History Series / ThePeopleVOJSimpson

** As they watch their father read O.J.'s suicide note on the air, the Kardashian kids are more fixated on the fact that the reporters can't spell their last name than on the fact that a man they've known as their honorary uncle might be planning to kill himself.

* RageBreakingPoint: When the question on whether or not to release the Fuhrman tapes to the public comes up Darden finally snaps, calling out the defense for turning the trial into a media circus, even almost assaulting them, and Ito for allowing them to do it. Clark backs him up and they both dare Ito to charge them with contempt. Luckily, Darden calms down enough to offer an apology to avoid being arrested.
* RealPersonEpilogue: Ends with a montage of photos of the real-life players in the O.J. Simpson case and their fates after the trial.

* RunningGag: Nobody knows how to spell/pronounce "Kardashian". '''Yet.'''

** Darden gathers his things and [[TranquilFury wordlessly]] storms off before Fuhrman takes the stand a second time, surprising everyone.

** When a female juror is discovered to have once been the victim of domestic abuse years before, Clark wants her dismissed. Bailey tries to argue that in 1988, when the crime took place, a husband legally couldn't be found to have raped his wife. Even Ito just stares at him in utter disbelief and disgust.

** The families of Nicole and Ron thoroughly believe O.J. was guilty and received no justice for the murder of their loved ones (though in the latter case, the Goldmans are seen thinking about pursuing additional criminal action, a nod to the eventual civil trial that would take place later in which O.J. got the pants sued off of him by the Goldmans and owed $33.5 million).

** Domestic abuse, while seen as a troubling, isn't taken as seriously as it is today, even by nice characters like Robert. Part of the plot centers around how no one seriously questioned O.J.'s mistreatment of Nicole, and Bailey brings up how spousal rape wasn't a crime in 1988.

** Judge Ito's reaction when he was told the jury reached a verdict after just ''four hours'' of deliberation.

** O.J. himself too. He gets acquitted of murder, but is ConvictedByPublicOpinion and all of his friends abandon him afterward, including his best friend Robert. The title cards before the credits mention his civil trial with the Goldmans (which left him bankrupt), and his robbery/kidnapping trial in 2007 after that (which actually got him 33 years in prison).

* MeaningfulName: Mark ''Fuhr''man, secret racist and collector of "UsefulNotes/WorldWarII [[ThoseWackyNazis memorabilia]]". It was invoked at one point by Clark, who points out that Fuhrman's initials are "[[MotherFBomb MF]]".

** O.J. himself too. He gets acquitted of murder, but is ConvictedByPublicOpinion and all of his friends abandon him afterward, including his best friend Robert. The title cards before the credits mention his civil trial with the Goldmans (which left him bankrupt), and his robbery trial in 2007 after that (which actually did send him to prison).

** O.J. himself too. He gets acquitted of murder, but is convicted by the court of public opinion and all of his friends abandon him afterward, including his best friend Robert. The title cards before the credits mention his civil trial with the Goldmans (which left him bankrupt), and his robbery trial in 2007 after that (which actually did send him to prison).

** Mark Furhman retired from the LAPD during the trial, was charged with perjury, received three years’ probation, and paid a $200 fine.

** Kris Jenner was pregnant when Nicole Brown was murdered.

** Although he is acquitted of the murders, O.J. ends up being shunned by the Brentwood neighborhood and his golfing buddies, and in the latter case, he is no longer welcome at the Riviera Country Club. His party was attended by people he's never seen before, who just came for the novelty that the televised trial created around him. He also loses his friendship with Robert Kardashian. The final shot of the episode has him sadly looking at the statue of himself, reminiscing about his GloryDays as a football player, and realizing that he's all alone. And, of course, there's the knowledge that O.J. later did ultimately wind up in jail and sentenced to 33 years in prison for a different crime [[LaserGuidedKarma exactly 13 years later to the day he was acquitted]].

* AbsenceOfEvidence: In Episode 7, Robert Kardashian reveals to AC Cowlings that he's run over the case again and again in his head, reminiscing about Nicole and finding what he could about Goldman. With all the information and media coverage about the case, it's deeply troubling to him that NO other credible suspect or theory has popped up in regard to who killed Ron and Nicole.

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: Marcia Clark has very curly hair for the first half of the series, but media scrutiny started to get to her as various people considered her look to be cold, and as issues in her personal life started stressing her out [[ImportantHaircut she got a perm]]. This had a side effect of everyone mocking her for it in the courtroom the next day. After another episode she had it straightened out.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: {{Inverted}}; the Dream Team is smart enough to realize that DNA evidence is going to be a major part of future prosecutions. One of the reasons Dershowitz takes on the case is to establish a template for defending clients when the DNA evidence is against them.

* CassandraTruth: Darden senses instinctively that Fuhrman is going to damage their case irreparably, but he's not able to convince his colleagues to not put him on the stand.

* CourtroomAntic: Cochran pulls a number of them, including numerous petty insults to Christopher Darden, and forcing the court to hear a defense witness early to derail the prosecution's momentum. (The alleged reason is that the witness is about to leave the country imminently, but during questioning, it becomes apparent that that's just an excuse engineered by Cochran.)

** O.J.'s speech about him searching for the real killers was written by him, but read by his son as part of a press conference. O.J never said the speech himself.

