This is the most dramatic podcast ever and iHeartRadio podcast. O. J. Simpson died of cancer. It was breaking news on this Thursday that the once famed football star from USC and NFL and then turned football commentator commercial then obviously alleged double murderer, that he was tried and acquitted very controversially, but we all got it.
It's hard to I'm listening to you say this, and it's hard to sum up O. J. Simpson, isn't it? I mean, and I don't mean in a way like no, I think you crushed it. It's just I'm seeing, you know, the headlines are like what media, what headlines media are choosing to put out or not or being like supported
or criticized. I mean, not that that's anything new, but you know, I saw it was like OJ Simpson, former NFL player who was acquitted of double murder dies like it you know, you gotta you gotta address it all a complicated legacy.
And actually you have to say he was acquitted. It was, you know, obviously the trial of the century. And you know, I don't know if you have.
Seen him, what do you remember about it? Because I don't remember. I mean, it wasn't what ninety six. I was a kid. I was like eight nine years old.
Maybe I was working. I was working in news, and so what do you remember. I remember, I remember where I was for the the infamous Bronco Chase, and I you know, I was in Oklahoma City at the time. I was not out in La yet. I remember I was at Bricktown Brewing Company. I was having dinner that night, and I remember that. Obviously, everything started quickly because we didn't have social media, so your phone's not pinging, but quickly all the networks started clicking over to the chase.
And so you watched the Bronco Chase live on TV.
It was air all of a sudden, sound up restaurant, deathly quiet, and we were just watching this for hours, just this is crazy. This is the craziest thing we had ever seen. It captured the nation. It was just watching this white Bronco go down the highways of southern California and by now people had figured out where it was going, and there's people on the overpasses waving, and you're just like, what is this and how is this hero? Because that's what OJ was. He was a cult hero.
He was a football star in America and at the time that was as big as you could get. That was you might as well have been Robert de Niro or you know some big movie star that was. You know, he was that man. He was a movie star. He was a commentator, He was a football hero. He things.
If you were to put it into today, like who would be some of the names who, like that's the level of fame and what people say fired to before the murder case.
That's a good question. Who has crossed over to be that big?
So he I mean he was huge, yeah.
Because I mean he was Heisman Trophy and he won. You know, he was he was a stud in college, but then he was a Hall of Famer and in the pros and he was someone who made it to that level. But then he made that leap to actor. He was in movies. He was in the Naked Gun movies.
He was.
He was a pitch man, the likes of which you know Peyton Manning maybe that we see he was doing all the commercials for Hertz rent of hers where he was running through the airport and so he could pitch everything. He was a commentator on Monday night football and you name it. So the guy was just untouchable and was making millions of dollars and then he allegedly killed two people in cold blood.
I mean, I there are people are weighing in today, by the way, people who were intimate.
The Caitlyn Jenner thing was very interesting where she came out and was like, good riddance.
Was it that interesting? It didn't really surprise me. Well, I mean, but Kitlyn Jenner. Remember when Caitlyn was Bruce Schenner, married to Chris Jenner, and Chris Jenner's best friend was Nicole Brown Simpson and Chris Jenner's husband Rob Kardashian. I mean, I can't even imagine the dynamics of that moment. Chris Jenner's best friend was the woman who was murdered, but they were like a couple friends. So her husband Rob is part of OJ's defense team, Rob Kardashian, the attorney.
I mean, I think Kaitlyn Jenner. Maybe what's interesting about it is Kitlyn Jenner indicating obviously how Chris felt that OJ was the guilty party here. Because Kaitlyn Jenner's tweet was good riddance, OJ Simpson. You don't see anybody mourning the loss very strongly today.
Because we all look. I think if you if you pulled America, those that were kind of into all of that when it happened, I think ninety nine point nine percent would say he's going and that he got away with murder. And that's just conventional wisdom, and that's kind
I would bet on that I did. I was hosting the View for a week and I did one particular show with Chris Jenner and she was on and I sat with her and Barbara Walters and I ran a panel with Barbara and Chris on just that with the murder and the trial, and and I would love to go back and watch this now considering OJ's died. But she was saying she walked in one day when OJ was suicidal in her house and talked him out of it,
and Robert Kardashian was there. So just fascinating history. I would love to sit down and talk more with her now. And here's my other question. Did OJ leave a note? Did he leave a note in a vault safety depositals?
Oh, you mean that he's just now that he's died to come clean?
Did yeah, now that he's died, you know, because I was texting some of my friends this morning of like, I guess we'll never know. I mean I think no, but I guess we'll never really know. But do you think he will in the.
Because I don't think he's that good of a person and I don't know him obviously.
I never met him either.
