Felicity Huffman
Timothy Hutton
W. Earl Brown
Richard Cabral
Caitlin Gerard
Benito Martinez
Penelope Ann Miller
Elvis Nolasco
Johnny Ortiz
Regina King

Created by:
John Ridley

Anthology
2015
Drama
ABC
TV-14

“American Crime,” created, written, and directed by John Ridley, is “Traffic” meets “Crash” … on ABC. Its first episode is an efficient exercise of exposition. The acting is good, and the writing is good. But, when you deal with race relations, you need to be stellar. To be worth it, this needs to be great. We’re not there yet, not even close.

During that episode, I could tell that Ridley is building to something. He sets the stage with useful closeups and appropriately Californian visuals. We’ll have to wait to see how “American Crime” develops. I hope that sparks start to fly sometime soon. …

After five more episodes, “American Crime” has turned out to be pretty good, very good even. But it’s not special: Its ideas aren’t new. However, what does work is its intersection of narratives that forces the viewer to think about race in contemporary America. This is a show that invites discussion, no small feat. Also, the use of the camera – it focuses on the peripherals as much as on the main subjects – makes this show seem unique for network television.

So, I appreciate what Ridley has done here. “American Crime” is thoughtful and, for the most part, engaging. It’s to be taken seriously.

Verdict: Good to Very Good

About: (Source: americancrime)

Following the home invasion murder of Matt Skokie – a war vet – and an assault on his wife Gwen, four suspects are brought into custody: Tony Gutiérrez, an impressionable teen who got in way over his head even under the watchful eye of his dedicated and hard-working father, Alonzo Gutiérrez. Hector Tontz, a young man who has lived life on the fringes of society and has made bad decisions just to survive. Carter Nix and Aubry Taylor, two incredibly lost souls whose addiction to drugs and to one another has become destructive and paralyzing.

Though the suspects fit a profile, they and their situations are far more complicated than anyone would have initially believed… As is true for the victims themselves. As Russ Skokie and Barb Hanlon – divorced and estranged – arrive to both bury their son Matt, and seek a measure of justice for his killing, they discover their son may have been far from an innocent bystander in his own murder.

Told from the points of view of all those involved, this new drama examines preconceptions on faith, family, gender, race, class and other aspects of our social experience with an approach and perspectives historically underserved in media.

American Crime stars Felicity Huffman as Barb Hanlon, Timothy Hutton as Russ Skokie, W. Earl Brown as Tom Carlin, Richard Cabral as Hector Tontz, Caitlin Gerard as Aubry Taylor, Benito Martinez as Alonzo Gutiérrez, Penelope Ann Miller as Eve Carlin, Elvis Nolasco as Carter Nix, Johnny Ortiz as Tony Gutiérrez and guest starring Regina King as Aliyah Shadeed.

American Crime is created and executive produced by Oscar® winner John Ridley (12 Years a Slave).