** Almost every shot of B-roll and outdoor scenes in Downtown Los Angeles depict landmarks that were built after the trial[[note]]Including but not limited to: the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (2002), red brick crosswalks (2002-03), The elevated tracks of the Metro Gold Line (2003), L.A. Live (2007), Grand Park (2012), the First Street Federal Courthouse (2016), and Wilshire Grand (2016). The last of these actually replaced the Intercontinental Hotel, where the jury was sequestered.[[/note]].

** Christopher Darden gives a devastating TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to Johnnie Cochran, telling him that his victory does absolutely nothing to combat racism in the police force and only proves Cochran's ability to twist the system. Smash cut to: Johnnie walking into a wild victory party at his office.

* EpicFail: Rosa Lopez's trainwreck of a testimony is one of the few bright spots for the prosecution; she's questioned on ''one point'' (whether she saw O.J.'s white Bronco at 10:15 PM after the murders), and yet can't stick with it, badly dodging the question and all but flat-out stating Cochran is feeding her lines.

* RightForTheWrongReasons: Darden doesn't want the n-word to be uttered during the trial, as he knew Fuhrman had allegedly said it in the past. He says that it will taint the jury away from rational thought and make the trial about race and a potential frame up conspiracy. He is shamed by Johnny Cochran for alleging blacks can't hear the word and be rational. However, later on, Fuhrman perjures himself about having used the word in the past. When that lie is revealed, he goes on the stand again and takes the 5th on every question asked. This spreads a lot of doubt to the jurors about O.J's guilt, and makes the trial about race. Darden's fears come true, but it was more because of Fuhrman lying than the n-word itself.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: O.J. bails out once he learns that he's going to be charged with Nicole's murder, and threatens to [[DrivenToSuicide shoot himself]] just before doing so.

* XanatosGambit: Bailey sets up one when he tells Darden he has "all the balls of a stud field mouse" if he won't make O.J. try on the gloves. If Darden takes the bait, wonderful, the gloves are too small and the prosecution has just destroyed one of their biggest pieces of evidence. If he doesn't, the ''defense'' can make O.J. try on the gloves and get the same result.

* AddedAlliterativeAppeal: Johnnie Cochran is fond of this. In "Manna from Heaven", when he requests the Fuhrman tapes from a North Carolina judge, he says: "It is important, it is imperative, it is indispensable that we return them to California." The judge rebukes him for his "gratuitous alliteration".

** The jurors were desperate to get put on the case, some even lying to on their questionnaire to do so, believing they'll get fame and a free vacation. The reality of being a sequestered jury in a high profile case hits them hard - having very limited and monitored entertainment and social interaction, forced to stay months longer than originally told and being dismissed if they're believed to be planning to write a book or go to the media.

** Shapiro is the first of the Dream Team to put forward the theory that O.J. has been framed by racist members of the LAPD. However, this is only two years after the L.A. race riots which were triggered by an African-American man named Rodney King being beaten by police officers and said officers being acquitted. As Johnnie Cochran continues to fan the flames of racial tensions by playing up the racist police conspiracy theory, Shapiro becomes increasingly terrified that the trial's outcome will result in another race riot [[ItsAllAboutMe that he will be blamed for]].

*** On the other hand, he has no problems mocking Clark's child care issues for laughs in the courtroom, but as soon as ''his'' personal life is brought up publicly, he flies to a rage.

** The racism in America society is also front and center. Johnnie Cochran's defense of O.J. is driven by his own sordid experiences with it.

* RecognitionFailure: In a defining moment from the pilot, Clark is the only character that does not immediately recognize O.J. Simpson's name.

* ShoutOut: In "A Jury in Jail", the sequestered jury can't watch outside TV, so they're limited to renting movies and television that came out before the trial started. Moreover, they can only choose one thing at a time which they watch as a group, so they have to vote on what to rent. This leads to a heated argument, as all of the black jurors want to watch ''Series/{{Martin}}'', but all of the white jurors want to watch ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}''. The black jurors can't stand ''Seinfeld'', however, causing the tall one to shout, "Seinfeld ain't about ''nothing''!" ''Seinfeld'' is commonly described nowadays as "a show about nothing."

* RealityEnsues:
** For O.J. He's acquitted, but all his friends have abandoned him and he's a pariah to everyone else.
** For Marcia Clark; who believes she's ready for the case, ready for the spotlight, and ready for everything the dream team have to throw at her. Everyone goes after her mercilessly and she's seen [[HeroicBSOD crying on the floor of her office]] before she resigns from prosecution as a result of the "Not Guilty" verdict.
** For the Jurors in "A Jury in Jail". The episode begins with them all expressing their excitement at serving on the O.J. Simpson case (with some already planning their subsequent media career) and being sequestered in a top flight hotel for the duration. Room service, olympic swimming pool and cable TV are all on offer... for every other guest. One juror turns on the tv to find all the channels blocked, another is ready for a swim when the court officers turn him back and the phones are off apart from heavily supervised calls at allotted times. As the pool, the tv and the phones are 24/7 facilities wherein the jurors could make contact outside of the case; none of them are possible. The rate of pay for jurors is very low so they can't afford to eat anything other than what is provided, any dreams of a cash-in are crushed when they get dismissed from the jury (as MANY of them are), the case goes on much longer than anyone anticipated and the jurors don't particularly like each other much anyway. "A Jury in Jail" is not just an aliterative title.