Television networks return to old obsession with Simpson
NEW YORK — Television networks returned to the scene of an old obsession by casting aside regular daytime programming Thursday to cover O.J. Simpson’s parole hearing in Nevada on an armed robbery conviction.
When Simpson put down his head, raised it with a smile and said “thank you” after he was granted freedom following nine years in prison, comparisons to his acquittal for the 1994 murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman proved irresistible for many watching.
NBC’s Lester Holt said it was “a reaction not unlike one we saw in a Los Angeles courtroom in 1995.”
ABC, CBS and NBC, news networks CNN, Fox News Channel, HLN and MSNBC, and even ESPN and CNBC showed the parole board hearing live. For the broadcasters, it meant pausing soap operas and talk shows. For the news networks, it meant a brief respite from coverage of President Donald Trump. All were chasing the ratings achieved by the long-running coverage of Simpson’s murder trial more than two decades ago.