit.
BUT
I don’t agree on the Ross character.
Ross will always be my favorite from Friends.
Schwimmer nailed that character’s quirky nerd – he made Ross so endearing.
Yeah I loved him as Ross, remember that scene where he flipped out on his boss for eating his “moistmaker sandwich” lolz.
Me too Bella….my daughter watches Friends after school and Ross cracks me. He bruises like a peach! Chandler was a hoot too, they all were. I like it better now at thirty something than I did back then…..@Murphy, that episode was just on this week. YOU ATE MY SANDWICH…..lol, had to be tranquilized for anger management. Courteney was the only friend not to be nominated or get an Emmy. She was very funny, oh well……
Schwimmer is just plain a good actor, but that often gets overlooked because he is so strongly associated with Ross. And I liked Ross as well. Who could forget the leather pants episode? Or the tanning booth? Or the super whitened teeth? 🙂
PIVOT! PIVOT!
Ross was always my least favorite in the original run of the series, but when I rewatched it on Netflix a while back, I think he cracked me up the most.
Agree 100%. Love the episode when he gets the spray tan! Lol.
I like Ross in the later seasons, but that character was so mopey and pathetic in the first few seasons. Not to mention weird and controlling in his relationship with Rachel. When they started making fun of what a sadsack he was the character improved greatly.
Chandler will always be my favourite though.
I really wish they would have used Schwimmer’s real hair. Everyone else has such good, spot-on hair (I particularly liked Selma Blair’s mid-90’s Kris Jenner hair), its unfortunate that his looks just too fake. Like you said–even Sara Paulson owns her look, her hair makes it-but Schwimmer’s just makes him look redic.
Paulson is going to win all the awards next year. She’s delivering a great performance.
Clark is such an impressive woman. I’d love to just hang with her, maybe have a drink or two.
And I read somewhere that Sara Paulson should start making room on her mantle for all the awards she’s going to win for her performance–cannot agree more.
The Kardashians, other than their father, had NOTHING to do with OJ’s trial yet they keep getting spotlighted on the show. They are trying so hard to get younger viewers interested. They need to know the Kardashians are not as popular as they once were. No one cares. The younger kids are all into Kylie now anyways. Ughh to all of it.
Disagree on Schwimmer. He was arguably not only the best actor of all the “Friends,” but always, ALWAYS put forth 100 percent effort. The guy never mailed in a performance and still doesn’t.
I’d say blaming the hostesses at the restaurant for their fame is a bit of an over-reach , lol.
I’m confused because I JUST watched last weeks episode this week – the bronco episode – and they definitely said the word f*^k in that episode once. My husband and I even said to each other that we didn’t know they were allowed to say that on FX. I think it was AC that said it during the chase. I also hate that focus on the Kardashians. I think he is definitely shading them, but to them all they see is it makes them more famous.
This show is well done but I don’t care much for Cuba, I met him once and he was decent but I don’t care for him as an actor. As a person I think he’s a fake.
I hate that the Kardashians are in this show as well. That and Ryan Murphy doesn’t get to finger wag about famewhoring when he’s dedicated multiple portions of his shows to people just because they were famous. Nope. Not after Gaga’s run on AHS: Hotel, NPH’s run on Freak Show, Adam Levine on Asylum, or Gwyneth Paltrow on Glee.
I was just a kid, living in EU so I never got the jist on this case apart from it being global. Watching this I must say it’s done well, and actors are all great. What I’m interested the most in is Clark’s story, especially since right at the beginning she gets reminded how she needs a “cool-headed” associate, since she’s so emotionaly involved. Being a woman and all. Amazing how slow things change. Made me want to puke more than the murder itself. Sorry for the spelling.
I think it’s even worse than that – because I read an interviewer with her where she disputed that. She said she actually sought that guy out for help, not that they forced him on her. Why did they need to present it that way when it’s not true other than to make her look bad?
Sarah Paulson was that creepy sister in 12 Years a Slave.
Marcia Clark had curly, but very frizzy, hair. Very bad hair, indeed. The wig that Paulson wears is its own kind of bad. I don’t understand the casting of Gooding, Jr. as OJ. Murderer or not, OJ was a handsome man so the casting could have been better … like, maybe, Joseph Feines (sp?) …
While watching it we were actually laughing, wondering if they made this movie all sorts of wrong, and funny, on purpose?
We all know how this ends but it really is a train wreck on all sorts of levels. At this point we’re watching for the hilariousness of it.
“Uncle Juice” … LOL
I enjoy watching the show for the story..but the acting? Terrible! I have caught myself laughing out loud so many times for how terribly these actors are trying.
I think the reason they are reaching out a little more about the Kardashians is that they are showing that no one knew or cared about them until Robert was part of this case. Even though I like Selma Blair I don’t really like her in the part of Kris, I feel like she looks too young to play her. She looks like someone playing dress up for Halloween. The show is really well written and I think the casting is really good. On a funnier note years ago before Cochran died his law firm in Alabama ran a local ad saying “We don’t care if you’re OJ Simpson if you use a gun to commit a murder we can’t help you”