By the way, every interview I've ever seen with him, he comes across very egotistical. And I think Caitlyn Jenner actually had said in her memoir he was the most narcissistic person she'd ever seen in the world of sports, and Kitlyn Jenner said quote, I believe he got away with two savage murders. I don't think when you're that egocentric you do the right thing in the end and come clean.
I know you were young, but like you've watched a lot of the stuff, and you know what.
I watched, which was the I mean, there's so many interview clips out there you almost can't even like you said stuff like you doing that viewpanel that I don't even know where all the footage is because in social media, if it had been posted, it would live on. But I watched the American Crime Story scripted show, which was kind of me realizing what it was all really like and I think that was the best version of American
Crime Story that Ryan Murphy done. That was such a great show with like David Swimmer, that put in perspective for me kind of oh, here's what it was, like,
I mean, so fascinating. I think that trial also is memorialized for all of us because of like like it being the first time people really talked about DNA and and the kind of infamous part of how like they had to explain to the jury what DNA was and people didn't really understand it at the time, and maybe that was part of the reason that he wasn't convicted. And yeah, the celebrity of it, the fact that it was like the first trial that was like broadcast twenty four to seven everywhere.
Judge Edo, I mean to this day, you know the characters, you know their names.
Yeah, I did it when the American Crime Story came out, and I went and did a sit down interview with the second like chair prosecuting attorney because he'd sense like written books about it. And what was sort of sad about that situation is it's such a defining trial for him, right, I mean, he was a lawyer who just kind of got us and it becomes this thing that's with you
for your life. That's kind of my like worst fear Sometimes I can't believe I'm saying this out loud, but like that something would be so intense that it would define an effect right the rest of your life in a way that's out of your control. And you know, sometimes I really truly think, well, I mean, like my dad died and that was out of my control and that affected me. So you know, you can survive things, but those experiences like that makes or breaks you as a person. Is how do you move forward?
And there's two two scenarios, One where you have kind of done it to yourself and you're paying the price, and another when it's done to you or it happens
around you. Right, Like I think of like a Pete Rose, for example, who gambled on baseball and has been banned for life, and like that one incident clouded everything that ever happened after that, and he was one of the greatest baseball players of all time, and now he's not in the Hall of Fame and he's not in you know, those types of things that define you forever, and that OJ umbrella definitely covered so many lives.
People who were murdered horribly and yeah, I mean the houseboy, oh right, and all these minor characters in.
Yes, I mean just all these names are coming back to me. It's like these were household names and it really did define these people for the rest of their lives. I mean, I remember Kato was doing reality TV for a while because it's like, what do you do now? Marcia Clark was the big attorney that you're talking about.
And you know what, I don't think that. I'm not
sure that something has that capability today. I think that it's very hard to get the entire eyes of the nation today for anything, really, you know what I mean, Like, I don't think like, Okay, the Johnny Depp amber Herd trial, that's probably the biggest celebrity trial that happened so recently, and definitely a lot of people were watching that, and like I kind of remember like Depth's attorney, but I don't remember, like, and that is much more recent and
I was watching it, but I don't remember the judge. I don't really remember Amber's attorney, you know what I'm saying, Like, I don't think.
That like a Michael Jackson dying that I felt like.
Well, I'm saying, I'm saying it's hard to capture everybody's attention for a long time in an unforgettable way on that level today.
And this thing. Maybe it's also because yeah, I agree the timing social media today, I think it would we would find a way, because that's what our media does now. We would find a way to divide the nation over this, and I can't see it unified us, but it definitely
brought us all together. We were just watching it unfold, whereas now we would all be taking sides and saying what we want on social media and getting after each other, and it would be divisive, which is that's kind of the way things go now.
All right, onto a little bit of a lighter headline, the return of melrose Place, but by the way, lighter, but also back to the nineties. So melrose Place is coming back in a reboot. This is another one. I don't remember melrose Place. I gotta be honest. My instant reaction to this was like, I don't know if this is going to do well. I thought we were past the reboots, Like, remember, there's just been so many and they have not all hit like Murphy Brown got rebooted.
I didn't see an episode of it. Does anybody remember it? Like the Will and Grace reboot did pretty well. The Sex and the City reboot has done well but been very panned. Do are people going to watch a Melrose Place reboot? Maybe I'm underestimating how big it was.
Here's why they're not the audience that you're hoping to capture. They are now in their fifties and sixties. It's you know, it's it was kind of generation right, kind of came off of nine O two one zero, then we had Melrose Place. So you're talking about the Heather locklears, Andrew Schue and.
Like, yeah, and by the way, Heather Lockleyer, Laura Leyton, and Daphne's Zuniga are all set to return. The only name I know there is Heather Lockley.
