More than 20 years (almost 22 in fact) have passed since Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman were found brutally killed in her Brentwood driveway. But the meticulous scrutiny over their murders continues.

The case was revisited with an exhumation of the story that intrigued millions of people over the past two decades.  O.J. Simpson was accused, tried in ‘the trial of the century,’ then vindicated of a double homicide.

The People Vs O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story is a monumental success on FX Networks. In week two, the series ranked #1 in ratings, overtaking NCIS and Chicago Fire. What is it about this case, which we have heard about over and over again, that continually sparks the public’s fascination?

Quite simply, it has all the elements of great storytelling: characters, plot, setting and symbolism. The key figures in the story are all colorful. First, there’s O.J. Simpson, the football hero turned Hertz spokesperson, actor and football analyst; a handsome, charming and charismatic man who had been a role model who seemingly crossed racial stereotypes. Then there was Nicole Brown Simpson, the young and beautiful carefree California blonde who married her hero and mothered his two children. Then Kato Kaelin, bleached blonde aspiring actor and support person for O.J., who lived on O.J’s sprawling estate rent-free and heard that ‘thump in the night’ that could have been Simpson returning after the murders. Marcia Clarke and Chris Darden, were the prosecutors and Johnnie Cochran, Robert Kardashian Robert Shapiro, Alan Dershowitz, were attorneys for the defense. There could not have been a more interesting or nonconventional group. And then Judge Lance Ito, an imposing and bespeckled man who had the challenge of presiding over the 3- ring circus. Finally, Mark Fuhrman, the clean cut detective who had been accused of planting a bloody glove as evidence; who Cochran called a ‘racist’. Of course, sadly, the victims’ families sitting in court every day wore faces of grief for weeks; the Browns and the Goldmans and the Simpson children all suffered terribly.  

The trial had all the sordid dramatic elements indeed; marital indiscretions, domestic abuse, celebrities and vile behavior all rolled into one. However, the sad fact is that the story was not fiction. It was real and still feels raw after so many years.

If you haven’t had enough, there is a new six-episode series coming out, executive produced and narrated by Martin Sheen: ‘Hard Evidence: O.J. is Innocent.’ This program features new unseen evidence from a former LAPD forensic psychologist and police officer who reexamines the case. It will air in early 2017.

Will you watch it? Will I? No. I think enough is enough. It is truly tragic that two young people were killed in such a horrific manner. However, it seems time for any more television series to be put to rest. It’s hard not to view the programs and disregard the sensationalism of the violence that lies at the root of this case.