OJ Unseen: Who are we really dealing with

The crime
The 1994 murders of Nicole Brown and Ronald Goldman in Los Angeles, and a 2007 hotel-room robbery in Las Vegas, by OJ Simpson.

The story
OJ Unseen: Exploitation of Evil is one of those Investigation Discovery properties that gets so so frustratingly close to breaking entirely out of what you’d expect from a filler-y four-part docuseries on that network, and though it doesn’t quite get there, it’s worth a look.

The filler-y four-part-itude is an issue. OJ Unseen consists of never-before-seen footage and interviews from the oft-referenced but functionally unavailable Simpson prank-show vehicle Juiced from the mid-aughts, and then analysis of Juiced: how it felt to make it; what its making said about Simpson, and about the culture. Its runtime is around 170 minutes total, and as is usually true of these properties, OJ Unseen could easily have brought itself in as a 110-minute feature by cutting repeated footage we’ve already seen at least twice; recaps and rephrasings of previous episodes; and interview “gets” that don’t really go anywhere. 

More on that last in a moment, but the primary problem with OJ Unseen isn’t the per se runtime; it’s what I think director Rebecca Halpern (Love Charlie; American Greed) is trying to do within it, namely: too much. The series makes a lot of good choices, but it also has things it wants to say about the cult of celebrity and the prisons that myths build. It’s much more effective when it stands back from its exclusive footage and unique perspectives, and lets viewers draw the meta conclusions ourselves.

OJ Unseen does get impressive access; in addition to Juiced director Todd Lewis and creator Rick “PhD In Chaos” Mahr, the series sits Jemele Hill and Scaachi Koul for interviews, as well as a couple familiar faces from OJ: Made In America (Robin Greer, Ron Shipp), and longtime Simpson girlfriend Christie Prody. But Prody’s who I have in mind when I say that not every “get” gets anything of substance, because it seems like her only aim in participating is to walk back previous claims that Simpson abused and controlled her. 

Simpson’s narcissism, his inability to distinguish between regard and notoriety (or disinterest in doing so), is well understood. Simpson’s incomparable personal and physical charisma, that ability accumulated over an adult lifetime of fame and achievement to bend all light and air towards himself, is also duly stipulated. It’s when OJ Unseen shows us how that worked, or didn’t, in an environment that purposefully conflated infamy and “entertainment product” that the series is effective, even significant.

A functionally entrapped back-up dancer, Melissa, sighs in an interview about Simpson that “this is not a safe person” while, onscreen, another dancer is getting hit on by Simpson and scans desperately for the exits. Simpson guzzles from a beer bottle in a strangely infantile manner, then attempts to perform avuncular warmth, but his eyes remain glazed. When a “gag” is not working – which is usually; “ruckus” content is almost entirely about fooling or frightening marks, not humor – Simpson can never resist breaking character; he craves recognition, but only on his own terms. 

Near the end of OJ Unseen, Scaachi Koul acidly notes that Simpson didn’t see the best route post-trial: to go away and let us miss him. What OJ Unseen does illustrate well, albeit taking too long and telling instead of showing too often, is that the prospect of disappearing – from Nicole Brown’s esteem; from the public eye – will send a narcissist into a fearful rage spiral. What the doc doesn’t need to do is project that idea wider onto what it means for American culture. We know what it means; it’s sleeping off a Truth Social tantrum in the Oval as we speak.

OJ Unseen: Exploitation of Evil

Recommendation: TRY IT (at 1.25x, perhaps)

The case in favor:

• Exclusive footage and solid access
• Watchable subject/s, trainwreckish though they may be
• Avoids getting bogged down in 1994-5 trial minutiae

The case against:

• Too long by a third; could have made its points more effectually as a two-hour feature
• Too much telling vs. showing
• If you remember this section of the last ep of OJ: MIA, you probably got the gist already