D Zuniga was the other blonde.
Okay.
And it's one of those things. And I don't want to be poo poo on this, but it's like, who asked for this? I don't know who is clamoring for this. I don't think it's a vehicle that fifty and sixty year old people are dying because the whole thing.
Was about like sexy drama in Melrose Place, right, And I'm not saying these people aren't sexy now. I'm just saying, like, much like how Sex and the City came back, and the creators kept saying, it's a different show. They're not in their thirties looking for love anymore. And I think that's why people have struggled a little bit with the new version, because they loved what Sex and the City was.
Right, and you can't recapture that well, right.
And that's the question is like, how do you do it? Do you do it in the right way? I think for sure the new Sex and the City damaged the legacy of the original Sex in the City a little bit, and it has done kind of well, it's not that it's bombed. They've done they're on like season three now, but it's certainly been panned. And I just to me when I read this headline Melrose Place reboot is in
the works. What I read there is executives operating from a place of fear the everyone and it continues to blow my mind about our industry. Barbie new original idea. Maybe part of the problem is that executives see it as some kind of reboot, but it wasn't. It's just they used the idea of the doll Barbie, but new original idea crushed it at the box office. Oppenheimer. Okay, yes, it was based on a true story, but like it was a new thing. There wasn't any old Oppenheimer they
were redoing. So I don't know why they don't learn from these great new shows and continue to like turn to new voices and new ideas and make new things. They are all operating from this base of fear that they've just got to just go with what was a hit because the industry is in such trouble.
Well, I don't get it. I totally agree. And who knows how this stuff gets done in our industry. And that's you know, we'll never know the real story if it's a friend of a friend or someone. But more than likely there is an unbelievably uncreative executive who, as you said, is working out of fear and thought this will pass. I can get this through the meeting tomorrow. Just look at the success of television. What is huge. The bear completely original Showgun is on right now.
Oh, we're obsessed with the show.
Believably obsessed and incredible.
If you're not watching, it's so good.
Yellowstone and you can say the timing of Yellowstone it was very much helped by COVID and that's very true. But still think of this, think of the recent success is that people have been obsessed with squid Game. All these like there are these are original ideas that people took a chance on and they have hit ted Lasso, original idea that was a massive success. So tell me the last reboot that crushed. And it's funny that these
executives think it's safe when actually it's a disaster. It's quicksand executive after executive has gone back into the well. The proof is in the pudding. Yeah, creativity is winning. That's what everybody's obsessed with. And I know it's hard out there. I know it's hard to find that ted Lasso. They don't just grow on trees. You gotta work for them and you have to throw a lot of pasta
against the wall before something sticks. But man, it pays off when you go for the creative outlet because those are the home runs. What will not be a home run is Melrose two point zero.
I mean I won't and I think that they continue to make the mistake. And it's like the writer of that movie American Fiction said at the Oscars this year. He said, I just wish, you know, instead of making one two hundred million dollar movie, can you make twenty ten million dollar movies? And it's true, like like look at anyone but you. The rom com was Sidney Sweeney and Glen Powell new idea. They just went back to
the romcom genre. But that wasn't based on anything. It wasn't a sequel or I guess it was loosely based on How Much Ado About Nothing? But like that, App's a cheaply made movie that absolutely dominated at the box office and made so much money, and I just wish that again. I think these executives are operating from a place of fear and they end up spending a ton of money on something that did well twenty years ago. And I will say, at the end of the day,
for me, it's just also about quality. I could be wrong because if this is done incredibly well, writing is insanely good, if the acting is good, if it's just great storytelling, well then I'm wrong and it could do it well.
What Melrose was there was and I'm not, you know, crapping on the old Melrose. It was campy. That's the point is it was campy in the beginning, and it was just it was this drama with these sexy people living around a pool in this one make believe apartment complex. Uh, and the drama ensues and so it was never like this really deep. It wasn't West Wing esque, where you know, you had these unbelievable writers creating you know, Aaron Sorkin. But the other thing is, I do think we need
to differentiate the movie business versus TV. In the movie world, sequels work top Gun Maverick, you know, the sequels work. I don't think they work as well in TV because I think once you've exhausted that idea, you know, ted Lasso two, you either keep ted Lasso going or it's done. And so I think you know that that those two industries are pretty different.
