Finally, an answer to the question, “Is there anything Fox won’t do for ratings?” On Monday the network canceled the book and TV sweeps stunt calculated to pander to the basest instincts of the American public, “O.J. Simpson: If I Did It, Here’s How It Happened.”
If They’d Done It, Here’s How They Would Have Been Sued.
If I’d Watched It, Here’s Where You Should’ve Slapped Me.
The exploitation for financial gain of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman is inexcusable by any normal standard. Fox, of course, came late to the idea of standards at all.
The cynical decision to air two nights of interviews with O.J. Simpson about how he would have killed Nicole Simpson and Goldman was strictly about money. Simpson needed the cash; Fox needed the ratings. The American TV audience would have been left to foot the emotional and psychological bill.
Similarly, the decision not to air the spectacle is less the result of an attack of conscience than another calculated play with an eye on the bottom line. Incurring that much ill will, at a time when the network lags in fourth place, just wasn’t worth it.
Following the worldwide condemnation of the planned broadcast, major advertisers were reported unwilling to be associated with the special, which could have left them open to viewer boycotts. If the program were broadcast commercial-free, Nielsen would not have counted it, erasing any sweeps period spike the network might have enjoyed.
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the appetite of the primetime television audience. Historically Fox has extended that maxim, fueling the worst appetites and lowering the bar of what’s acceptable.
Yet even Fox affiliates around the country refused to carry the Simpson program. (KDVR-Channel 31 in Denver, like other Fox-owned stations, would have had no choice in whether to air the network’s programming.)
Beyond bad publicity-shock-value buzz has always been part of Fox’s game plan-the Simpson special proved a tough sell to advertisers. Ultimately, that’s the more honest explanation for why the network backed down.
The network that gave us “World’s Scariest Police Chases,” “When Animals Attack,” “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire,” “Married By America” and other air pollution is in its annual fall slump, post-World Series. While Fox waits for “American Idol” and “24” to turn things around in January, Rupert Murdoch wisely asserted damage control.
The network will no doubt find another way to revive its fortunes, perhaps piggybacking on the next revolting book deal from ReganBooks, a division of Harper Collins, owned by Murdoch’s News Corp. Fox shamelessly threw in with bad-girl publisher Judith Regan on this deal. (Jenna Jameson’s “How to Make Love Like a Porn Star” is one of Regan’s recent best sellers.) Maybe she’ll have another brainstorm.
The Brown and Goldman families registered shock over the planned telecast. Fred Goldman called it “morally reprehensible.” So did competing network executives, who went on to predict the broadcast would have scored huge numbers for Fox.
In one published report, television analyst Shari Anne Brill predicted public interest would rival that of the 2003 interview with Michael Jackson, seen by 27 million people.
An NBC spokeswoman said the network was pitched the Simpson interview but declined. ABC’s Barbara Walters did the same.
Goldman suggested, in talking with ABC News, that Fox’s next move might as well be to televise a murder and make a series out of it. Don’t give them any ideas.
Whether or not viewers bought the “If” in the title, many of those who lived through the televised 1994 Bronco chase and celebrity trial were bound to tune in.
The former football star was acquitted in criminal court, then found responsible in civil court for the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Goldman. At this point, Simpson can look directly into the camera, say he killed them, slap a disclaimer on the screen – it’s all “hypothetical!” – and laugh all the way to the bank. In theory, prosecutors could go after him again; legal experts say that’s unlikely.
Fox has been accused of pandering before. The network regularly brags about delivering “edgy,” i.e., questionable, material to an audience that seemingly has no compunction about watching.
But this stunt would have gone beyond cops-gone-wild and animals-amok videos. Fox won’t confirm whether dramatic re-creations of the crime were part of the broadcast, but this is a step away from “reality” or candid camera entertainment and closer to a snuff film.
How low was it? Even Fox News stars Geraldo Rivera and Bill O’Reilly were on record denouncing the idea.
Now Fox gets to take credit for doing the right thing by not doing the wrong thing. In television terms, that’s a triumph. In human terms, the whole misadventure is appalling.
TV critic Joanne Ostrow can be reached at 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com.