One more headline in the movie and TV world, Megan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry launching two new non fiction series at Netflix featuring and Chris hasn't heard this. I'm just breaking the news to him right now, Featuring Cooking, Gardening, and professional polo. Now, as I sit here and having just said please no more reboots, I will say what seems like a layup to me is new episodes of the show Suits. That show has crushed in the rewatch
on Netflix. And maybe I should note no one's rewatching and binging Melrose Place. Okay. If Netflix did more Suits right now, that feels smart to me because it's like the number one show on Netflix. People have rediscovered that show. It's not that old. All the cast members are still around, and I think ready and available. Give us more Suits instead. I don't know why they.
Don't need Megan Markele Gardening.
The first series. We'll see the Duchess exactly what you said, otherwise known as Megan Markle's celebrating the joys of cooking, gardening, entertaining and friendship.
This is, as the kids would say, this is so cringe. Do they have an overall deal that they had to like getre care But they.
Definitely did because they did the docu series, so they did an overall deal with Netflix. They did a deal with Spotify.
Okay, so in all seriousness, maybe Netflix had to put something.
Well, they've got to do something as a.
Promise and they can't just like maybe they had to promise something else, you know what I mean. Some of these deals are you can produce or we will take you first look deals. There are other things where we will put a show on the air with you on it. That is really the only explanation because no one in their right mind is going to put this on television.
Well, she's definitely trying to kind of go the Gwyneth Paltrow Paltrow Goop route because she's like launching this new lifestyle brand, which she announced to much response of like whether it was smart or totally insensitive, but she like announced it when all the Kate Middleton stuff was happening, and I just megan, you've got to hit on your hands with suits. I hope that's in the works. Give us more suits. Get back to acting. The second series.
Oh good, there's more.
Well, remember I mentioned polo and I'll tell you right now, don't listen, I'm breaking the news to you. Hold your opinions. The second series follows the world of professional polo okay, shot primarily at the US Open Polo Championship. The series will explore the world of the sport, which is known for its esthetic and social scene. I'm thinking of that scene in A Pretty Woman. It will pull the curtain
back on the grit and passion of the sport. Now, this could be if it's done right, I might be in. If this is fault there's a lot of money in polo, a lot of fashion, a lot of like, uh you know, sort of old world rules and like and and and social climbing. If this is like US, a drama reality show about the world of polo, I might be interested.
I one hundred percent agree. Okay, this has the but here's how it went.
But I don't think it's It doesn't sound like it's gonna involve Harry and Meghan.
It would be amazing if this was a gritty pull back the curtains like vander pump Polo. Oh, this is the Hamptons on steroids, I mean the world of polo, a professional polo. I can only imagine the amount of money and the people who are involved. If you really want to expose this, it would be incredible. My guess if Megan is involved, it won't be that. It will be kind of a glorified look at the world of polo. And so my hope is here. My expectations are down here.
But you're right, it could be a great expose, but it won't be.
I mean, the thing is they've had mixed success at Netflix. The docuseries did well, but then they also I'm reading this from this article on Deadline which broke the news. The pair have also made for Netflix Live to lead an interview series featuring the likes of Glorious Steinem I don't remember that, and Harry's Herd of Invictus documentary series launched last year, which he does do great work, great charity work with that, but I didn't watch it, and
I don't remember people talking about it. So we'll see mixed results at Netflix. And look, I'm not panning them. You and I are in the production world. It's tough out there right now. It's not but easy. But like Harry and Meghan, certainly from Harry's fame and growing up in the spotlight, were certainly handed a lot of incredible deals at Netflix at Spotify which they didn't really have
like the professional experience to back up. I'm just being honest, like, and I think that's why, like netflick or Megan's podcast didn't really work that well. She had never done anything like that before, and Harry and her had are very new to the world of production, so they've got incredible opportunity on their hands. I hope that for these new projects they have the teams and the people, and that they listen to those people to like make good content,
because I am behind content doing well. It benefits us all when people succeed and when shows succeed, in movies succeed. But right now, I feel like they've done very little, even though they've been handed a lot of opportunity.
I agree. I concur with all of that. It is virtually impossible to get a television show, an idea sold, made and on the air. It always has been difficult, It's always been a monumental task, but today in this environment, it's even harder. And look, I don't begrudge them for using their connections to get this done. That's also how the industry. Yeah, that's how the industry works. But to this point, nothing has borne fruit other than obviously the
original thing where we wanted to hear them speak. Other than that, nothing creative has really come out of it that's been successful. So and I know Netflix has kind of they'll either so far, they've been in albatross around Netflix's neck. We'll see if it changes with these ideas. I'm not sure it will, but I wish them well.
All right, everybody, thank you so much for being with us here today and speaking of as Chris and I said here and talk about production. I know we've heard so much from all of you, like when are you going to see our shows air on Merit. We are in the works on all of them. We are hiring for them, We are working on casting for things coming up here soon. So we will of course keep you posted on everything. And we are so excited and you
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